BlueCarp

6:30 The Show Kicks Off with Hostess Ellen DeGeneres.

It is the first year that the host dressed in drag.

Ellen came straight from the thrift shop to host the event.

She’s wearing a burgundy tuxedo, open collar white shirt and white shoes.

Ellen with the international shoutout: “Penelope Cruz, Mexico with a record number of nominations!” Except that Penelope is Spanish. It is hard to keep those foreigners straight, is it not?

6:53 Will Ferrell, wearing his ‘fro, was joined by Jack Black and John C. Riley in a musical number that ended with them promising to take home both Helen Mirren and an Oscar one night. I do not doubt they will.

7:11 DeGeneres acknowledges her Penelope Cruz mistake and says Judy Dench is not present because she is having a boob job.

7:12 A choir of people that make sound effects with their mouths takes the stage. Apparently that guy from Police Academy beat them all out for a movie career.

7:14 Greg Kinnear, famous actor, presents an award. I remember way back when he hosted Talk Soup on E! Aisha has not caught up to him yet.

 7:17 Jessica Biel and James McAvoy are presenters. Jessica is taller than James. A tall actor in Hollywood is harder to find than Katie Holmes since she was kidnapped by Tom Cruise.

7:21 The camera cuts to Djimon Hounsou. He is wearing Ellen’s tux, but in black. It looks better on him.

Jackie Earl Haley is nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Most people do not realize he played Kelly Leak in the Bad  News Bears movies, then took a 40 year hiatus.

7:30     The animated Cars was nominated for best Animated Feature and for Best Song. I reckon that this will be the first and last time that the Academy Awards ever nominate anything featuring Larry the Cable Guy.

8:25     Robert Downey looks like he just got out of bed. Either that, or he has reprised his role from Less Than Zero. Keeping alive the theme, he makes a joke about his drug addiction.

8:45     Jennifer Hudson won for Best Supporting Actress. I guess you do not have to be an American Idol finalist to be successful. Right, Justin Guarini?

8:55     In less of a surprise than Helen Mirren’s upcoming victory, the liberal fear-mongering elite in Hollywood gave the Best Documentary award to An Inconvenient Truth. Al Gore said global warming was a “moral issue.” What? I think he should look up that word.

9:14     Why is Jack Nicholson bald?

9:16     Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst present an award. Tobey is shorter than Kirsten. Yes, I know Kirsten is wearing heels, but Tobey is still a short dude. They should give these short guys a box to stand on.

9:41     I love Kate Winslet.

9:54     Helen Mirren gets the Oscar. She takes it from former child actor Sandy Lyle.

10:04   Forest Whitaker won, too. Seems like yesterday he was playing Jefferson in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

10:08   Martin Scorsese finally gets an Oscar. The crowd goes wild. For my money, The Departed was the best movie of the year. Of course, The Departed was the only picture nominated for Best Picture that I actually saw.

10:14   Bald Jack Nicholson announces that a movie in which he participated, The Departed, is Best Picture. I was right.  

Posted by BlueCarp at 10:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Sports Radio 950 The Fan has outsourced its local morning 20/20 sports to a lady in California.

Karen Kay, who works for Fox Sports Radio, is a part of the syndicated overnight show "The Third Shift."

The Fan is a Fox Sports Radio affilliate. FSR, at The Fan's request, has Kay record several updates at the end of her shift for use during The Fan's morning show.

She is not paid extra for this duty. She is not local to Denver. And both are obvious.

She routinely mispronounces names. (She does not know how to pronounce Avalanche forward Wojtek Wolski's name.)

She gets facts wrong. (Today she announced that the Denver University Pioneers were playing North Dakota College. The Pioneers are actually playing the University of North Dakota. She said that Brendan Shanahan was the captain of the NHL's Western Conference All-Star team. He plays for the New York Rangers and was captain of the Eastern Conference team.)

Even if she had the voice of a Siren, luring sailors to a rocky death, it would not overcome her inability to get things correct.

Her errors ruin whatever credibility The Fan has. She makes everyone at the station look stupid.

She does not cost anything - except the station's crediblity. How much is that worth?

Posted by BlueCarp at 09:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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The Fascist Communications Commission (FCC), wants Congress to give it authority to fine television networks for airing "excessive" violence.

FCC Commissioner Michael Copps said that "[t]he pressure to do something on this is building right now. People really feel strongly about this issue all across this land."

