TORRANCE TRIBUNE July 19, 2012 Page 5 One Man’s Opinion Political Penguin By Gerry Chong percent viewed the economy positively this By Duane Plank wasteland of Alaska, “this is the election of A couple of weeks ago, I had settled in to quarter. Moreover, only 20 percent expect Dog days of the political summer are upon our lifetime.” write my column with my hands around a things to improve over the next six months.” us, so help me Hillary Clinton. She can’t Well, the talking head Palin needs to fill mug of morning coffee and the neighborhood So you see, Pal, we’re rounding the back really be serious about running in 2016, time and space, obviously, but the upcom- cat weaving his way around my legs. He is stretch, picking up speed. can she? For the Presidency? Can just see ing election is just as important as any a regal animal who thinks he’s a king, so I Not impressed? How about this: In one it now: Sarah “Princess” Palin representing election. Could change the current course named him Juan Carlos, or “JC” for short. month, from May to June, Black unemploy- the Elephant Party and the very astute, very of the country, send it back leaning to the I figured that as long as he and I are going ment jumped from 13.6 percent to 14.4 resume-ready Ms. Clinton somehow becoming right, or rubber-stamp the current policies of to have political discussions, he should be percent. Among youths between 16 and 19, the standard-bearer for the party on the left. President Obama and give him carte blanche the king of a country we are racing to the unemployment went from 36.5 percent to Course she is a brilliant politico--way as a lame duck, two-term Prez to really try bankruptcy finish line. 39.3 percent. That ain’t no small beans, Bro. smarter than her philandering ex-Prez hubby to put his stamp on this country were he to Looking down his regal nose, JC asked, It took a lot of effort to destroy the Black Slick Willie, according to people in the know be victorious in the general election that is “Now that Obamacare is constitutional, how community, but it doesn’t matter. They’ll who occasionally tell the truth when they slated to take place in less than four months. is it progressing”? “Swimmingly,” I said. vote Democratic regardless, so we can are paid enough by allegedly unbiased So the pundits are punditing on who “Just the way the President envisioned it. take them for granted. networks. Ms. Clinton has been doing, Romney may select as his Veep candi- The Department of Health and Human Our women are leading the from all accounts, a pretty darn date. Long time ago, column readers Services had been given $1 billion to charge to bankruptcy. Under this good job as President Obama’s who have been paying attention implement the plan and has already Administration, there are 780,000 right-hand…woman, handling the may have noticed that I promoted spent all of it. HHS should be back fewer women working than before. Secretary of State duties with a failed Elephant Party Prez candidate at the trough soon, since the plan Can Spain match that? bulldog tenacity, even when she occasion- Michelle Bachmann as a possibility. isn’t close to being implemented.” To congratulate us on our ally steps out with the boys and pops a And not cause she looks better in a Congressman Denny Rehberg (R- progress, CNN said this economic brewski or two to let off a little steam. skirt than Hillary Clinton. Which is just Montana) says bureaucrats are on schedule, report represents the weakest quarter Speaking of people in the know, the very one man’s opinion, BTW. having written 13,000 pages of regulations in three years. The NBC/WSJ poll said the handsome James Carville, who masterminded Woman and all that stuff. And now, the so far. But we shouldn’t be discouraged by public disapproves of Obama’s handling of the the shocking ascension to the Presidency of boss of the Romney family, the lovely Ann, this slow pace, since only two years have economy by 42-53; and the ABC/Washington Slick Willie Clinton some 20-years ago, was has been making the rounds on the TV early passed since the passage of the law and Post poll agrees by 42-55. Spain had better trying to sell his latest book, chatting with morning shows, which I am not able to watch, Obamacare has included a five-year window speed up its decline if it’s going to catch us. the gals on the daytime staple, The View, getting up in the semi-gloaming to go to the for writing of regulations. We don’t know When Barack Obama heard the economy when he took time out from self-promoting day job, and help folks hit their weight loss how many pages of regulations HHS will had created only 80,000 jobs in June, he his latest penning to support Hillary in 2016. goals, actually saying that the presumptive ultimately produce, but it has to prove its was jubilant, saying in Ohio, “We’re mak- Said Carville, “I was for her in 2008, so nominee may try to put a woman on the ticket. worth the taxpayer money spent, so they’ll ing progress.” You see, what BO didn’t say obviously I hope that she runs in 2016.” Now, I have been doing this voting thing fill a library with gibberish, I’m sure. Trust is that in the same month, 85,000 people Carville went on to state the obvious--that for about 30-plus years. Never was swayed me when I say no one will know what the went on Social Security disability. So in that he has never been a big supporter of the by the Veep selection. Was too young to vote law says or how it will be implemented month alone, 5,000 more people went on the current POTUS. “I am not an Obama per- for Richard Millhouse Nixon back in the day except for the 16,000 new IRS agents who free-money dole than got jobs. Yahoo! We’re son. I am a Clinton person.” Carville has when he kicked the butt of Hubert Horatio will be knocking on your door to enforce it. racing at full steam, wind at our back… also chided the POTUS and the President’s Humphrey back in the turbulent times of 1968, The Heritage Foundation says so far about And that’s not a one-time thing. Accord- lack of compassion, noting that he “warned but don’t think that if I was teeter-tottering 180 new health boards and commissions ing to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, since Obama to stop boasting about his policies on who to vote