As a boomer who remembers the New York based "Saturday Night Live" from the beginning and watched the very first show, it has amazed me on the very, very few times I have tuned in since those first few seasons the "changes" which have occurred.
Known for its outrageous skits and occasional timely political commentary, it has taken a rather dark turn it appears as of late, and not in a good way.
Always, always liberal in its political focuses, that liberalism also has become simply irrelevance at this point in America's history, and its formerly "gross" humor not even very funny to a large segement of the population, it seems.
And some of the musical entertainment clearly even more far out and just as wacky and politically off the wall for any residing apparently outside New York (or L.A., its sister city).
Cases in point in just the few that I have watched for partial programs the last year (and this IS a show that starts at 10:30 or 11:30 in most of the country, but appears directed more so at a "youth" and younger audience with each decade who mostly are at home up late during the weekend - since as those young comics age also they routinely disappear into either spin offs of their characters in movies or eventual oblivion):
1. A skit in which Tina Fey as a teacher fantasizes over a pre-teenish "student" Justin Bieber(?), a Canadian pop star being marketed in the U.S. to pre-teen girls as "wholesome entertainment."
2. A skit in which a "loving family" mouth kissed mere strangers and extended family members (and their pets) to demonstrate their love for one another at the funeral of a relative, in which one of the family members licked and mouth kissed eventually the deceased laying in a coffin.
3. An entire segment on the Weekend Update segment this past week with Amy Poehler and Seth Myers addressing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies of gay men and women in the military in the name of "equality." I wouldn't hesitate to guess that the comics and writers on the program support unlimited abortion rights for women under the guise of "privacy," but believe that the "privacy" of gay individuals now serving in the military doesn't also come under those same Constitutional provisions of such a personal and private issue as an individual's sexual preferences?
I mean, just how many in the military who are gay truly want "big brother" to have such intimate and personal information documented in their enlistment papers on government databases?
The rest of the segment was dominated by the blind Governor of New York, inside jokes on the New Yorker-Jerseyite relationship, and the Governor's past term of office and irrelevance at this point in time during the upcoming elections, and his disability with the Governor, of course, then making an appearance alongside the "imposter." None of which I'm sure the other 49 (48 outside Jersey) states would have any interest in as "inside jokes."
4. And also on this particular program, a pop tart star ala another Madonna dressed to Bob Mackie rhinestone excess in glittery teenage cheerleader style mini-dress with backup football players singing a song devoted to having a back seat teenage sex session and while singing the chorus then rubbing her legs suggestively promoting her "skin tight jeans?"
I mean the Bees and Blues Brothers have a place in the history and television archives for this 70's ground breaking comedy, but I just wonder what new drug they are smoking during those writing sessions?
The only segment that appeared even remotely funny was the impersonator of Will Smith ala Eddie Murphy.
Maybe "Home Improvement" needs to do an extreme makeover," from the ground up with new writers. Or better still...
"Live from (take your pick outside New York) it's Saturday Night!" just might clue them in as to what is politically relevant and comic, and just what is just so, so New York, and not "out there" but "in there" in truly messed up New York Gomorrah-land.
Definitely not for that ever-growing Tea Party crowd, or former Republicans and Democrats who are now independent of any political party affiliation.
Those Indians clearly came out with the better deal on this one.
Showing posts with label Saturday Night Live. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saturday Night Live. Show all posts
Monday, October 18, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Goldman Sachs Passion Play Misses The True Crime
While the entire even minimally politically aware citizenry of the United States is on overdrive due to the far-reaching events of this past week with respect to the war zone conditions that are more than apparent in the border states and particularly Arizona over the illegal immigration situation, with those on the East Coast per a Saturday Night Live News segment slamming the state, while being totally ignorant of what actually led to the actions taken by the state government to begin with, there has been more afoot on the Eastern Seaboard.
Such is the insulation in this country, and lack of a national identity at this point that those not directly affected by the porous southern borders and drug cartels doing business cross borders almost unimpeded for the past thirty years, have once again attempted to minimize the impact on those victims, rather than putting pressure on the federal government to actually do their jobs and get our southern borders secured FOR ALL.
This week, however, another drama is being played out in the media which also majorly impacted those living mostly in the West and Southwest and Sunbelt states (the states with the continuing foreclosures, which are increasing by the month) and that is the hearings being conducted over the Goldman Sachs securities fraud.