Really? Wow, do the people all across the land not have an "off" button? Can they not change the channel?  

The FCC has no power to regulate cable. It is no surprise that they want it.

FCC chairman Kevin Martin said, "We can't just deal with the three or four broadcast channels -- we have to be looking at what's on cable as well."

Imagine that. A bureaucrat wants more power.

We must not give it to him. Or anyone else.

Posted by BlueCarp at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Carol Chambers, District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District in Colorado, refuses to use the testimony of two law enforcement officials she believes lie on the stand. Good for her.

P.S. She's not really my favorite. This is the same D.A. that was found guilty of abusing the power of her office by a state disciplinary board. Nevertheless, I give her credit for refusing to rely on corrupt cops to obtain convictions.

Posted by BlueCarp at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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It has been a long time since I have witnessed a beat down like the one Instapundit blogger Glenn H. Reynolds put on Rocky Mountain News columnist Paul Campos. Perhaps the Mike Tyson - Michael Spinks fight was a worse beat down.

It started with Campos' column all but calling Reynolds "an accessory to murder."

Reynolds' reply eviscerates Campos and his arguments.

I would recommend that Campos apply some salve on that sore spot he must be feeling today. Maybe some ice, too.

Posted by BlueCarp at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Score one for the Denver Post.

The Air Force Falcon basketball team is ranked 14th in the country. That is impressive.

Not impressive enough for the Rocky Mountain News, apparently. The News failed to send a reporter to cover the Falcons' game at UNLV last night. They ran a small Associated Press story about the game on page 21 of the Sports section.

The Post sent veteran reporter Irv Moss to cover the game. His story included quotes and everything. I am positive the News has many, many reasons why they did not cover the game. I do not want to hear them.

The Post covered the game. The News did not.

Posted by BlueCarp at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I'm not above taking an occasional cheap shot, especially if I think it is funny or makes a larger point.

Drew Litton, however, crossed the line today.

The Rocky Mountain News cartoonist compared Tim Hardaway to Adoph Hitler and the Ku Klux Klan. What did Hardaway do to warrant such a comparison?

He made some stupid and hateful statements:

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

This hardly gibes with Jesus' command that we love our neighbor.

However, Hardaway's ignorance hardly rises to the level of a genocidal maniac responsible for the murder of millions of Jews or to a violent group responsible for lynchings and terrorism.

The cartoon is a bit over the top.

Posted by BlueCarp at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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* Essential city services: Police, Fire, Garbage and now mini-golf?

* Seen on a flyer for a planned protest at the Denver capitol building: "Urge our Legislators to pass legislation that will improve quality, expand acceess, and increase affordability of healthcare."

Wow. They can do all that merely by passing a bill? Why don't they just pass a bill making getting sick illegal? It would work just as well and be much simpler.

* There are way too many elk in Rocky Mountain National Park. Federal and state officials are discussing ways to thin the herd. The feds want to spend $16 - $18 million on a "culling program." The state wants to let licensed hunters do the job for about $0 million.

Wendy Keefover-Ring, a "wildlife advocate with the Boulder-based group Sinapu" is in favor of the fed proposal. I get the feeling that Ms. Keefover-Ring is less pro-wildlife than she is anti-hunter.

* There is nothing wrong with it, but is anyone surprised that a Boulder based "wildlife advocate" has a hyphenated last name? 

* Perhaps she made a poor career decision: HBO's "Cathouse" chronicles the day-to-day activities at the Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada. On last night's show (hey, I just stumbled across it for a few seconds while channel surfing, I swear), a new employee refuses to perform oral sex. This puts a dent in her earning potential.

What the heck did she expect? A prostitute unwilling to perform oral sex is like a postal worker unwilling to deliver magazines.

* Students at the University of Indiana at South Bend have formed a "nap club." They have space where up to 15 students at a time can nap. We had "nap club" at the University of North Carolina, too. We called it "the library."

Posted by BlueCarp at 07:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Darrell Waltrip, during the Daytona 500 pre-race show, was discussing the debut of Toyota into the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

He said the introduction of a foreign model into the Great American Race "carried a certain stigmatism with it."

Despite the stigmatism, DW likes Toyota's involvement. He mentioned that a plant in Kentucky makes most of the Camry's in the United States.

He did not have to mention that his brother, Michael, is driving a Toyota this year.

