Healthcare Hypocrisy

"You dirty thieves! You dirty thieves! You dirty thieves!"

How things have changed since Obama's election over a year ago. A public, which, then, could never be more together, has slowly turned into a public that could never be more apart. An electorate which, then, voted Obama in for healthcare reform, has silently been wishing to impeach him on the same issue. A country, which, then, was proud to be making history, has become a country of regret.

Obama, to Americans, was an inspiration, a whirlwind, and a star. But recently, views have changed. Rather unfairly, in my opinion, Americans are turning their back on the president, and- even more importantly- the health care reform that was a key point in the election. Even in Texas, where many children are unprotected by the existing health insurance scheme, as well as the rest of the country, where insurance companies are well renowned for turning down claims, there is high opposition for a universal healthcare system, which could, potentially, save the lives of millions.

There are various points that those in denial of the proposal are using to back up their staunch opposition. One of these, is the fact that they see the NHS (which has been used as a big example) as a shambolic excuse for a healthcare system. Although we Brits do complain about the National Health Service, I think we can all admit that we are extremely lucky to have it; instead of being in a position of having to pay extra, and letting capitalism decide our health. I'll admit that it's not perfect- but what is? Even those with private healthcare have a lot to complain about, and there are various NHS sucess stories.

Americans (as you may see from the quote at the start of the post) do not want to have their money taken from their wages. Although this is extremely understandable in the current economic climate, I'm going to end this post with one question to you:

If you're so opposed to paying for a service that'd help millions; why are you not so concerned about paying for an illegal war that kills millions?

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CoCo go BangBang

It's Saturday 23rd of January. It may be a dark day for many; but nothing haunts more than the clouds at NBC. Bodies lay strewn across studio floors, producers cry in anguish, and there is an eerie silence. Conan has been defeated.

... Okay, maybe not, but tomorrow (tonight in the US) really WILL see the end of the late night war that has plagued and pleasured our TV screens for the past couple of weeks. We've seen it all- bad imitations, ruthless slagging matches, and even the odd protest.

Despite the support that Conan O'Brien managed to rally up (including Letterman, Kimmel, and the odd million people here and there), Jay "NotOnMyChinnyChinChin" Leno has wrestled back the tonight show. If we were to carry on the war metaphor of above, I think we'd see that Leno has a few bulletholes in his armour. CBS' David Letterman has been particularly (and in my opinion rightly) ruthless; having been involved in a ruckus over the Tonight Show in 1993, with Leno (who won the show with a few backroom-deals). Leno, in riposte, has reused the same lame material night after night. Yes, you guessed it, the "omg, Letterman used to shag interns at his show and everyone's forgotten, but I'll try (and fail) at making it funny!" Comebacks.

In that itself we see the cruel irony of this situation. Conan, even before this mess, was revered as the better entertainer, a showman, and a crowdpleaser, who along with Andy, his announcer, brought a bit of zing to the 11.30pm timeslot. With the ammunition of the recent events, he, along with Letterman (and his quick jibes), Kimmel (who did a whole show as Jay Leno), and Ferguson (who was brilliant before he vowed to concentrate on more pressing matters- again, rightly so in my eyes), have excelled themselves, providing truly awesome comedic comentary to this dramatic debacle. Leno, on the other hand, seems to have got worse; his bad, and needlessly harsh jokes even inciting boos from the audience at stages.

Believe it or not, Jay Leno has even tried to make himself look like the victim of the situation. Although there may be truth to this (this was Jeff Zucker's idea after all (... Oops, sorry, did I say Zucker? I meant Sucker.)), it is hard to see how Leno is the one bawling his eyes out. Even if put in a headline of simple words (I dunno... Maybe: "Man With Thousands of Supercars Gains Old Job. Better Entertainer Left Jobless"), it's impossible for this headline to show Mr Bigchin as the victim.