Little connection, however, or reporting has been forthcoming insofar as just who were the actual true victims in the Goldman Sachs fiasco.
And it was not primarily the investors of those CDOs which were pawned off on them by Goldman Sachs knowing full well that those collateralized loans were junk, and that one of their major clients was hedging their bets though derivatives in the process.
After all, Goldman Sachs is the Cadillac of investment houses and most of their clients are not neophytes but savy investors, or at least minimally aware of risk when making some of those investments.
I mean, these investors were playing the market, after all.
In fact, there are quite a number of Goldman Sachs investors who, I'm sure, invest for the tax writeoffs they receive for losses on some of those investments.
Although mere disclosures also of the risks for most of these investments is clearly inadequate for many, due to the legalese with which most prospectuses and other investment documents are written to begin with.
And selling your investors down the river for a favored investment client firm is not good business practice, nor is it legal in the sense the founders intended irrespective as to whether or not there are codified laws allowing mere disclosure as a protection for these huge Wall Street banking firms in order to mitigated their potential losses since Wall Street is pretty much left alone by the SEC and Congress more and more while the investment grades and risks are becoming greater and greater, for the average American individual investor, that is.
In fact, I would simply state that Goldman Sachs had a huge ethical problem, and conflict of interest actually, in order to win favor with one client at the cost of so many others and can not understand for the life of me just how that would not have been in violation of at least several SEC or United States Code provisions.
But the true victims actually are the American homeowners mostly in the West and Southwest who were sold most of those bad loans which Goldman Sachs has admitted full well knew were bad while they were unloading them.
People who were first time homebuyers, or who were forced into refinances in those states due to the rising costs of ownership during that very short boom cycle, many of whom also were owners of homes during a similar scenario involving Charles Keating in the 1980's - who was selling risky investments to elderly retirees in also the West and Southwest and who ended up losing their homes and everything they had when Lincoln Savings & Loan went bust.
Many of these risky and bad CDO's were also guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
We all know what happened then since it is and has been the American people who are also bailing out those two entities, all for Goldman Sachs' investors, since the homeowners whose loans were involved and their interests are far down the list and in which at this point for many actually have no underlying debt, as it were, since they were resold.
AND the American people were billed for cash advanced literally in the millions directly to Goldman Sachs (a part owner of our own Federal Reserve actually, according to several reports), so actually it appears Goldman Sachs was using Congress to write themselves their own checks, while billing then those costs to the American public at large on their investors behalf.
And yet it is and was the American homeowners who are still being threatened by these banks and lenders in bed with thsoe Wall Street wheeler dealers and Washington, and few have been able to refinance under more favorable terms since Congress has yet to address the actual terms of those bogus contracts to begin with.
In fact, most of Congress and Obama's attentions have been in attempting to hawk refinances instead to get more and more Americans, it appears, into some of those bogus loans in order to use to pay back some of these investors, apparently.
Or for those "new" jobs created in the mortgage industry of now "mortgage counselors" to settle those debts with those investors by renegotiating the terms of those loans as the middle man with those homeowners, weighing the cost/benefit against foreclosing on the property and reselling it as to which would get those investors and those banks affiliated with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae more.
Many of those loans, of course, were sold through California lenders which were not even based on the U.S. currency, but on the British LIBOR rates.
In the banking industry, the connections between New York and Wall Street and California and those mortgage bankers is strong.
After this week's bust and play acting by the Senate with respect to any true financial sector/Wall Street reform, I'm wondering when those in Washington will get around to addressing the fallout to the true victims of this passion play.
The American people, and mostly those American homeowners in the West and Southwest which New York and its brash comedians maligned in a roundabout way once again last Saturday night.
Watch Washington give Goldman Sachs a lengthy tongue lashing, as what occurred today by selected Senators needing some face time with the media for the upcoming elections, and then purportedly levy a heavy fine.
While the true victims continue to lose their homes, jobs and even lives in the West and Southwest due to Washington's continued political maneuvering protecting the bankers and appeasing the foreigners while raping the citizenry.
Such is the insulation in this country, and lack of a national identity at this point that those not directly affected by the porous southern borders and drug cartels doing business cross borders almost unimpeded for the past thirty years, have once again attempted to minimize the impact on those victims, rather than putting pressure on the federal government to actually do their jobs and get our southern borders secured FOR ALL.
