Just a chime....or??

[westgrandboulevard]

Stone me!!!

[Jerry Oz]

And the eager crowd began chanting "we will, we will ROCK YOU"​!

[westgrandboulevard]

Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.....

[Jerry Oz]

And many US congressmen are gathering their rocks for yet another fun session of name calling and inaction, thanks to those bad guys who sit on the other side of the aisle...

[westgrandboulevard]

Same here, in the House of Commons.

All the [[un)sound effects of a livestock market.

A cacophony of bleating sheep and goats, lowing cattle, braying donkeys .......

[Jerry Oz]

If I had to say something positive about our elected representatives, I'd say that they have a job that pays well. I can't think of much beyond that...

[westgrandboulevard]

I can't say that I could do their job, but I can say that I won't be trying....

[Jerry Oz]

Well, it appears that they are not trying, either, so you have my vote. At least I like you.

[westgrandboulevard]

I don't feel I'd be any good as an elected representative, because I'm more given to the written word than to stand up, debating points, or telling people how it's going to be.

I might be more successful at the wheels of administration behind all the ballyhoo - which is where I suspect a lot of the influence lies......

[Jerry Oz]

Or, to be more accurate and honest, change your last sentence to "which is where a lot of the lies influence...".

[westgrandboulevard]

There was a very popular BBC series in the '80s, called 'Yes Minister' [[later 'Yes, Prime Minister'). A satirical sitcom, set in Whitehall, which portrayed the power struggle between a government minister, and officials from the civil service.

Most times, the Minister was effectively a mouthpiece of the civil servants. Fictional, amusing and entertaining, but also quite plausible.

No doubt, there would have been similar productions on US TV......

[Jerry Oz]

I'm sure. After NetFlix did their version of "House of Cards", I watched the British version to check out the source material. It was darker and even more mean-spirited, but thoroughly enjoyable. I guess politics everywhere is a cut-throat business.

[westgrandboulevard]

I imagine that, any place where people are doing what they feel is right, but also keen to be both seen and heard to get it right, things are always likely to get cut-throat. [[like around this forum, at times )

On the subject of TV productions, are yours strictly subject to approval by sponsors, or has that all passed?

[Jerry Oz]

Not expressly approved. Sponsors put their money into a good show until controversy makes it appear that a boycott looms. At that point, they decide which way the breeze is blowing and if it looks like they're going to be embroiled in a bit of a row, they pull the loot. That's what happened with Paula Deen and didn't happen with the recent "Duck Dynasty" situation. So, the approval is more implied than direct.

There are very few circumstances wherein sponsors have direct input on the programming, like the Hallmark Hall of Fame productions.

[westgrandboulevard]

For many years, the feeling in the UK was that US programmes we saw were heavily sanitised, and probably presented an ideal, rather less than accurate impression of real American life.

I was reminded the other day that Ed Sullivan was appalled at the length of the Rolling Stones' hair, when they were first booked to appear on his show....

[Jerry Oz]

It's funny, in a way. I suppose the fact that I can see myself in the mirror when I step from the shower would earn me a daily NC-17 rating if my life were a documentary, but I somehow am still surprised at what passes for mass entertainment.

Cable television greatly changed what we see on television. Swearing, "adult themes", and violence are common place during what used to be known as family hour. And the shows are becoming more and more profane as they up the ante to get reputations for shock value. I hear things said in less-than-subtle ways that used to be enough to garner an R rating for motion pictures.

[westgrandboulevard]

I was brought up in a family of regular churchgoers. It was not strict, but my parents would have been disappointed [[perhaps without even saying so) if I had used what I began to recognise as 'bad' language. I subsequently developed the viewpoint that if I were to use it, I was letting myself down.

I've gradually changed my views on what I view [[or perhaps that should be 'hear'?) as profane language.

In moments of stress, I rarely if ever audibly swear, but sometimes the words are in my mind. To many other people, that would seem unrealistic. [[as in, "is he for ****ing real???" LOL) They use words which I would quietly regard as rude and crude, and they use them in regular daily use.

I may, over time, simply have become somewhat desensitised to it, but it doesn't bother me too much now. It's just their way of expressing themselves, although I won't be copying them.

These are words which are in common use by very many people, so I guess it is realistic that they are then used in the media [[although the issue of babies growing up learning the words is a separate issue, and one which still tends to concern me).

I think it is best if there are controls on language used in entertainment, as I don't always want to see life exactly as it really is. That said, as long as I have a choice, I'm happy.

If one of the choices I have in my life concerns the words I can select to use, that's suits me fine. I'm disinclined to criticise someone who makes a different selection- even if sometimes, it might feel as if I'm being verbally beaten over the head

[arr&bee]

Hey westgrand my wife beat me with a verbal the other day[they hurt]i hide em but she keeps finding them.

[westgrandboulevard]

You don't go looking for trouble, but it just keeps finding you.

I must start a Soulful Detroit Victims Support thread!

[arr&bee]

Yeah west,after a couple more swigs i'm gonna need all the support i can get.

[westgrandboulevard]

I have a hammock you can use.

[Jerry Oz]

After a few hits of the good stuff, he could sleep like a babe while lying on a bed full of rocks.

[westgrandboulevard]

There's quite a difference between a sleep, and a deep coma

[arr&bee]

A GOOD COMA WILL TAKE YOU TO PLACES YOU'VE NEVER BEEN...[and some you don't want to go to.]BUT YOU EVENTUALLY[SOME OF THE TIME]WAKE UP FEELING,UM,FEELING,ERR,FEELING SOMETHING.

[westgrandboulevard]

That's absolutely true.

A good coma is much preferable to a bad full stop.

[Jerry Oz]

There must be something that you can take if you wake from a hooch coma and feel bad. I wonder what will make it better...

[westgrandboulevard]

The hair of the hooch pooch?

[Jerry Oz]

That, or a tall drink of "arr&bee's Oblivion Hooch". It cures what ails you, especially if it IS what ails you.

[westgrandboulevard]

It's true, that is indeed what 'they' say.

I'd say it continues it, not cures it.

And curious how we continue with things in our lives which aren't good for us, but are simply what we want...

[Jerry Oz]

Or, as the Mighty Mighty Bosstones stated it in one of my favorite lyrics [[Another Drinkin' Song):

"Countin' on a remedy I've counted on before,
Goin' with a cure that's never failed me,
What you call the disease,
I call the remedy, what you're callin' the cause, I call the cure"

[westgrandboulevard]

As with almost everything, it's all a matter of perception.......

[Jerry Oz]

I don't see it that way...

[arr&bee]

Hey jerry one sip of this wonderful elixur and you won't see anything.

[westgrandboulevard]

Ah! That, arr&bee, would explain this growing feeling that your posts arrive here by thought transfer, rather than by using a keyboard and a screen.

[144man]

Does hooch really cure all ills or is it just a placebo?

[westgrandboulevard]

Since it doesn't exist, but some feel better to think it does, then I'd definitely go for placebo.

[Jerry Oz]

The answer is "yes". It either cures all ills or is a placebo. I think of it as "medicinal hooch" and I'm trying have laws passed that legalize the use of it.

[arr&bee]

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA,YOU CAN PLACEBO IT ANYWHERE YOU WANT AND IT'S STILL THE MOST POWERFUL MEDICINAL,AROMATIC,ROMANTIC[you didn't see that one coming]HAIRREMOVING,TOUNGUE TYING,FUNGUS REMOVING,GUMCLEASING,EYEBALL LIFTING,DISHWASHWER SAFE ELIXUR THAT'S EVER OR WILL EVER BE.

[Jerry Oz]

...and all for six easy payments of $19.95...

[westgrandboulevard]

And then, when you're hooked, many more payments which become increasingly difficult....

[arr&bee]

Oh it's not the payments that become difficult...it's picking your body parts up from wherever you left them the night before,that's a bit tricky.

[westgrandboulevard]

Here, let me lend you a hand.....

[arr&bee]

Or as that famous statesman and great amenien once said...vus vash cabong bing bi...or lend me a penny or one single cent whiever comes to mind...what a statesman.

[westgrandboulevard]

He'd need to be great. What can a penny, or a cent, get you now?

[Jerry Oz]

More than you might think. My uncle Briscoe used to tell me that nobody had any common cents any more, so I believe them to be quite rare...

[westgrandboulevard]

Uncle Briscoe knew what he was talking about.

Many will say they are right on the money, but don't seem to understand values.

[arr&bee]

My uncle made alot of money in his day,he never could understand why he couldn't spend money with his dog's picture on it...i mean after all the dog was a registered voter.

[westgrandboulevard]

He should have followed the example of HM The Queen.

She never votes, and she's on every sterling banknote.

[arr&bee]

He once took a note to the bank and ther're still chasing him.

[westgrandboulevard]

Did it say 'Give me all you've got!' - ?