Although there will be a few out there screaming: "what the hell!? This isn't his fault! Blame NBC!", surely Leno needs to take some of the blame- he's done this for the Tonight Show before; and he hasn't exactly told NBC to give Conan more time to settle in (despite saying "it's yours, Conan" on the show five years ago).

The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien has been going for just seven months. SEVEN months. The flop show "Joey" was given a longer run. In the time the show was on, NO-ONE was able to go through the full birth process (conception to labour). I managed to get my own job, and lose it in about an eighth of the time.

Jimmy Fallon, who has been quite silent about the NBC civil war, spoke out about the network and Leno, stating that he, like O'Brien, and Letterman, would never be able to progress from "Late Night" to the "Tonight Show". From an outsider's perspective, you can only assume that Jay Leno is going to invest in the latest "immortality technology", and keep hold of the show forever.

This has been a long, enthralling, but tragic war. It'll be a shame to see Conan go.

Ratings:
Letterman: 7/10
O'Brien: 9/10
Ferguson: 6/10
Kimmel: 7/10
Leno: 3/10
Fallon: 2/10
Carson Daly: ... I'm sorry... Who?

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CONservative posters

Hi everyone! If you're going by my past posts, you're probably expecting me to rant on about NBC's late night situation, and get all mad about some old guy who's spouting a load of bollocks. But I think Jay Leno can wait for a night.

Today, I come bearing political gifts. Those readers from Britain will know that we're facing an election. David Cameron, leader of the Conservative party, had a poster campaign that was lampooned so much that he quickly became the laughing stock of Whitehall [for readers who are Brown haters- don't worry- Gordon will ALWAYS keep his position as Court Jester].

There's a site on the internet where you can create your own versions of the David Cameron poster [Clickety Click!] . This is probably the most awesome website I've come across in a long while. Enjoy it, and have fun- I certainly did. Here are some things I made earlier [click on the images to see the full size versions- ENJOY!]:

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Pat Robertson? Spouts more BULLCRAP than Robert Pattinson.

Now, you're probably sitting there going: "Hmm, Ravi, didn't you talk about Pat Robertson yesterday?"

And the answer to that, of course, is yes I did.

"So why are you talking about him again, Ravi?"

Well I will tell you.

THE BASTARD INFURIATES ME.

Now, I'm not one to bear a grudge, and I hate hating those who are undeserving of it. But this man [who in my eyes, really isn't much of a man at all] is a complete and utter DOUCHE. Now, those of you who know me well, know that I call myself a douche on a regular basis out of truth. But for crying out loud, this man is something else! Who else has the dimwittedness to go on a social networking site, and call himself "God's Best Friend™"!? That's right, you read that completely correctly. WITH a trademark. And not only that, he nominated HIMSELF for a "shortyaward" [see printscreen].

He then preceded to followfriday HIMSELF. I don't think that I've ever seen someone so narcissistic, egocentric, and CRAZY in my entire life.

And if that [along with yesterday's rant] is not enough, he seems to take extreme glory in being a racist, a sexist, and a staunch republican. Didn't the bible say that man was made in gods image, and that everyone is made equal? Either "God's best friend" can't read; or he won't be the "best friend" any more. Instead of me rabitting on about how much I hate this rank douchebag, here are a selection of his tweets [Plus a retort of mine that I thought wasn't too bad]. I hope you feel as insulted and infuriated as I did.

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What the hell is up with the world?

I would like to start this post by offering my sympathy and [atheist] prayers to the people who have been affected by the recent earthquake in Haiti. I'm going to donate some money later on, and I hope it goes some way to the recovery that will happen over the weeks, months, and years that go by.
But there are two major points to this blog post today.

