As was probably expected – at least by some- Jay Leno opened his return to The Tonight Show Monday night with an “it was all a dream” gag, waking in a sepia-toned, Dorothy delirium from The Wizard of Oz.

It was, we suppose a bit like a bad dream – a nation-wide late-night hallucination – in which way overpaid funnymen have retired, said farewell, switched time slots, spent millions of dollars on new studio sets, said hello again, launched pretty bad new shows, spoke badly of each other and of their employer. All of this to bring Leno back to his old slot as host of the venerable Tonight Show.

Leno said almost nothing about The Jay Leno Show, NBC’s abortive attempt last fall to reinvent the talk-comedy format five nights a week in the 10 p.m. time slot. And there was nothing about former Tonight Show host Conan O’Brien, who captained it for a little more than seven months. O’Brien taped his last episode on January 22, and walked away with millions of dollars.

Most of you will remember that during the Vancouver Olympics broadcasts NBC run frequent Tonight Show ads, featuring a smug-looking Jay Leno in a fancy sports car (probably one from his own collection) and snippets from the Beatles song Get Back (to where you once belonged).

It is pretty obvious that Leno’s talent is kind of mediocre. This of course gives TV viewers great comfort. He provided easily digested topical jokes, including one about Alan Greenspan, one on Dick Cheney’s heart problems and another about the end of Tiger Woods’ Gatorade contract.

Welcome back Jay! Thank God, we watch so little TV…

Technorati Tags: Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno, NBC, television, Tonight Show, tv

Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper encouraged Canadians to express their patriotism in support of Canadian athletes at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Harper urged Canadians to shed their usual humility and not be shy about supporting the country and its athletes.

The Canadian Olympic Committee has also launched the “Own the Podium -2010″ program.

Although Canada has won several gold medals in Olympic competitions, it had never won a gold medal during either of the first two earlier Olympics it hosted – the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.

Despite placing third behind the U.S. and Germany in total medal count, Canada has won a record 14 gold medals in Vancouver, after beating the talented U.S. hockey team in hockey. It was a very, very closely fought game, with Canada winning the gold in overtime.

The only previous countries to win 13 gold medals in a Winter Games were the Soviet Union in 1976 and Norway in 2002.

The 13 (and now 14) gold medals is also a record for a host nation.

So, it appears that Canada’s “Own the Podium –2010” effort has paid off in spades.

Congratulations to our northern neighbors, to the organizers of the Vancouver Olympic Games and to the athletes of all the participating countries! Lets not forget that the U.S. has fielded probably the best Winter Olympic team in history as well.

__________________________________________________________________________________

The above was written and posted shortly after the Canada – U.S. hockey game has ended. The following are reflections gathered during the Vancouver Olympics closing ceremonies:

__________________________________________________________________________________

The low point of the closing ceremonies and maybe even of the entire Vancouver Games – besides the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili – was without a doubt the Soviet…well…Russian presentation, relating to the upcoming 2014 Sochi Winter Games. A Soviet choir sung the Soviet anthem. Yes, folks, the Soviet anthem. The very same one we all had to suffer through during many previous Olympics. As it happens, that Soviet musical “masterpiece” has been happily retired after the fall of the Soviet Union, but brought back at the specific request of the old Soviet himself: Vladimir Putin.

In any case, it seems to us that just like the Beijing Olympics opening, the Sochi one would be another worthwhile event to boycott, or at least totally ignore.

We also wonder if the International Olympic Committee will award some future Olympic Games to another “democratic” entity, such as possibly North Korea…

Technorati Tags: Canada Owns the Podium, gold medals, Vancouver Olympics

We offer you another excellent view on the Republican approach to health care by Washington Post’s Tom Toles.

Technorati Tags: Republican 'Health Care'

Republicans and Democrats attending the a Bipartisan Meeting on Health Reform meeting at the Blair House across from the White House have very different definitions of the event.

President Obama urged lawmakers on both sides to focus on areas of agreement. An email from the so-called GOP Action Team in turn says in part: “After pledging to listen to Republican ideas at this Thursday’s photo op- er, “bipartisan health care summit,” President Obama has decided to stick with the Senate Democrats’ health care legislation, a bill that Americans have already rejected as a massive restructuring of our economy that is a short walk down the road to government run health care. He’s rejected alternative methods of tackling our health insurance crisis before hearing them. He’s betrayed the American people’s trust.”

Republicans and Democrats admit that they remain far apart on key provisions advocated by each side. There were also major unresolved divisions within the Democratic Party itself, whose leaders were looking beyond a meeting they expected to amount to little more than political theater and focusing on a final round of negotiations within the party.

The White House said discussions at the meeting would revolve around four main themes: controlling costs, reforming insurance coverage, reducing the federal deficit and expanding coverage.

Senator Lamar Alexander, speaking for the Republican side, said, “We want you to succeed, because if you succeed, our country succeeds.” But Alexander also said Republicans want to “change the direction” that Obama is pursuing, get rid of the bills already passed by the House and Senate and aim for less ambitious reforms.

Obama has said that his latest proposal, aimed at salvaging the stalled health-care legislation, would cover 31 million Americans who currently lack insurance and would cost about $950 billion over 10 years. It would require people to buy health-care insurance and would penalize large employers who do not offer it.

Republicans reject mandating the purchase of insurance and have advanced an alternative that would cover 3 million people at a cost of $61 billion.

What will the meeting actually achieve is anybody’s guess.

In the meantime, our health care and health insurance system needs reforming quite urgently. Are the GOPistas and the tea baggers listening?!

Technorati Tags: democrats, Health, obama, republicans, summit, white house

The battle of Marja, in Afghanistan’s southern poppy belt has been going on for a couple of weeks now. Some 11,000 U.S. and Afghan troops fighting to defeat a few hundred Taliban fighters won’t really change much in Afghanistan. The greater significance of the battle appears to be in how it is perceived in the rest of Afghanistan and in America.

The operation’s true goals are to convince Americans that a new era has arrived in the eight-year-long war and also to show Afghans that U.S. forces and the Afghan government can protect them from the Taliban.

Marja is indeed a Taliban stronghold and despite the fact that the Talib fighters are seriously outnumbered and even more seriously outgunned, at least nine coalition soldiers have died so far and dozens have been wounded. It is a serious, hard, no holds barred battle on the most basic level.

It is being hoped that a swift victory over the Taliban in Marja, followed by a robust development effort, could sway some Afghan fence sitters.

The important thing to realize is that Marja is not a place of any meaningful strategic, or even tactical importance, that even the quickest of victories there – although that doesn’t appear to be possible any longer – will not really influence the outcome of the war, except that the symbolism of a victory might somewhat help the coalition politically.

What might be more meaningful is actually straightening out the situation in Kandahar, with its tangled political rivalries. Among the local power brokers is Ahmed Wali Karzai, brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Ahmed Karzai has been accused of being a drug kingpin and, also, a paid CIA asset. He has of course denied both allegations.

So, it seems to us, that the battle of Marja is really just an excuse not to tangle with a much more difficult situation in Kandahar as yet. Too bad, that its cost in dead and wounded is as high as it is.

Technorati Tags: afghanistan, battle of Marja, corruption, Kandahar, Karzai, politics, Taliban