What is this “hoarding” bullsh*%

I’m tired enough of having to skip over reality shows.  I can’t believe the mindless, unintelligent, blather that TV viewers watch.  For the past 10 years we’ve been bombarded by fake “reality”.  Starting with “Survivor”.  Do you really care about these people?  Really?!

But the worst of these shows has to be “Hoarders” and all of the shows out now with the word “Hoarder” in it.  It’s quite pathetic actually.  When one network gets so many million viewers to watch a show about “hoarding”, other networks run like crazy people to the drawing board to do a show about “hoarding”.  Apparently, “hoarding” is IN this year.

While channel surfing, I listened to a “hoarding” woman cry because during her whole life, she wanted people to like her, and she wanted everything to be perfect hoping that people liked her. And this was the reason behind her hoarding.

When you want people to like you, you don’t have possums living in your spare bed room where you have old pizza boxes and crocheted toaster cozies piled to the rafters and you refer to these items as  “keepsakes”.

You have family members who refuse to visit you because they literally can’t walk into your house because of the shit (sometimes literally) they have to scrape through with their feet like you used to do with piles of leaves when you were a kid.  Except back them, the leaves weren’t toxic waste.

I’ve heard all of the excuses.  If your father was distant or even abusive; verbally, physically, or sexually, you don’t need to pick through your neighbors trash for old buttons.

I understand that these people need help.  But sending a team in to help them organize their 600 pairs of tube socks and an old fondue pot with the rotting cheese still in it,  doesn’t seem to be the way to go.  If you read the “notes” that flash on the screen during the show to give you updates and back stories, you will see that barely one or two of these people have made positive changes to their life after the show.

Instead of  the city health department evicting these people from their own homes because the home is not fit for human use, just send them to an inpatient facility, strip the house or apartment, burn what you can, boil what’s left or just torch it all.   They will either be well enough to appreciate that the mess is gone, or they won’t be cured and shouldn’t be released.  I put the word “hoarder” in quotes throughout this post because I don’t believe “hoarding” is a disease.  It’s a symptom.

I try to have compassion for my fellow humans, but I don’t buy this hoarding bullshit as some “syndrome” or “condition”.  These people are wing nuts!!  They are not qualified to make decisions about their lives, let alone make decisions about whether or not they should throw out that dirty cookie sheet you found under the dog bed.

Check yourselves in, people.  You need in-patient,  LONG-TERM, psychiatric care.  And you’ve got plenty of stuff, so pack heavy;  you’re going to be there a while.

Loud Motorcycles save lives??

On July 12, 2010, Maine enacted a law meant to prevent those who ride street bikes from altering their exhaust systems to make them louder.  An organization called Maine Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles (MECALM.ORG) played a big part in supporting the change in the law, and has played a big part in trying to get local police departments, State Police, and sheriffs to uphold existing noise ordinance laws as well as this new one.

I don’t believe that MOST motor cyclists are intentionally trying to disturb the peace and I don’t think that MOST of them are altering their bikes to make them louder.  (Harleys are loud enough out of the gate.)  But there is a certain segment of this “user group” that is arrogant, ignorant, and self-absorbed enough to think that they can do what they want, when they want, and disturb whomever they want, with their motorcycles.  The one and only argument they use is “if I”m loud enough then you are more likely to hear me, and therefore won’t accidentally hit me”.

Well, that argument might hold true for the few people who are riding in cars within 50 feet of you.  But that certainly doesn’t hold true for people too far away to hit you in the first place.  And it doesn’t hold true for people sitting in their homes whose dental fillings fall out every time you ride by.  The truth is, some bikers have altered their bikes to make them louder.  As I said and as we all know, Harleys are loud already.  Some make them even louder.  And it’s all about getting attention.  “Look at me, I’m cool”.

Well, you got your attention.  It just wasn’t the attention you wanted.  If the “loudists” (that’s what I call them)  had even one ounce of common decency, or common sense, then this issue never would have come to pass.  If the “loudists” realized for one second that because of their bikes, they are disrupting other people’s lives , and then actually care about that, this issue never would have come to pass.

Like any other social issue, there are some very strong opinions on this subject.  Those against loud motorcycles give compelling evidence of the effects of loud bikes.  You can easily do a Google search and find all kinds of writings on this subject.  The cyclists themselves have very strong opinions as well.  The difference is, the tone of the “loudist’s” writings is so very angry, and so very arrogant, and in some cases, so very stupid.  I read one guy’s comment on a web site who was pissed that he was going to lose the money he invested in his illegal muffler.  He just didn’t get it that all he had to do was put the original muffler back on the bike, that he took off in the first place, and he would be within the law.

If I drove my car down Main Street with a broken exhaust system, or a modified exhaust system, I would be the loudest thing in the area, everyone would hear me, and I would be pulled over in about 2 seconds and cited for a traffic violation, disturbing the peace, and go knows what else.  The same should be true for motorcycles.  If you are on a motorcycle and you are the loudest thing in the area, you are too loud.  If I can’t talk to the person in my car, or hear my radio, because you are next to me at a traffic light revving up your engine, you are too loud.

As for the noise from your bike protecting you from being hit, I could say the same thing about my car because many drivers don’t pay attention to anyone but themselves.  Selfish drivers cause accidents; accidents with other cars and with motorcycles.  You can be as loud as you want but if you encounter a stupid or selfish driver, it won’t matter.

The bottom line here, to bikers who want to be loud – stop being a dick, stop stomping your feet like a 4 year old, get a grip, fix your fucking bike, and then welcome to the real world where the world doesn’t revolve around you.

iPhone – is there a slap for that?

Why do I continually see clumps of people standing around with their iPhones talking about their iPhones.  Some sort of bizarre competition seems to have arisen out of the iPhone culture where “whoever has the most apps wins”.  Wins what?  I have no idea.  And apparently it doesn’t matter if you use, or even like, the apps that you have downloaded.  As long as your iPhone screen is full, and I mean overflowing-ly chock full of icons that run ridiculous, stupid apps like “Run Pee”, then somehow, you are “better” than the others in your clump.

“Run Pee” is an application for the bladder-challenged among us who need to pee during a movie.  “Run Pee” tells you when the best time to pee is (it’s coming up – hold on!), so you don’t miss out on anything too important in the movie.  The app will also tell you what’s going on while you are peeing and point out any important dialog.   If someone is that worried about missing parts of a movie because their bladder is so small they can’t hold it, then it would make more sense, to me, if the “Run Pee” application were re-worked a bit. 

Here’s how it should work:  you could stay home and pee all you want; hell you could sit on the damned toilet for hours, or wear a Depend undergarment and sit on your sofa.  The app would simply explain the movie’s premise, the plot, important sub-plot points, and tell you what you probably would have stepped in, that made you stick to the floor under your seat, had you actually gone to the movies.  Now that’s an app.

But here’s the ultimate app.  Every time an iPhone user clumps around with their clump of iPhone user friends, demonstrating or talking about the apps on their Phones; yes, the very instance that the iPhone user puts up his or her finger as if to shush and says “wait..hold on…it’s here somewhere – I just downloaded it the other day” – an automatic arm with elbow and open hand slaps the iPhone clumper across the face and says “There’s a slap for that”.

Superbowl abortion commercial

Apparently, some former “mass of tissue” is going to star in a TV commercial that speaks out against abortion.  This “mass of tissue” is glad his mommy didn’t have an abortion.  I’m not so sure.  I say, when in doubt, ABORT, ABORT ABORT.

I hate to break it to you son, but your Mom wasn’t strong, she was weak.  She gave in to her conscience.  Some may think “Hey, had this woman aborted her mass of tissue then the mass would not have grown up to become a football player”.  I say, “all this football player did was grow up and try to divide the country, culturally, on one of few days in a the year where the country comes together to watch a sporting event”. 

I don’t think the left wingers should be mad and I don’t think they should protest.  I think they should run their own ad on Superbowl Sunday with a picture of the “mass of tissue” and the copy should say “if you don’t have an abortion, this is what you’re going to get.”

NO PUBLIC OPTION!

This is what I see on the signs held in the hands of people attending the infamous town hall meetings on health insurance reform. I sat and stared at this sign and it took me several seconds to understand the impetus behind a sign like this. “NO PUBLIC OPTION!”

What kind of person sits at home and makes one of these signs?  Who took the time to find a way to say not only that they don’t want choices for themselves, they don’t want you to have choices either.

