Monthly Archives: June 2012

Here's a piece about why those Nigerian Prince e-mail scams are so obvious. And make no mistake about it: They are obvious. I only fell for five or six before I got wise. They're not legit like those messages I get from rich people who are stranded in a foreign country, need money and are willing to pay me back 1000% on the money I'm sending them.

Is there anyone out there who can help me with something? I need a couple of frame-grabs from an episode of the TV series L.A. Law that was, I believe, in its Season 6. These do not seem to be available online or on DVD and no channel I get on my satellite dish appears to be running them at the moment. Is there some devout L.A. Law fan reading this who recorded that season, is willing to help me out and — most important — knows how to make a frame-grab?

If you're curious why I need such a thing, just keep reading this blog. I have a great anecdote to tell about one particular episode but I'd like to have a visual aid to go along with it. If I can't find one, I'll eventually post it anyway.

Number two hundred and sixty-three in a series…

I think I agree with Daniel Larison. Mitt Romney's candidacy isn't really about much more than not being Barack Obama. Which is about the only thing you can say about Romney with any degree of certainty. Oh, yeah — and that he's very rich and thinks the country should be run for others who are.

The song doesn't blow me away but I had to watch this video from start to finish. Nice job. Wonder how many takes it took to get it in one continuous one…

Ezra Klein on why we shouldn't be surprised that the U.S. Supreme Court has become so political.

I've often thought that one thing that really doesn't make sense about that highest of courts is that its makeup hinges so much on an unpredictable factor like life expectancy. It's usually worked out that there's around one vacancy in each four-year presidential term. But some day, there's going to come a period when a number of justices will all go at the same time and some president is going to be called on to fill three or four seats. All of a sudden, the party that's not in power will be screaming that it's not fair; that one Prez can't make so many lifetime selections, thereby skewing the court his way for decades to come. They'll be demanding constitutional amendments to prevent that from ever happening again…but then it'll be too late. Imagine if Obama got to replace three Conservatives or Bush had gotten to replace three Liberals. You think this country is polarized now?

Tweets are about to get longer. I'm trying to figure out how to express my feelings about this in 140 characters or less.

For reasons I explained here and here, an L.A. restaurant called Cassell's has long been my favorite place to sample the rare delicacy known as a "hamburger." It was a better place when Mr. Cassell was alive and running it, scurrying around to make sure the freshly-made mayo was freshly-made and the high-quality lemonade was squeezed from high-quality lemons. But the folks who bought the business from him not long before he passed kept enough of his policies intact that it still offered up a fine burger. Even when I was a partner in a famous Hollywood hamburger restaurant, I'd go to Cassell's for the occasional burger and wish the business I had money in could do them as well.

It's been bittersweet to go to Cassell's since. The burgers have been grand…just maybe not as grand as they once were. It also got a little shabby in there.

But that's history now. Cassell's has closed or is about to close. I'm going to call up later and see if I have one more opportunity to visit their current location. According to this article, it has shut down there or soon will. The new owners have sold out to newer owners and the newer owners have plans to reopen it in eight or more months in a new location with additional menu items.

I'm skeptical. I've had favorite restaurants close, promise to reopen elsewhere and then disappear forever. Or they come back and they're the same restaurant in name and one or two dishes only. I have the feeling one or the other is about to happen to my favorite burger venue. Now that Five Guys is spreading into Los Angeles, it's not that huge a loss…but it is a loss.

Number two hundred and sixty-two in a series…

So everyone's saying that the Supreme Court is likely to void some or all of the Affordable Care Act, perhaps as soon as next Monday. Practically everyone figures that the best the A.C.A. supporters might muster is to squeak by on a 5-4 decision. A few decades ago, I didn't SCOTUS-watch as much as I do now but I don't recall earlier justices being as predictable as most of them are these days. It's sad that no one expects principle will trump politics.

There are about 87,000 articles on 'net about "What it will mean if the Supreme Court rules against Obamacare" and therefore about 87,000 projections. Not all are bad for those of us who think Americans' need for affordable health care can't be put off until Republicans can configure a plan which will (a) not give any credit to Democrats, (b) cost more, (c) shovel as much of that money as possible to private enterprise, (d) help the wealthy pay less in taxes and to get more out of the plan than the middle or lower classes and (e) otherwise have everything wrong with it they say is wrong with "Obamacare." They can achieve most of that by just going back to the plan they were pushing years ago when the individual mandate was a Conservative concept. It will be again once they think of something else to call it.

Bagels.

Dick Cheney lied about "evidence" to justify the Iraq War? Jeez. Next thing, you'll be telling me Paul Lynde was gay…

My longtime pal Marc Wielage told me about this. It's an article about the convoluted ownership of Route 66 and Naked City, two very fine TV shows. There are a number of shows that aren't out on home video because of snags like some of what you'll read in that piece…or if they are out on video, they aren't done right or out for long.