Terry Cowgill

Kramer’s 16 Minutes: Fantasy or Reality?

For fans of Seinfeld and as a droll follow-up to the Michael Richards controversy, you can’t beat this video clip. It’s a lot of fun and has some of the best editing this side of Howard Hawks. Thanks for the heads-up, Colin.

What Mission, Mr. President?

After the events of the last several days, I’m undergoing yet another reassessment of my position on the Iraq war.

As I indicated earlier this month in a comment I posted responding to Fred Baumgarten, I initially supported the war against my better instincts and had fallen prey to the persuasive powers of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, a man for whom I had enormous respect.

Powell, you may recall, delivered a 2003 speech before the United Nations in which he cited “numerous” anonymous Iraqi defectors as confirming that “there can be no doubt that Saddam Hussein has biological weapons and the capability to rapidly produce more, many more.”

If Powell said it, I thought, it must be true. At a certain point, you have to trust your government to do the right thing. After all, they had access to information I could never get ahold of. How naive could I be?

Continue reading What Mission, Mr. President?…

Richards to Sharpton — ‘Sorry?’

[Photo collage courtesy NBC and New England College]

I hate to rain on everyone’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (that’s already been done), but as I was thumbing at a leisurely pace through this morning’s Hartford Courant (which, with all the ad inserts, was as big as a Sunday edition), I ran across this.

Michael Richards, the bigot who during a recent stand-up routine launched into a racist tirade at some black hecklers, has hired famed PR maven Howard Rubenstein to give him advice on damage control (click here to see Richards’ loathsome rant and his craven apology on Letterman). I’m sorry, but not even the brilliant Rubenstein, who has represented some of the most high-profile clients on the planet, can rescue the embattled Richards. His career as a performer is essentially over.

The more remarkable development, however, is that one of the first pieces of advice Rubenstein gave Richards was for him to call Rev. Al Sharpton and apologize. Before you drop your turkey sandwich in your lap, you heard it right. Rubenstein wants Richards to grovel in front someone who is even more despicable than he is.

Continue reading Richards to Sharpton — ‘Sorry?’…

Thankful for the Color

A Drafty Wind Coming From Harlem

[Photo of Rep. Charles Rangel courtesy economicswithaface.com]

It seems to happen every couple of years. The Republicans try to scare god-fearing Americans into believing gay marriage will open the door to matrimony between man and dog.

And Democrat Charlie Rangel tries to reinstate the draft.

Rangel, the raspy-voiced and pugnacious congressman from Harlem, has made it a practice to call for a draft every few years.

Typically, his argument for conscription is to make military service more egalitarian. But in his latest pronouncement, he has something more “in mind”:

“There’s no question in my mind that this president and this administration would never have invaded Iraq, especially on the flimsy evidence that was presented to the Congress, if indeed we had a draft and members of Congress and the administration thought that their kids from their communities would be placed in harm’s way,” Rangel said.

Really? “No question”? That quote tells you all you need to know about Rangel’s recurring fantasy. It sure looks like he wants to use military conscription as a means of informing foreign policy. Either that, or the 76-year-old congressman is posturing in a demagogic attempt to remain relevant in the new Democratic majority.

Continue reading A Drafty Wind Coming From Harlem…

Deano’s: That’s Amore

When I started this blog in May, I promised the occasional food review. In one of my first posts, I sampled the fare at Cheffrey’s Off Main.

Now, after weeks of controversy, Deano’s has opened on Millerton Road (Route 44) in Lakeville [click here to read my news story on the opening]. And based on what I’ve eaten there so far, I am glad to say it has lived up to its billing.

Lakeville has needed an authentic, New York-style pizza parlor for some time. And there is no better person to fill the bill than Dean Diamond, the former owner of Broadway Pizza and Diamante’s in Millerton.

Shortly after the opening, I dropped by to see Dean. It was somewhat crowded — which is typical for the popular pizzeria — but the service was good. I wanted to order up a grinder, but he had only been open a few days and had not expanded the menu to include what I was seeking. No problem.

How about a stromboli? For the uninitiated, we’re basically talking about a pizza that has been folded into itself and sealed. A calzone is similar but also has ricotta cheese inside.