That’s what this sign means.  It means I don’t want you (the government) to take away my existing health insurance and I don’t wat you to give anyone else a choice about their health insurance.  Let’s get one thing straight, this debate is NOT about health care.  The care that American’s get, when they can afford to get it or have insurance that affords them the opportunity to get it, is NOT the problem.  This is about health insurance reform.  Insurance companies exist for the sole purpose of NOT paying claims or to figure out a way to pay less on a claim than the actual total amount submitted on a claim.

So back to the sign.  Somebody out there likes their health insurance.  Well, good for them.  It is well documented in the Bill in question, that if you like your health insurance nobody is going to change that.  Next topic.

So not only does this “sign person” not want changes to happen to his or her health insurance, they also don’t want any other American to have an option for health insurance either.  Maybe some Americans are not happy with their health insurance.  Maybe some Americans don’t even HAVE health insurance.  But “sign person” is saying NO PUBLIC OPTION!  They don’t want YOU to have any choices even though your choices will have absolutely NO EFFECT ON THEM WHATSOEVER.  Whether or not any other American (other than them) chooses a government backed health insurance program, it has no effect on the person holding the sign that says NO PUBLIC OPTION!

This is how much ignorance, stupidity, and hatred is out there in this country.  There are people so overcome with fear and hatred AND most of  all a lack of the correct information, that they don’t want any American to have a choice about their health insurance.  If you don’t get health insurance – too bad.  If you get it and you don’t like it – too bad.  They don’t want you to have a choice.  How can a human being possibly think along these lines.

Now, I looked at these people holding these signs.  They look to be over retirement age.  So I can guarantee you that SOME of them are on Medicare, a government backed health insurance program.  They don’t want to get rid of that, but they don’t want you to have good health insurance backed by the Facsict, Nazi government that gives them their health insurance. No way, No how.

I’d like to pose a question to anyone out there who has health insurance, whether through their employer or through Medicare, or Medicaid or any other program..  What would you do tomorrow if you lost your health coverage and lost your job and lost your ability to pay for health insurance and then….you got sick.  That is exactly what happened to me.  I was out of work, wages, and health care for 18 months of my life just recently.  As a result, I was kicked back to the dark ages in terms of health care and the insurmountable monetary toll this situation has teken on my life.  What would you do?

Do you know how scary it is to wake up in the morning in excruciating pain, can’t even walk to the bathroom without doubling over and tears streaming down your face.  And there is not a doctor in the world who will see you because you have no insurance.  You can go to the emergency room and they will treat you and send you a bill for several thousand dollars and you don’t have a penny to pay for it because you are out of work.   What would you do?  And there is nobody to ask for money because the few friends and family you have, don’t have any money either.  What would you do?

I can not even express how disgusted and angry I am at anyone out there screaming NO PUBLIC OPTION.  Do you people even know what you are advocating?  Do you?  Because if you do understand it, then you need to explain it to me.

What the HELL is going on at Morning Joe on MSNBC?

One of the many disappointments of cable news programming is what I call “screen clutter”.  Between the network logo, the show logo, the news crawler, the date and time, and the guest’s name and title, there is not much room on the screen for the show itself.

Further, this morning on Morning Joe, they were talking about the morning newspapers, like they do every morning.  So yet another portion of the screen had certain headlines from papers around the country.  All of this screen clutter is annoying.  But here’s the real issue.  What they had on the screen for headlines made absolutely no sense.

Picture it, in the lower left quadrant of the screen was the logo of a newspaper, like the Washington Post logo, and then underneath that a headline from a Page 1 story in that publication.  Here are a few examples verbatim.  Tell me if you know what the heck these “headlines” are talking about:

1) Mountaintop Mining to get more environmental scrutiny, Obama officials say” (Washington Post)

2) Rate Rise: Clouds Recover (Wall Street Journal)

3) Fed Emails Bash BOFA Chief Lewis (Wall Street Journal)

4) Russians Outfox U.S. in Latest Great Game (Wall Street Journal)

5) Chocolate-Bunny Case Reaches High Court (Wall Street Journal)

OK, I’m not necessarily a news hound but I like to think I keep up with most of what’s going on in the world.  BUT I DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL ANY OF THESE “HEADLINES” ARE TALKING ABOUT.  I checked my calendar to see if it was April Fool’s Day, but it wasn’t.  I have a DVR so I went back and watched it again.  And then again.  And then on the last time I wrote them all down because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  I shouldn’t have to go to each of these publications, or do a Google search, just to understand what the headline means or is referring to.  And the wording and subject matter is so ridiculous that I already don’t CARE what they are talking about.  I think I finally understand what phrase “East Coast Media Elite” means.