for that I would have been have been created and $681 billion in state June 2009, 2.6 million jobs were created but to middle-class voters and start showing that swayed by the buffoon Spiro Agnew, who subsidies to create insurance exchanges has 7.1 million jobs were lost. Moreover, 3.1 he ‘feels their pain.’” was the unknown Governor of Maryland. already been spent. As bureaucrats joyously million more were added to the disability Be interesting to see Carville come out of Not sure why “Tricky Dick” Nixon selected chorus, “We’ve only just begun to live...” rolls. That means Americans are apparently political semi-retirement and mastermind the Agnew--that didn’t work out too well for the Yeah, yeah, yeah. claiming permanent disability at a 19 percent Hil Clinton campaign in a couple of years. nattering nabobs of negativism, and Mr. Spiro So, JC, in our race to the bankruptcy faster rate than jobs created. And that ain’t Speaking of “Princess Palin,” which I try was soon jettisoned prior to the abdication finish line, we are pouring on the coals, all, Magee… There are 275,000 more ap- to do as often as possible, in case that you of the Presidential throne by the disgraced speeding to the finish. We got ya’ beat, Pal. plicants for disability already in the queue. hadn’t noticed, she pontificated recently that Nixon. Too many skeletons in the closet? “Harruumpph,” said the cat, “Not fair. You Soon, we will be a nation legally physically the presumed nominee for her party, the very So help me, JFK? don’t have to deal with Germany, who keeps and mentally impaired and at the trough. So pedestrian Mitt “The Glove” Romney, should So gotta believe the Veep selection for demanding we slow our spending.” take that! perk up his bland sidestepping and, according Romney is not that big a deal to most vot- “But hey,” I said to the cat king, “we’ve Juan Carlos, the cat, just shook his head to the Princess, “light his hair on fire.” Or ers, but is something for the pundits to focus got a lot more irons in the fire. For example, and waved his white flag of surrender. “The light someone’s hair on fire. Paraphrasing the on as we move closer to the real start of the the Business Conference Board surveyed 800 U.S. is truly an exceptional country,” he said. Princess, she said that “The Glove” needs Presidential campaign, which traditionally business CEOs at the end of the first quarter “When you set your mind to accomplishing to do something to energize the Republican kicks off after the party conventions and of the year and 67 percent saw the economy something, you do it well. Even Spain can- faithful, noting that, according to the current the Labor day barbecues and blowouts that positively. But thanks to our policies, only 17 not surpass you in the race to bankruptcy.” • media star and ex-Governor of the great signal the end of summer. • Duets from front page people should make much fuss about that.” “All I’ve done is run fast. I don’t see why - Fanny Blankers-Koen(Dutch sprinter who won he transferred to California State University, between the recordings and live shows, so experience that he believes has helped him four gold medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics) Dominguez Hills where he was seeking a during that break I just tried to stay in front grow as a singer and as a person. “I didn’t bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and planned of as many people as possible, which helped really think I was going to make it past the to move on to a master’s degree in occupa- me out a lot. I would sing in bars and at video audition and every round that I made tional therapy. However, the desire to sing small venues, which kind of helped me out. it farther I kept thinking that I was going convinced him to send an audition tape to Overall, I just tried to practice on my stage to get sent home--it was too good to be the show, which is a drastic change from presence because that’s what I was lacking. true,” Farol said. “It was like, ‘Why would his formal performances. Over time, I started seeing fans’ support this happen to me?’ When I sang at Kelly’s “I have been singing ever since I can online and on Twitter and that really made concert, I really thought that I was going remember--my dad was a singer, so I just me feel comfortable.” home. That was such a great accomplishment copied what he was doing,” Farol said. The competition has been intense, but to be able to sing with her and in front of “He was like a jazz singer, so that’s what Farol is happy with the new friends that he all her fans. I kept making it on the show I started off singing. I began singing ever has made on the show with the contestants, every week, which was a surprise. I can’t since. I would sing in my little karaoke the stars and the crew. “It has been really believe that it is happening to me.” room and try to get better and better. I was fun. Everyone has been super nice and all Farol continued, “I’m from the South always really shy, so I kind of just sang to of the contestants have really bonded--we Torrance area by the beach. I have always myself. It was something that I never really have become a family and we became re- been at the beach my whole life. A lot of showed off to anyone.” ally close,” Farol said. “We spend all day my classmates didn’t know that I sing. I Since his appearance on the show, Farol together and even on our days off, we hang am really quiet in school and I don’t really believes that he has been able to learn how out. We are always talking to each other talk, so when they found out that I made the to become a better performer in a live set- and we try to help each other out. We are show they were really surprised. They were ting. “This show definitely helped me. Kelly all very supportive of each other. I’m glad shocked that I was breaking out and was no helped me out a lot--she has always tried to that the cast has been as welcoming and as longer this quiet guy that they knew before.” make me feel as comfortable as possible on fun as they are.” The finale of Duets took place July 19, stage,” Farol said. “We had a month break For Farol,Duets has been a fun learning but results were not available at press time. •
Torrrance 7.19.12
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