***

DW continued with his Yogi-isms: While discussing the difference between Formula 1 cars and Nextel Cup cars, he was trying to say that the F-1 cars were much more high tech than Nextel Cup cars. He said F-1 cars were "computer generated."

Posted by BlueCarp at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Today, Rocky Mountain News sports columnist Bernie Lincicome wrote about cheating in sports.

He mentions Michael Waltrip's punishment at the Daytona 500 for having an unauthorized substance in his fuel line, Barry Bonds' steroids, Sammy Sosa's steroids and corked bat, and Shawn Merriman's four game suspension for using performance enhancing drugs.

These are good examples of cheating.

Then he mentions Josh Heytvelt's indefinite suspension from the Gonzaga basketball team for possession of hallucinogenic mushrooms. This is a complete non sequitur.

Hallucinations do not make one a better basketball player. Hallucinations would probably make the game harder. Therefore, possessing 'shrooms is not cheating.

Posted by BlueCarp at 08:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Every once in a while, someone whom I have criticized responds to me.

Most recently, it was Ed Stein, cartoonist for the Rocky Mountain News.

It all started when I reposted my original BlueCarp entry, "Check that Math, Ed," on the Rocky Mountain News site.

Ed responded:

 Note to those readers about the math: The NFL was formally chartered in 1922, 85 years ago. I'm fully aware that the Super Bowl didn't start until many years later. I could have explained all that in the cartoon, but that wouldn't have left much room for the drawing, or I ould have chosen to call it the NFL Championship Gme, but people know it as the Super Bowl, so I chose to let the discrepancy happen, assumimg most readers would react to the point of the cartoon. As usual, I overestimated some of you.

Posted by ED STEIN on February 5, 2007 06:53 AM

Of course, I responded:

I understood your point. Sometimes, however, if you can't make your point without saying something patently wrong, you make your point a different way or you make a different point. Apparently, I overestimated a professional communicator.

Posted by BlueCarp on February 13, 2007 12:30 PM

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In today's Rocky Mountain News Letters to the Editor, Joseph G. Martinez, of Brighton, Colorado, wants to know:

So now we have a mother, whose son died after being Tasered by the police, intending to sue the city of Lafayette for $22 million (“Mother plans to sue,” Briefing, Feb. 5). The son was breaking the law, so what grounds are there for the lawsuit?

Well, just because you have broken the law does not mean the police can kill you.

Posted by BlueCarp at 02:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Mitt* Romney, the Republican governor of Massachusetts, has officially announced he is running for President. Yes, of the United States.

In all honesty, I had no idea there was such a thing as a Massachusetts Republican until Romney made the national news.

* Originally puplished incorrectly as "Milt." Thanks to Scott for the correction.

Posted by BlueCarp at 09:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

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According to the Associated Press, Cuba's Minister of Communications does not like the freedoms that the internet provides. He said "The wild colt of new technologies can and must be controlled."

How many good, patriotic Americans agree with this Commie? None.

Because if they do, they are not good, patriotic Americans.

Posted by BlueCarp at 09:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Rich actors pleased themselves by attending an "eco-friendly" Golden Globe party.

The limousines in which they arrived did not seem to be solar powered, however.

Posted by BlueCarp at 08:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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A New York state legislator wants to ban walking while listening to headphones.

Unfortunately, there is no punch line.

Posted by BlueCarp at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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This time, United States District Judge Graham Mullen was reviewing the case against a man on North Carolina death row.

Mullen wrote "In suppressing (witness statements) ... and lying about it to the court, the prosecution lost sight of what the American judicial system strives to guarantee.

. . .

"When prosecutors believe they need to hide evidence in order to obtain a desired verdict or a desired sentence, it raises questions about whether justice is, in fact, being done," Mullen wrote.

No crap.

The lying, corrupt District Attorney, Scott Brewer, is now a state court judge.

Posted by BlueCarp at 02:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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Rocky Mountain News cartoonist Ed Stein has a comment on the Super Bowl.

Two guys are watching the game. The television announcer says, "The game begins with an 85-year drive!"

One guy says to the other, "That's how long it took for black coaches to get to the Super Bowl."

The Super Bowl is played every year. Tomorrow is the 41st time the game will be played. Were black coaches trying to get to the Super Bowl 44 years before the game was even played?

Posted by BlueCarp at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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If you build a house under sea-level next to the sea, you will get wet.

If you re-build a house under sea-level next to the sea, you will get wet again.

Posted by BlueCarp at 03:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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