84th ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS

I've been listening to the chatter, both online and on the morning chatfests which seem to imply that last night's program was "boring" and that Billy Crystal's hosting was irrelevant.

Here's an opposite viewpoint - the show was terrific. Billy Crystal, as always, was delightful, efficient and totally entertaining. And wonder of wonders, the doggone thing ENDED on time for the first time in my rather long memory.

There weren't many surprises, although I think that Meryl Streep's win was very unexpected and a total shame in many ways! Viola Davis' performance was brilliant and didn't have the self-conscious "look I'm acting" aura that inbues many of Streep's roles.

Cirque du Soleil was a delicious surprise - although I'm not sure how relevant they were!

Angelina Jolie needs to eat a sandwich! She's entirely too thin and Brad Pitt is an unkemp mess. Why anyone would think either of them is attractive is beyond me. Angie dear - how you got him is how you'll lose him, although what woman would want to touch that seldom washed character is beyond my comprehension! I'm 69 years old and I can say what I want!

The acceptance speeches were wonderful and the trio that won the writing award and then mocked Jolie's posing with her leg out (who wants to see your lumpy bony knees anyway).

Brian Grazer did a terrific job and I hope the Academy has him back (with Crystal) again and again and again.

I seldom enjoy this smug, self-congratulatory snooze of a show but to my surprise, last night I did. Didn't even fall asleep halfway through! That in itself is a miraculous happening. I stayed up way too late which made the call from the "sleep center" at 8:30 this morning all the more annoying! You woke me up for this nonsense?!

OVER THREE YEARS IN AND STILL NO VETTING!

President Obama's life, starting with the location of his birth, is still shrouded in mystery. We know (we think we know) the name of his father, we suspect the location of his birth, we have seen what purports to be his long form birth certificate which shows the name of a hospital that didn't exist and a doctor's name that appears to be bogus. The long form certificate appears to be a somewhat clumsy forgery! His high school and college transcripts are strangely unavailable and the grades he earned while in college are somewhat suspiciously unknown. Why he had to surrender his law license is unknown, nor is it clear why Michelle surrendered her license to practice as well. How his Ivy League education was financed and by whom is also strangely unknown.

Who really wrote the two books attributed to him? Was it in actual fact the work of Bill Ayers, well known and unrepentant would-be destroyer of America and known bomber of American institutions?

Who is this man who is destroying our Republic with every act of his administration? Who is Barack Hussein Obama and is he even who he says he is? What are his true beliefs? Is he even a Christian? Is he even a native born American citizen? In other words, is he or is he not the "Manchurian Candidate" president?

How is it that a man who was early in his first term as a U.S. Senator was able to capture the money and the backing to win the presidency?

What are his true purposes? Why does he feel it necessary to continue to apologize for everything America stands for?

Finally, should he be defeated at the polls in November 2012, will he go quietly and constitutionally from office? Or will he manufacture a crisis and use that crisis to declare martial law and invalidate the national election so that he can remain in power?

The man must be defeated to save the American dream. We must work tirelessly to elect the candidate of the Republican Party - even if that candidate is not the conservative standard-bearer we prefer. And we must be prepared to defend our nation should my worst fears be realized. This is a crucial year for America and we must be prepared to preserve, protect and defend that which Obama is not prepared or willing or even competent to preserve, protect and defend.

ENOUGH ALREADY!

There are more important things in this world than the death of Whitney Houston. The networks act as though this woman's death is the most urgent thing in our world. Yes, it's sad and yes, it was too soon but people are rioting on the streets in Greece, we have a president who is trampling our Constitution willy-nilly and it's time to get on with the business of the living, folks!

Whitney is resting in peace and those who remain behind are dealing with their grief in their own private ways. A good lesson for all of us. Yes I enjoyed her music, but let's be honest, she was pretty much ignored for the past 5-10 years and now it's as though some sort of world leader had died unexpectedly. Get a grip people!

R.I.P. WHITNEY HOUSTON

She was the powerful voice of the 80s and 90s and beloved by music lovers around the world. Her very public battles with substance and alcohol abuse are well documented so I won't even go into them now.

Apparently God needed another powerful voice in his heavenly choir thus we have the magnificent voices of Etta James, Amy Winehouse and Whitney all singing together in His praise.

God rest your trouble soul, dear Whitney. May the light of God shine upon you and bring you to eternal glory.

HHS HAS DECLARED WAR ON THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Obama started with the Jews, by tacitly abandoning Israel.

Now HHS has moved on to the Catholics by requiring that Catholic institutions abandon portions of their religious beliefs in order to conform to the illegal and unconstitutional Obamacare. This requirement is, in itself, wholly unconstitutional and they damned well know it!

Memo to evangelical Christians and all other Christians in this country - they'll be coming for you next.

Why would ANYONE in their right mind vote for this dunderhead!? A vast number of Catholics voted for this pinhead in the 2008 election! With scathing letters being read from pulpits all over the country in the past weeks regarding this outrageous interpretation of the Administration's right to trample our Constitution willy-nilly, how many Catholic votes does this inept, incompetent moron expect to receive?

And I don't give a shit what happened today in Nevada - I'm still sticking with Newt!

UPDATE: Turns out that Cardinal Designate, Archbishop Dolan of New York met with the President in the Oval Office before this appalling assault on religion was promulgated by HHS and lo and behold, Obama assured the Cardinal Designate that "we'll work this out". Subsequently, the president's representative called Dolan and said that the President had decided a one-year extension was the best he could do!

November cannot come soon enough for me.

WEIRDLY FALSE ADVERTISING!

A company is advertising a giveaway of laptops to children, with another laptop going to kids in Africa!

All of this sounds marvelous until you realize that they probably don't have WiFi available in most poor villages!

Do these people think through their campaigns at all?