Faux Phone Call Leaves Governor Fauked
Posted by MichaelGroff on February 26, 2011 | Filed under Podcasts
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Politicians make blunders, gaffes and even display a total lack of common sense while in office—it comes with the territory. A select few attract the national spotlight simply due to their gross incompetence. In the political spectrum of public relations nightmares there shall forever be a new extreme and his name is Scott Walker. The Wisconsin governor—elected as a Tea Party Candidate—fell for what can only be characterized as the oldest trick in the book this past week. A man purporting to be David Koch (one of the Koch brothers, a major Tea Party financial backer) called the governor’s office on a public line and actually got through. Walker, unaware that the man on the phone wasn’t really David Koch, revealed his entire strategy to stop the labor union protesters and push through legislation that would change the collective bargaining agreement with the unions.
While the prank caller wasn’t exactly trying to hide the fact that he wasn’t really David Koch, Walker just kept right on talking; at one point upon prompting from the faux Koch, the governor admits that he considered putting opponents to the protesters in the crowd. Such a move could have been a public safety risk and it should be noted that, to this point, has not come to fruition. This is just a small tidbit of the nearly 20 minute faux call in which Walker takes the bait over and over again. Remarkably, Scott Walker appears articulate, well versed on legislative procedure perhaps even displaying a reasonable amount of verbal intelligence and yet he is scammed by a regular guy that calls on his public line and pretends to be a major campaign contributor… unbelievable.
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Moammar Gadhafi, Truly Evil
Despite protests and uprisings across the country, Moammar Gadhafi will not budge. Calls from president Barack Obama and other world leaders for the disgraced Libyan leader to step down are going unheeded. The pressure continues to mount on Gadhafi as his own military is mostly refusing to carry out his orders to disperse protesters by any means necessary. So if your military won’t carry out your orders, what can you do? Hire a military that will.
Reportedly, Gadhafi has hired a militia from the Sudan at the cost of $2,000 per day per person to carry out his will. This includes shooting at protesters and doing small bombing runs on any areas that oppose him. Gadhafi has even offered families as much as $400 (which is a good part of a year’s wage in Libya) to swear allegiance to him.
By far, the most violence in the North African/mid east protests have occurred in Libya. Some nations are trying to force his hand financially as well. The United States, and Switzerland have frozen most of his assets.
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Madonna Gaga
For some reason or another, people are insistent that the latest single from Lady Gaga “Born This Way” is a direct ripoff of Madonna’s 1989 hit “Express Yourself”. One could call it a controversy assuming we all cared enough to get that riled up about it. While featuring similar chord progressions, the basic structure of the songs is fairly different, the melodies are both dissimilar enough to where only the musical novice would consider it “theft”. Coldplay lifting a tune from Joe Satriani is a blatant case of musical piracy, but this is just a case of one pop song sounded a little tiny bit similar to another one in the sense that all female pop songs have a similar flavor. Controversy over.
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The Womb Police
Outrageous legislation and ridiculous laws are nothing new, but just when you thought you’ve heard everything…
Georgia House representative Bobby Franklin is proposing a law requiring all miscarriages to be investigated. If there’s “evidence” that a woman may have induced a miscarriage then she may face felony charges if Franklin’s bill were to pass. There’s nothing quite like the idea of investigating a person at their most vulnerable time—following a miscarriage—and making them feel even more guilt. Women generally blame themselves for miscarriages as it is and now a legislator feels that perhaps law enforcement should exacerbate that situation.
As if it needs to be said, Bobby Franklin is a Republican and a pretty extreme one at that… apologies for the obvious statement. I can’t imagine where negative stereotypes about Republicans might come from.
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Death Panels? Canadian Health Care System? No!
Joseph Maraachli, a baby born with a neurological disorder that is inevitably terminal, is the victim of a massive controversy. His parents would like to take him home so that he may be around loved ones in his final hours, while doctors and health officials will not allow the child to be removed from the hospital. In fact, doctors are set to remove the child’s breathing tube on Monday, something that the parents have been trying to prevent.
While the parents have tried to appeal the doctor’s decisions in Canadian courts, their appeals have all gone the way of the “health care” system… surprise Surprise, the government is agreeing with it’s own decision. Therefore, the parents, Moe Maraachli and Sana Nader must now watch as doctors allow their child to die against their terms.
This is certainly the health care system I want the U.S. to emulate!
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Here’s a Law You Probably Weren’t Aware Existed
It is illegal to deliver the Gettysburg Address from the Lincoln Memorial. A lesson that Phillip Howell learned very quickly. The 25-year-old man, who bares a striking resemblance to Abraham Lincoln, stood atop the steps of the memorial and began reciting the famous address, but before he could get very far a national parks officer put an abrupt end to his performance. The officer told Howell that if he is to finish the address, he needs to do so from the base of the memorial. Not wanting to cause any trouble, Howell complied.
The story doesn’t end here. Howell finished the address from the bottom of the steps to a chorus of cheers from a crowd. Some people in the crowd even gave Howell money based upon his delivery of honest Abe’s famous speech. The park officer didn’t like that… asking if Howell had a license and permit, Howell replied “no,” and the officer reminded him that he could be arrested. Howell, in disbelief watched as the officer wrote him a $100 citation. Remarkable!
Proving that a uniform and a little bit of power can be a dangerous thing in the wrong hands. Most national park officers couldn’t be better people, and certainly they do have a duty to help educate and protect our national parks from litter, vandalism and destruction. This, however, seems like a situation where common sense and law don’t mix. We have constitutionally protected speech and where better to exercise that than at the memorial of a man who was largely responsible for the construction of the 14th amendment.
Of course, if Mr. Howell had a permit, he could have delivered the Gettysburg Address from the memorial or he could have delivered any speech from there, even a speech to advocate returning the confederacy to power. Without a permit though, Lincoln’s words are to be seen and not heard, how sad.
March 4, 2011 at 3:49 am
The phone call is fascinating because it’s a politician speaking candidly. And to be honest, what he said makes a hell of a lot of sense!
March 7, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Hey Mike, Lady Gaga is a woman. The “Born This Way” video shows a lot of skin. I’m not sure if you could even hide a “member” in those tight panties. Sure it worked in Ace Ventura but these are a bit too tight. BTW those legs… Yuck!!
It’s like creepy old guy legs! Really, she’s bit of a freak!
July 18, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Mike……Come back to us…..We miss you brother.
October 19, 2011 at 12:52 am
Mike, I must say it’s been really sad without your company. I’m really concerned as to how you’re doing and how to contact you.
October 27, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Agree with James… where you been Mike! If I make a donation will James still do a drawing and will you come back? Hope your decision process you went through led you to some happiness. No sense in wasting all of Hillary’s hard web work I say.. Please save me from these Fox News programs!
November 15, 2014 at 7:41 pm
I hope Quaddafi isn’t listening he ran a aotrcuacy, everything had to be said favorable about him. There wasn’t any opportunity for opinions about how he looked. One time he put someone in jail for suggesting that Quaddafi would build his face up for a public presentation and temporarily lose consciousness and depended on vassals to revive him in case he passed out during a speech. However, he wasn’t really under the control of an enemy, since he thought of the speech material himself. He’d memorized material he wrote himself This was an example of a NON-DEMOCRATIC country that I know of. In fact I think the guy is still in jail for saying the ruler built up his face on the sides!! He was well-liked.
January 3, 2012 at 8:45 am
being a facebook friend of mike’s it appears hillary is sadly out of the picture and has been replaced :(. not sure what is up other than that.
February 13, 2012 at 7:25 am
We miss you Mike!! Come back to us!