This week, however, another drama is being played out in the media which also majorly impacted those living mostly in the West and Southwest and Sunbelt states (the states with the continuing foreclosures, which are increasing by the month) and that is the hearings being conducted over the Goldman Sachs securities fraud.
Little connection, however, or reporting has been forthcoming insofar as just who were the actual true victims in the Goldman Sachs fiasco.
And it was not primarily the investors of those CDOs which were pawned off on them by Goldman Sachs knowing full well that those collateralized loans were junk, and that one of their major clients was hedging their bets though derivatives in the process.
After all, Goldman Sachs is the Cadillac of investment houses and most of their clients are not neophytes but savy investors, or at least minimally aware of risk when making some of those investments.
I mean, these investors were playing the market, after all.
In fact, there are quite a number of Goldman Sachs investors who, I'm sure, invest for the tax writeoffs they receive for losses on some of those investments.
Although mere disclosures also of the risks for most of these investments is clearly inadequate for many, due to the legalese with which most prospectuses and other investment documents are written to begin with.
And selling your investors down the river for a favored investment client firm is not good business practice, nor is it legal in the sense the founders intended irrespective as to whether or not there are codified laws allowing mere disclosure as a protection for these huge Wall Street banking firms in order to mitigated their potential losses since Wall Street is pretty much left alone by the SEC and Congress more and more while the investment grades and risks are becoming greater and greater, for the average American individual investor, that is.
In fact, I would simply state that Goldman Sachs had a huge ethical problem, and conflict of interest actually, in order to win favor with one client at the cost of so many others and can not understand for the life of me just how that would not have been in violation of at least several SEC or United States Code provisions.
But the true victims actually are the American homeowners mostly in the West and Southwest who were sold most of those bad loans which Goldman Sachs has admitted full well knew were bad while they were unloading them.
People who were first time homebuyers, or who were forced into refinances in those states due to the rising costs of ownership during that very short boom cycle, many of whom also were owners of homes during a similar scenario involving Charles Keating in the 1980's - who was selling risky investments to elderly retirees in also the West and Southwest and who ended up losing their homes and everything they had when Lincoln Savings & Loan went bust.
Many of these risky and bad CDO's were also guaranteed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
We all know what happened then since it is and has been the American people who are also bailing out those two entities, all for Goldman Sachs' investors, since the homeowners whose loans were involved and their interests are far down the list and in which at this point for many actually have no underlying debt, as it were, since they were resold.
AND the American people were billed for cash advanced literally in the millions directly to Goldman Sachs (a part owner of our own Federal Reserve actually, according to several reports), so actually it appears Goldman Sachs was using Congress to write themselves their own checks, while billing then those costs to the American public at large on their investors behalf.
And yet it is and was the American homeowners who are still being threatened by these banks and lenders in bed with thsoe Wall Street wheeler dealers and Washington, and few have been able to refinance under more favorable terms since Congress has yet to address the actual terms of those bogus contracts to begin with.
In fact, most of Congress and Obama's attentions have been in attempting to hawk refinances instead to get more and more Americans, it appears, into some of those bogus loans in order to use to pay back some of these investors, apparently.
Or for those "new" jobs created in the mortgage industry of now "mortgage counselors" to settle those debts with those investors by renegotiating the terms of those loans as the middle man with those homeowners, weighing the cost/benefit against foreclosing on the property and reselling it as to which would get those investors and those banks affiliated with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae more.
Many of those loans, of course, were sold through California lenders which were not even based on the U.S. currency, but on the British LIBOR rates.
In the banking industry, the connections between New York and Wall Street and California and those mortgage bankers is strong.
After this week's bust and play acting by the Senate with respect to any true financial sector/Wall Street reform, I'm wondering when those in Washington will get around to addressing the fallout to the true victims of this passion play.
The American people, and mostly those American homeowners in the West and Southwest which New York and its brash comedians maligned in a roundabout way once again last Saturday night.
Watch Washington give Goldman Sachs a lengthy tongue lashing, as what occurred today by selected Senators needing some face time with the media for the upcoming elections, and then purportedly levy a heavy fine.
While the true victims continue to lose their homes, jobs and even lives in the West and Southwest due to Washington's continued political maneuvering protecting the bankers and appeasing the foreigners while raping the citizenry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