Firstly, I want to express my DISGUST at Pat Robertson. After the disaster in Haiti, this televangelist [who I would prefer to call a televasshole] declared that Haiti had signed a pact with the devil, and this was their curse for it. Now, I know that religion has had run ins with political correctness in the past, but surely, even someone as thick as three short planks would realise that it's the wrong thing to say, and the wrong time to say it.
But then again, this IS the man who predicted a year of global violence in 2008, stated that the USA would be hit by storms placed by god, and declared that the world would end in 1982 [Ironically, a statement that he addressed on twitter recently, by saying: "People sometimes laugh at me for predicting Doomsday would be in 1982. They just MISHEARD. I ACTUALLY said 2012."]
I took pride in writing the gag “There are various differences between Russell Brand and @ThePatRobertson, of course: one of them won't stop talking shit, and the other's Russell Brand.” A bit harsh, perhaps, but if you look at Robertson’s twitter feed, I think you’ll see what I mean.

Secondly, I want to express my disgust at NBC. I’m not American, nor am I a Late Night TV host [even though, in some stupid way I dream to be], and I am not an avid watcher of Conan O’Brien. But I feel that NBC have been quite rude and immature in their dealings with O’Brien, and with Late Night in general. The show has been on air for little more than 7 months. Everyone concurred that the predecessor in the timeslot, Jay Leno, was slowly petering out, and O’Brien really was the right man for the job. In many ways, he still is, with Jay Leno failing in his primetime slot, and being rendered by many as unfunny.
Even though I’m more a fan of the Scottish Conan Guy rather than the Actual Conan Guy, I have to say that I support Conan O’Brien in his statement. Should the “Tonight Show” be moved to 12.05AM, it’ll be the first time in its history to do so, and, as reflected by O’Brien in his statement, would disgrace the name of the show and its former hosts.
NBC, it’s been seven months. SEVEN. Conan was hugely successful, but it always takes time to build a rapport with a new show. As I said, I am not a late night presenter, nor am I an entertainer or someone in a line of work where people actually give a crap. But I do know what it feels like to do your job while the management watches you like a hawk, and threatens to throw you out the door before you’ve had the chance to prove yourself. So please, stop bickering, give the man what he wants, and more importantly, GIVE HIM A CHANCE.

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Blasphemy Laws!? Christ on a bike!

Last Friday, as we all know, beckoned in the new year for us all. A new year, a new decade- but more importantly, in Ireland- a new law.
Of course, laws are made all the time, and a government can never please everyone. However, this law has caused substantial unrest, and I for one, feel that opposition is justified.
It has now been made illegal to blaspheme in Ireland. Illegal to the tone of a €23,562 fine, in fact.
As a fan of comedy, it's impossible to not see the irony in this case. If I'm frank, even someone with the sense of humour of a boiled gnat would see the funny side of this. Atheist Ireland, who (rightfully, in my opinion) challenged the law, decided to publish 25 quotes, that would contravene the new law. One of the quotes was from that oh-so-racially-intolerant, god-hating SWINE...


... Jesus Christ. Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently Jesus Christ (who may or may not have featured a tiny bit in the bible- I forget), was a blasphemous figure. Surely, the Irish Government must have realised that SOMETHING was going wrong when they (potentially) had to arrest someone for a BLASPHEMY law for quoting JESUS.

Obviously, though, the largest ironic part of this, is the fact that the Irish government wants to control what the public say, when their own MP's have recently become internationally infamous for using "unparliamentary language" while parliament's in session.

Blasphemy laws? To hell with 'em!

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The final Celebrity Big Brother Series!

Yep, that's right. The latest retard convention is upon us!
Here we are again, sitting on our butts, watching people who are APPARENTLY famous try and live together in a heavily controlled environment.
In the flock this year, we have one whore, and 10 people who have slept WITH a whore. Namely Katie Price.
There is only one REAL famous person inhabiting the house, and that's Vinnie Jones. And I think all of us, in harmony, feel that this is too low for Vinnie Jones. Even someone of his standards can do better than this.

So now we've found out who the housemates are, there's only ONE question that we're ALL asking. "When will this year's annual race row happen?"

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