By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Nov 21, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Thought for the day.
Squeeze something of value out of everything you do today.
When scrounging, gratitude for a seemingly small thing is a good fall back. Sometimes those “small things” are really pretty big things.
For example, yesterday I was stuck somewhere and Sponge Bob Square Pants was on TV in the background. I watched several minutes to see what useful life “take away” was coming my way.
Sure, I love Sponge Bob Square Pants as much as the next gu,y but yesterday’s episode Bob was off his usual charming and clever game.
And then it happened.
The next scene prominently features a character names Squidward. And I had my “take away.” And didn’t even have to squeeze hard.
I am so grateful my parents did not name my Squidward. Even with a cool middle name, having the first name Squidward would have provided challenges and obstacles in my youth I may not have been able to successfully surmount. Even though I am a human being and not an animated cartoon character.
And you can see the toll it’s taken on Squidward himself by looking at his drawn face and vapid eyes.
Yes, mom and dad, thank you. And is so often the case, the “small gratitude” turned into a large gratitude.
And then someone changed the channel to Fox News. And I became grateful my name wasn’t Shep.
Are you beginning to see how this Thought for the Day works?
The Seattle Times was watching The RP on The Daily Show last week. Indeed, they mention the appearance as an illustration of the problem of hyper-partisanship and polarization in our system:
Some will glance at the list and liken No Labels’ mission to a bunch of kumbaya ho-hum, but something’s gotta give. If the two main parties in this country can’t work together, we need an independent force to shake things up. I’m not saying we should do away with the Democrats and the Republicans; I’m saying citizens should encourage them to use No Labels as a basis for building consensus and compromise.
On last Thursday’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, correspondent Al Madrigal “reported” on gridlock in America and interviewed a No Labels co-founder about the group’s 12-point plan. The fake newsman challenged the virtues of those ideas by taking us to “a magical land of no gridlock.” He goes to Arizona, where Republicans have a super majority in both chambers of the Legislature and have passed a series of controversial bills.
Watch. It’s really silly, but the underlying message is serious.
In Madrigal’s faux news world, we’re presented with two extremes: gridlock — government inaction that’s symptomatic of parties seeking to tip the balance of power — or one-party domination.
We’re better-served by having something in the middle.
Since the make-up of the U.S. Congress is relatively balanced between Republicans and Democrats right now, I can’t think of a better time for lawmakers to set aside party labels and take tentative steps to re-gain the public’s trust.
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Genealogy and cultural symbolism.
I have never been very good at quickly following family relationships on large family trees. I get parents and children and even grandparents and first cousins. But after that, it starts to get confusing. …
Which got me wondering about metaphorical family trees.
I’ve been reading a lot recently about the show Modern Family is emblematic of America—and the American family—today. I love the show and don’t argue much with the contention.
Likewise, when I was a boy I liked The Waltons. They were described back then as emblematic of America –and the American family.
But that was 40 years ago. Which leads to my next question:
Is Cam John Boy’s son or nephew? And which one of the Waltons gets blamed for Phil Dunphy?
Bill Bryant, host of “Kentucky Newsmakers” on WKYT-TV in Lexington, Ky., mentioned our own John Y. Brown, IV on his political news segment yesterday. Bryant referenced the “Why We Lost” piece JYB4 penned this week.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Nov 16, 2012 at 8:35 AM ET
Last night, I had the incredible opportunity of playing straight man to The Daily Show‘s hilarious Al Madrigal in a segment of the Comedy Channel’s most popular franchise — and one of my all-time favorite shows.
As Madrigal exposed, No Labels — the national grassroots movement I co-founded, that involves 600,000 Democrats, Republican, and Independents in efforts to promote problem-solving to replace hyper-partisanship — is really a front group for immigrant harassment, forced Chick-fil-a feeding, and spinning in circles.
Or something like that.
When the show was first run, I tweeted my commentary simultaneously. You can read my wacky insights by clicking here.
So if you missed it last night; now, here’s my moment of zen:
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Nov 15, 2012 at 6:00 PM ET
Yep, you read that right.
Tonight at 11:00 PM EST, I will be appearing on one of my all-time favorite television programs:The Daily Show, starring Jon Stewart, on Comedy Central.
Daily Show correspondent Al Madrigal interviewed me this summer at the No Labels headquarters in Washington, DC for a segment on hyper-partisanship. I had planned to make a passionate case for Make Congress Work, our 12-point plan to help transform Washington from hyper-partisanship to problem solving.
Of course, this is Comedy Central. And we spent about three hours in an “interview” that can only be characterized as a comedy improv session.
I had to comply with 2 rules: No jokes. No laughing.
And that was a lot more difficult than it sounds — Madrigal and his crew are really, really funny.
The scariest part about tonight’s airing is that I have no idea what parts of the interview survived the editing floor. And if you have ever seen the pretaped segments on The Daily Show, you can anticipate a whole lot of making fun of… yours truly.
If you’d like to experience the show with me — virtually speaking — I will be running a live feed of my spontaneous tweets here at this site as the show runs tonight at 11. You can join me with your comments, critiques, and put downs (keep it civil!) by using the hashtag #RecoveringPol from your personal Twitter account. Your comments will appear live aside mine here at The Recovering Politician home page.
If you are fast asleep at 11 — don’t worry, there will be many other chances to watch me implode on national television.
The show will re-run again tomorrow (Friday, November 16) at 1:00 AM, 10:00 AM and 7:30 PM (all EST). And, of course, I will have the clip up here at The Recovering Politician as soon as technology permits.
So join me tonight (or tomorrow) on The Daily Show. It could be the last time you will ever see me in public…
In his semi-regular gig as American politics expert for Canada’s CTV News — the CNN plus MSNBC plus Fox News of the Great White North — The RP spoke yesterday to the residents of his wife’s homeland about how the grassroots movement he co-founded, No Labels, is working to transform Washington from hyper-partisanship to problem-solving.
To sign onto the No Labels’ plan to Make Congress Work, click here and add your energy to the growing movement which now includes nearly 600,000 Democrats., Republicans and Independents, all who believe we must occasionally put aside our labels to do what is right for our nation.
And for The RP on CTV News, let’s go to the videotape:
Sure, I love Sponge Bob Square Pants as much as the next gu,y but yesterday’s episode Bob was off his usual charming and clever game.