Somebody help me!

Mika Brzezinski enraged at the sight of McDonald’s food

If you caught Morning Joe on MSNBC this morning you would have seen an absolute mad woman bear her fangs and foam at the mouth because there were food items from McDonalds in the studio.  This half-whit, blond ambition whose only job is to read the days top stories in extreme brevity from a teleprompter was literally trying to pull the food out of Joe Scarborough’s mouth as she screeched “DON’T EAT THAT”!!!!   That food is awful. It’s just, it’s just, it has no nutritional value, it’s all carbs and fat, if you squeezed that, the fat would drip out.  That food is the reason there’s an obesity problem in this country”

Well somebody must have squeezed Ms. Brzezinski’s head and all of her brains dripped out.  She sounded like a complete and utter idiot.  She was acting like a spoiled child who was offended by the crusts not being cut off her white bread sandwich as she whined “It’s too hard to eat with the crust on it and there’s not nurtritinal value”

Mika, shut the hell up.  I don’t know what little world you live in but contrary to popular belief, not everyone in America eats McDonalds every day.  But there are those days when only McDonalds will do.  Whether because of time constraints, or the need for comfort food, eating McDonalds is not the end of the world.  If you want to make a statement, keep it to yourself.  If you don’t want to eat fast food, then don’t.  If you don’t want you kids to eat it, then don’t give it to them.  But don’t sit there and attempt to pull food OUT OF SOMEBODY ELSE’S MOUTH simply because you don’t agree with the choices they make.

Should I rip the bottle of hair bleach from your hand because I think the color is too brassy for you?  And all that bleach can’t be good for you.  Should I turn the channel when you are on simply because all you do on Morning Joe is nod your head and give Joe Scarborough puppy dog eyes and offer no real value?  All that ass-kissing can’t be good for your career.

What a world you must live in to feel you can judge people right down to the last molecule of what they put in their mouth, and then time after time when asked your opinion or asked to stand up for your opinion you simply utter “never mind”, and then roll your eyes as if you are superior.  You’re not superior, Mika, if you can’t articulate an opposing viewpoint, or any viewpoint, on current events.  And you can’t make up for that by crawling inside Scarborough’s mouth to remove the offensive calories and then clean his teeth on the way out so there is no residue left for him to enjoy.

Glenn Beck – CRYBABY or a Cry for Help – maybe both.

The first time I saw Glenn Beck break into tears, he was on CNN Headline News, when he used to have his 7:00 pm comedy hour (or whatever).  When CNN first gave Glenn Beck his own show, I thought he must be a leftist, I mean come-on, it’s CNN, well known as the “Clinton News Network”.  I can’t say as though I am a huge fan of CNN even when I thought they were more leftist.  But I checked in on this Beck guy because I didn’t really know all that much about him.  Had I given it more thought, I would have realized that the CNN Headline News Channel is NOT the same as regular CNN.  From what I know his ratings were good, at first, at CNN-HL but I, like others apparently, just could not stand to listen to him drone on with conservative, Neo-Con, Evangelical, born-again rhetoric about George W. Bush, the entire Bush Administrations, and Republicans in general.  I did not realize he was a Limbaugh in training.   And lied just as much.

 

Glenn Becks’ television crying sprees are all over the Internet now, so I won’t bother to waste more space and bandwidth by linking to them or uploading them to my site.  You can find them anywhere, just Google it.

 

He does a radio show, coast-to-coast, every day as well.  I don’t listen to him much except to sneer at him as I scroll through the dial.  I don’t recall hearing him cry on radio.  I guess because radio just doesn’t have the same punch if you’re going to do the “ugly cry” or the “televangelist cry”.   So, CNN-HL fired him.

 

His ratings are supposedly pretty good at Fox.  But then again, so were the ratings for the 9/11 attacks live on TV.  And speaking 9/11, Beck e started a new club called the 9/12 club to try and rekindle the feeling we all felt in the days immediately following 9/11.  Well, I think he’s trying to get to Patriotism, on the surface anyway.  But for me, the day after 9/11, which happens to be my birthday, was filled with deep, deep sadness, fear, confusion, uncertainty.  I DO NOT WANT TO JOIN A CLUB FOR THAT.  So, Beck, take it somewhere else.  And all of this faux patriotism, shrouded over neo-conservative double-speak,  isn’t’ fooling anybody. 

 

Some of Glenn Back’s most recent, infamous quotes are below (and remember, in your head, read them like Jimmy Swaggart when he was crying on TV saying “I have sinned”)  along with my responses to them:

• GLENN- “Are you ready to be that person you were the day after 9/11? – ME: – NO
• GLENN – “You are not alone” – ME:- I know, and I’m glad you’re not in my 5 favorites
• GLENN – “You are the secret, you are the answer” – ME:  To what?  I thought “The Secret” was a self-help book – maybe you should read it.
• GLENN – “To our military bases in Iraq where real heroes have gathered” – ME: Well I can’t argue with that.  Even the crazies have lucid moments.
• GLENN: “I’m like you, I just love my country and I fear for it” – ME: Hmm, I love my country; too, conservatives don’t corner the market on that.  But unlike Glenn, I’m not afraid for it.
• “It seems like the voices of our leaders, and the special interest, and the media…they’re surrounding us and it sounds intimidating” – ME: Glenn, we’ve talked about this.  If you start hearing voices in your head, you need to tell the doctor so he can up your medication.  Actually, I think it would be better if he just started drinking again.  He’d be WAY more fun at parties”
• “I’m a guy who cares an awful lot about my country” – ME: Couldn’t agree more. You do love it an “awful” lot.  It’s obsessive, dysfunctional, co-dependent, and I hate the be harsh but… The country just isn’t that into you.

I just want to be clear.  I cry at Hallmark commercials.  I have no problem with crying.  But this man is coming unglued.  He makes no bones about being a recovering alcoholic.  I’m well aware of the 12 steps.  But this is out of hand.  What step is “I’m a blubbering idiot who can’t formulate a complete thought and even though I know the whole world isn’t really against me, they really are”.

If this is how Glenn Beck behaves, if this is his platform on the Fox Network, if they simply stand by and allow this guy to mentally implode on a regular basis on national television just for the ratings, then Ruppert Murdock and the Foxtones are stark, raving mad; that’s what I first thought.  Then I realized what Fox is doing.  It’s all a ploy.

 

 

And what’s up with the big ratings?  Is that because watching him is like watching a train wreck in slow motion?  YES!  That’s exactly what it is.  People can’t possibly be tuning in to hear what he has to say because he isn’t saying anything, he just blubbering.  Here’s the deal – People are tuning in because the economy sucks, nobody has any money, and watching this piss-ant have a nervous breakdown on live TV is fun…and free.

 

 

Glenn Beck says he loves his country so much. Well I’ll say it out load because nobody else will.  He only loves the 39% of our country that doesn’t think Obama is doing a good job.  As for the 61% of us who want to give Our President a chance, even though we don’t agree with everything Obama says and does, Glenn Beck doesn’t give two shits about us.  He’s not crying for the democrats, the liberals, the gays who want to get married, the gays in general, the blacks and Hispanics, the middle easterners, the Asians, etc., etc.

 

What is he going to do for his next trick, pull a Howard Beale from the movie “Network”.   I mean really, what is he going to do next to keep the viewers attention span?  After all, he is an actor.

 

 

He’s not a journalist – he admits that quite frankly.  So what is he?  He’s an actor who can cry on queue to wrap up a neo-conservative message in a packet of tears, wrapped in fake patriotism and serve it to the hungry masses that are looking for entertainment.    If Glenn Beck, or Fox, thinks that people are tuning in because they like the guy, and agree with him, then they all belong in the loony bin.

 

 

The Glenn Beck Show, brought to you this hour by … “Glenn Beck Facial Tissues:  now with even more Scoville Units..”For those times when you’re own fake tears just aren’t enough”.  This is America damn it.   The Republicans are hurting.  Cry Already!!!!

Whether or not the tears are real or fake, this is a man who needs help.  If they are real, it is even more disturbing.  But if a conervative talk show host feel that the walls are closing in on him, who am I to suspend the Republican-backed gun laws in this country.  Go for it Glenn.

