Monday, May 09, 2005

Morning Update

I'm just waiting on my brother to get out of class so I'm blogging away in the library.

Promises, one should keep.
U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh has been promised both a visit to Indiana by new U.S. Trade Representative Bob Portman and consideration by the Senate Finance Committee of Bayh's Stopping Overseas Subsidies Act.

Those obligations must be fulfilled.

Bayh got those promises in exchange for dropping his hold on Portman's nomination.

The U.S. trade representative negotiates trade agreements and leads efforts to resolve trade disputes.
Yes, I shall keep on eye on the matters.

What Kentucky Governor had a pet bird?
James B. McCreary was a two-time governor of Kentucky.


He wasn't a two-timer, though he is buried in Richmond Cemetery with his wife and Polly, his "longtime companion."

Polly was McCreary's pet bird, apparently a parrot. "One of McCreary's enemies said the bird was so dear to him because it was the only creature from whom he would take advice," said Ron Bryant, a Kentucky historian and newspaper columnist from Frankfort.

"If the governor asked the bird if someone should be trusted in politics, it would make a gesture with its head in affirmative or negative response. Another story was that the bird advised McCreary on the character of someone by calling out 'rascal.'"

A Democrat, McCreary was governor in 1875-1879 and in 1911-1915. Born near Richmond, the Madison County seat, in 1838, he became a lawyer before riding off to the Civil War in Rebel gray. He soldiered under Gen. John Hunt Morgan, the famous Confederate cavalry commander from Lexington, and made lieutenant colonel.
Interesting.

Jon Stewart on the road, eh? It links to here! Had it not been Derby Day, I would have bought tickets!
The show you do (at the Murat), is it like your TV show (with correspondents, news, interviews)?
It's politics, religion, life -- all the subjects that interest me -- done in the standard stand-up format, so there's more vulgarity and nudity. It's like cable, but without the censors.[...]

How did you become so interested in politics?
I think I've always been interested. Apparently when I was younger, I used to do Nelson Rockefeller. I don't even know how, I don't know why. I must have seen a comic do it. Apparently Nixon and Rockefeller were my two big impressions when I was younger, occasionally Kissinger. As you can imagine, as a 9-year-old, that must have gone over huge.[...]

I see that 1987 was your comic club debut. What preparation did you do to get to that point?
A blood alcohol level of, I think, 1.3 that allowed me to go on. Just wrote jokes. Unfortunately with stand-up, the problem is that you can't get good until you do it. You just gotta do it in front of the crowd.

Do you remember that night?
Oh, sure. I'd written about five minutes of jokes and I'd gotten through about three minutes before someone was kind enough to shout from the audience that I sucked. Nobody was going "Wow, it's the new Robin Williams." It was a long night, but an exciting one.

You did a show called Short Attention Span Theater.
You're here to hurt me. It was like stand-up clips. I was literally a desk jockey. It was, "Give the monkey a piece of banana and let him talk."

A People magazine writer said you seemed like (David) Letterman's younger, hipper brother.
That's certainly better than seeming like Letterman's retarded brother that lives under the stairs.

Who are the funniest people around, at the risk of alienating some of your friends?
There's so many. Colin Quinn, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Norm McDonald, a lot of the guys that I started out with that I really enjoy watching.

Who do you hang out with?
We have the comedian's brunch every Sunday.
That's it til this evening.

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