The great thing about ordering either delicacy at Deano’s is they come in large and medium sizes. I’ve ordered strombolis for lunch before at other places and found myself with way too much food. This amount hit the spot.

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‘Yield’ Not to The Birdbrained

I was glad to see a couple of letters to the editor in The Lakeville Journal this week from people fed up with what I call politico-vandalism.

Some cretin has been going around spray-painting the letters “BUSH” under stop signs in the Northwest Corner.

My, how clever! Next thing you know we’ll be seeing yellow signs at other intersections proclaiming “Yield Not to the Neocons.”

The nitwit who scrawled the president’s name was also too stupid to realize it makes his side look foolish. Then again, maybe that’s what he intended to do.

There has been widespread speculation that some of the Robo Calls we all received in the weeks before the recent elections were designed to make you think they’re coming from the other side so that you will be disgusted with them and vote against the candidate you mistakenly think is annoying you with the call.

Maybe there’s something to that. I once covered an election next door in New York where a candidate for town council was caught stealing her own signs — presumably in an effort to generate sympathy for herself. So maybe the failed “Stop Bush” campaign is really the brainchild of erstwhile genius Karl Rove.

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Fox in the Henhouse

Good piece today by our old friend John Fund about incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s insistence on installing Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) as her majority leader. Made famous by his outspoken opposition to the Iraq war and its execution, the once-obscure Murtha is — shall we say — ethically challenged.

There are extensive quotes in Fund’s piece from the Abscam scandal (in which Murtha was implicated) that don’t pass the smell test. Why name someone with Murtha’s record to clean up what many Dems called “the culture of corruption” in Republican Washington?

My guess is that Pelosi believes Murtha’s record as a decorated Vietnam vet gives him the creds the party needs to dramatically alter the war policy put in place by the Bush admin. Pelosi must believe his war record outweighs Murtha’s weighty ethical baggage. The move has even many Dems shaking their heads in disbelief.

Who was the last majority leader of note? I’ll give you a hint; his initials are TD, he’s nicknamed “The Hammer” and he’s a bug killer from Sugarland, Texas! Murtha has complained of being “swift-boated” by all of this. Please …

The Price of ‘Humankindness’

I believe it was Lady Macbeth who told her husband when he got cold feet about killing King Duncan, “Thou art too full of the milk of human kindness.”

Well, after a few visits to Northwest Corner food stores, I am wondering whether there is any human kindness in the sale of milk.

No, this has nothing to with assassination or political intrigue — or at least I don’t think it does. It has everything to do with the wildly varying price of milk — that essential commodity no family with young children can do without.

I saw an article in The Hartford Courant (sorry, can’t locate the link) several weeks ago saying the going price for the white liquid in Connecticut was about $3.50 a gallon.

I scratched my head and thought, “Gee, that’s nowhere near what I’m paying — not even close.” So this morning I got a bee in my bonnet and set about doing a price comparison. What I found was most interesting.

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All Thumping Aside …

Forgive me for being so late in writing an election post mortem.

I was up half the night blogging in real time while watching the coverage, then got up first thing Wednesday morning and wrote a catch-all piece on the elections (link not yet available) for the Lakeville Journal.

I was suffering from election burn-out — the kind of weariness only a couple of days off from the madness can cure. He are my thoughts [photo of a humbled Bush courtesy WKYC-TV]:

Finally, the smirk recedes, or, as Gene Robinson wrote, “Now the Decider must listen.” In elections in which he himself has been the candidate, Bush is still undefeated (3-0-1, with 2000 counting as a tie), but it is hard to envision how the lame-duck president could have taken a greater drubbing than he did this week.

The Dems took control of the House by a landslide margin and, with the concession yesterday of “Sen. Macaca,” they will have a narrow majority in the Senate. It was, as former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt said, “like 1994 in reverse.” A “thumping” is how the president himself put it.

It’s hard to disagree with any of that. The central question for me is: What have the American people repudiated? Conservatism? Republicans? I suspect more of the latter.

Continue reading All Thumping Aside ……