Vagisil – it’s what’s for Breakfast

OK.  No kidding around here.  I woke up this morning after falling asleep in my recliner.  After rubbing my eyes and slowly opening them, I grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV to check the news and weather.  What I saw made me think I must be still asleep and dreaming and if so, I’ve got a sick and twisted mind.

A woman is walking, to somewhere, from somewhere I don’t know, she’s just walking.  And a soft, monotone voice comes over the TV and says”

“After the itching is gone, and after the odor is gone, now you can just live your life…….Vagisil”

WHAT?????????????????????????

If I was dreaming I am a sick and twisted human being.  I mean, what the hell.  I’m gay, why would I be dreaming about itching and odors emanating from a vagina????  I don’t know if I got all the words exactly right but I now “itching” and “odor” was in there and the rest is accurate, if not pretty damned close to exactly what was said.

Oh wait.  I wasn’t dreaming.  I’m not sick and twisted.  It’s the Vagisil folks that are sick and twisted.  AND have crossed the line.

This is not about misogyny, and it’s not about being politically correct, and it’s not about the fact that men should be accepting of women’s “issues”, this is just plain GROSS!  I immediately called my best friend, a female, and told her about it.  She was just about retching and heaving when I told her and she said the same thing, “GROSS”.  She said, “are you sure?”.  Of course, I am, I just watched it.

Now let’s turn that around.  Not that there is anything from a man’s perspective that could compare to this but I’ll give it a try.

“After you wipe away what could become a skid mark, and after the aroma is gone, now you can get on with your life……Charmin”

Can you imagine if THAT was a commercial,  A guy walking to somewhere, or from somewhere and a soft calming voice proclaims the advantages of cleaning one of your holes.  I mean COME ON!!!!

Vagisil is made by Combe Incorporated, White Plains, NY (800) 431-2610.  Please call them and ask them to stop the insanity.

Where is the real news?

I just get so angry sometimes at what is being portrayed as news.

Let me know when Casey Anthony gets fried in the electric chair, I don’t need the details and media circus until then.

Let me know when George W. Bush has left the building.  He’s certainly even less of a President now than he ever was, so when people are chucking things at his head, it’s not a surprise, and I don’t care.  I don’t NEED to know it.  Just let me know when the door has hit his ass on the way out.

Day after day, the incessant, inane chatter about what Barack Obama knew or didn’t know about the Illinois Governor.  Who cares!  It’s not news.  The republicans are still behaving like they are in campaign mode, like they can still somehow stop Barack Obama from becoming President.  Too late folks.  If the Republicans put aside partisan bickering, finger pointing, and false claims and then decided to stand behind the new President, THAT would be news.

Local news is the worst but national news and cable news is a close second.  Do we actually need newscasts?  I like to watch Rachel Maddow.  She at least has a unique take on news items of the day.  She even flushes out real news that went unreported.  But even she, at times, plays the party line and does segments on the exact same topics that Chris Matthews, David Gregory, and Keith Olbermann did in the hours leading up to her show at 9:00 pm.  They sometimes even have the exact same guests.  So even the real news is just regurgitated at a later hour.

Since TV news organizations are not money making operations, they would be better of broadcasting re-runs of sitcoms and just having a news crawler at the bottom of the page.  It still won’t really be news but I can ignore it if I want.

I’m not that old but even I can remember the days when I was very, very young, when sitting down to the Evening News with Walter Cronkite was a big deal.  Well, maybe not a big deal but it was appointment television and we trusted what he had to say.  At least that’s how I remember it anyway.

It seems that so little of the “news” I read is actually news.  What is newsworthy?

The American Heritage Dictionary says that newsworthy is “Of sufficient interest or importance to the public to warrant reporting in the media”.

And I guess that is the key.  “Sufficient to warrant reporting”.  A plan crash, a gas leak,  a natural disaster, the public needing to be warned or informed of certain events for their own safety.  That is news.  Brittany Spears album being number one is not NEWS.   Some reporter throwing a shoe at Bush is not news.  It’s funny, but does the public NEED to know this for their own safety and security?  No.

I don’t know where to turn anymore to get news.  Everything has a slant, an agenda, so to speak, and at the end of it all, I usually walk away just sort of gazing off into the distance.  I didn’t learn anything that I NEEDED to learn.  If fact I usually hear things that make me want to throw my shoe at the TV.  Is that news?