By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Sep 14, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET
Some of the most brilliant comedy shorts have been produced over the years for ESPN Sportscenter television promos. But this one tops them all. See what the reserved, nerdy John Clayton (at left) is really like behind the camera:
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Sep 13, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET
As a longtime Saturday Night Live viewer — I can remember the days, sonny, when it was really funny — some of my favorite skits have always been the political impersonations. Some of the mimicking, indeed, has had significant geopolitical impact: Polls showed that the American public thought that Al Gore “won” the first 2000 debate with George W. Bush, but public opinion shifted after Darryl Hammond’s devastating reenactment of Gore’s sighing and lock-boxing. And there’s no doubt that Tina Fey helped shape the current image of her doppleganger, Sarah Palin.
I’ve never been the biggest Fred Armisten fan — how could he break up with Peggy from Mad Men?!?! — so I was thrilled to here that up-and-coming Jay Pharoah would be taking up the future Barack Obama duties.
Then I saw the following clip. Brilliant. If they could only find someone better than Jason Sudekis to do Mitt Romney, we might have a terrific comedy fall in store:
By Bradford Queen, Managing Editor, on Wed Sep 12, 2012 at 12:30 PM ET
The Politics of Faith
An attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens last night was originally reported to be fueled by outrage over a film portraying Prophet Muhammed in a negative light. That outrage is now being said to have been a ruse for a planned attack. [WSJ]
American Atheists is suing the the National September 11 Memorial & Museum for displaying the cross made of one of the tower’s T-beams that became a nation symbol after the attacks. [CNN]
Evangelicals are leading a cause to adopt embryos stored in research labs. [Religion News Service]
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Sep 10, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET
I’ve got for you the perfect antidote to the Monday-morning blues: 4 minutes of sublime enjoyment — the cast of Mad Men (inadvertently) performing Rick Astley’s infamous “Never Gonna Give You Up.” An insta-Web-classic:
This afternoon, The RP spent an hour on “Our Times with Craig Barnes,” a weekly radio program, broadcast on KSFR 101.1 FM, Santa Fe every Saturday at 9:00 am MST. They discussed No Labels, the party conventions, and even a little poker.
On the last evening of the 2000 Democratic National Convention, as the newly elected State Treasurer of Kentucky and a former staffer of the party’s presidential nominee, The RP spoke for three minutes in near-prime-time about his mentor and friend, Al Gore. It would be the highlight of his political career — he’d suffer through a decade more in the muck, never to be on such a large stage.
But thanks to the magic of YouTube, you can enjoy this twelve-year-old flashback:
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Sep 5, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
The following piece, which appeared this weekend in the Harlan Daily, details the important work being done to battle the horrific problem of drug dependency in Appalachia by Pastor Kyle Burnette, father of The RP’s extraordinary Webmaster, Justin Burnette:
Photo courtesy of HarlanDaily.com
Taking steps to help others in his community has been a lifetime goal of Harlan resident Kyle Burnette. Pastoring since the age of 19, Burnette, now 58 years of age, is taking classes to obtain his master’s degree in psychology, with an emphasis on chemical dependency, to enable him to help those in need throughout Harlan County.
“A year ago, I decided to go back to school at Union College, in Barbourville,” said Burnette. “I was visiting there one day and I heard them talking about a course on drug dependency counseling. It sounded interesting to me and I thought I want to do that. I got to looking at drug abuse in our county and problems that are running rampant and I couldn’t help but ask myself the question, ‘why are these folks doing this?’ Folks just don’t wake up one day and say I think I’ll ruin my life with drugs today. So, I enrolled in that class simply with the intention of taking the chemical dependency certification class and be done with it. I got interested in this and decided to complete my master’s degree in psychology. This has opened a whole new realm for me, allowing me to possibly even do counseling, particularly in drug dependency.”
As a community-minded person, Burnette offers this insight to others in regard to those who are drug dependent, “Be very careful about judging what you think that person should be. Look at them for who they are and ultimately, as a pastor, who God wants them to be. Try to understand, as best you can, because you can’t always understand, what got those who are drug dependant to that point and try to find a way to help them get beyond that point. With the drug situation in our county, I daresay there’s not a family in our county that hasn’t been touched by this in someway. It may not be directly but might be indirectly. If we spent less time judging one another and more time helping one another, I think we could accomplish a lot more. This is something I am very passionate about. I’ve never been one to judge someone else — don’t want to be a judge. I just want to help someone who needs to be helped.”
Pastor of both Harlan and Baxter United Methodist Church, Burnette said in the Methodist tradition pastors are members of circuits, which allows pastors to travel and be responsible for more than one church. He is also an advertising consultant for WHLN Radio in Harlan. He is a member of the Harlan Lions Club and serves as a member on the Christian Outreach for Appalachian People (COAP) board.
Burnette graduated from Murray State, having been raised in Lee County, Va. He met and married his wife Shelia, who was a Middlesboro native, and they moved to Harlan County approximately 26 years ago. They have three sons and five grandchildren. They are also expecting their sixth grandchild very soon.
By Jonathan Miller, on Wed Sep 5, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
Contributing RP Artur Davis was given a prime time slot to speak last Tuesday at the Republican National Convention. Below, we have a transcript of his speech and a few excerpted articles about it:
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
Some of you may know, the last time I spoke at a convention, it turned out I was in the wrong
place.
So, Tampa, my fellow Republicans, thank you for welcoming me where I belong.
We have a country to turn around. This week you will nominate the most experienced executive to seek the presidency in 60 years in Mitt Romney.
He has no illusions about what makes America great, and he doesn’t confuse the presidency with celebrity, or loftiness with leadership.
What a difference four years makes.
The Democrats’ ads convince me that Governor Romney can’t sing, but his record convinces me he knows how to lead, and I think you know which skill we need more.
Now, America is a land of second chances, and I gather you have room for the estimated 6 million of us who know we got it wrong in 2008 and who want to fix it.
Maybe we should have known that night in Denver that things that begin with plywood Greek columns and artificial smoke typically don’t end well.
Maybe the Hollywood stars and the glamour blinded us a little: you thought it was the glare, some of us thought it was a halo.
But in all seriousness, do you know why so many of us believed? We led with our hearts and our dreams that we could be more inclusive than America had ever been, and no candidate had ever spoken so beautifully.
But dreams meet daybreak: the jobless know what I mean, so do the families who wonder how this Administration could wreck a recovery for three years and counting.
So many of those high-flown words have faded.
Read the rest of… Artur Davis’ RNC Speech and Media Coverage
By Jonathan Miller, on Mon Sep 3, 2012 at 1:00 PM ET
Just caught this on “Showtime.” Derivative of the coolearly Social Network trailer — with the chorus of kids singing Radiohead’s “Creep” — but still awesome nonetheless.
Less than a month until the September 30 season premiere. Enjoy:
