Mr. Beat: The American Presidential Election of 1980- John Anderson For President

Source:Mr. Beat– A 3-way presidential election?

Source:The New Democrat 

“The 49th episode in a very long series about the American presidential elections from 1788 to the present. I hope to have them done by Election Day 2016. In 1980, Ronald Reagan seems unstoppable as he tries to “make America great again.”

The 49th Presidential election in American history took place on November 4, 1980. As President, Jimmy Carter faced quite a few obstacles, and things just weren’t all peachy. The country faced low economic growth, high inflation and interest rates, and an energy crisis, in which the prices of oil went way up since supply went down in certain areas. This shortage was partially caused by the Iranian Revolution of 1979, in which a new Islamic government hostile to the United States overthrew the old one. ”

From Mr. Beat

There are political Independents and then there are political Independents. Independents tend to get stereotyped as liberal or moderate on social issues and fiscally conservative. Which just isn’t the case in a lot of if not most cases. There are Socialists who are Independents. There are Conservatives who are Independent. There are Libertarians who are Independent and I could go on. A political Independent is just someone who who is not associated with the two major political parties and in some cases not associated with any political party.

Source:Politics Matters– John Anderson For President, 1980

When Representative John Anderson from Illinois, ran for President in the general election in 1980, he ran as a political Independent, but he was a progressive-conservative Republican ideologically. And I know that sounds like jumbo shrimp, or fuel efficient SUV, a Libertarian-Socialist and I could name a tone of other terms that sound like Oxymorons and sound like they were invented by morons who don’t realize that these terms don’t go together.

But back in the 1970s and well before as far back as perhaps the 1940s, there was a Progressive Republican wing of the Republican Party. People who would be called progressive on social issues and believed in civil rights and commonsense regulations when it came to business, civil liberties, but who also believed in fiscal responsibility. Believed in balanced budgets and lower taxes, a strong national defense, who are anti-Communists and didn’t like authoritarianism at all whether it was communist or some right-wing authoritarian ideology. Believed in the rule of law and being tough on crime.

Representative John Anderson, ran for President in 1980 as an Independent, ( meaning not as a Republican or Democrat ) but ideologically he was a progressive-conservative Republican. He was part of the Nelson Rockefeller or Dwight Eisenhower wing of the Republican. George H.W. Bush at least before he ran as Ronald Reagan’s Vice President in 1980 was from this wing of the party as well. And governed this was as President himself. Ideologically he was very different from President Ronald Reagan while at the same time sharing values with President Reagan as it related to national defense, anti-communism, lower taxation, and other issues. So if you want to know where someone stands politically, don’t look at their party registration, but look at their politics and what they actually believe.

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Marcia Clark Investigates: The First 48- The Billionaire Boys Club

Source: Underground LA– Sue Horton’s Billionaire Boys Club.

Source: The New Democrat

“World famous prosecutor, Marcia Clark, investigates one of the world’s most infamous cases: The Billionaire Boys Club. Was the leader of the club, Joe Hunt, so obsessed with money and power that he became a cold blooded killer? Or was Joe Hunt scammed by one of the world’s best con artists? Marcia will examine the First 48 and dive into the world of greed, money and power to unweave the tangled web of ambition and lies that strangled The Billionaire Boys Club.”

From A&E

Source:A&E– Marcia Clark’s A&E true crime show.

I don’t want to compare the Billionaire Boys Club to the Hollywood Rat Pack or even the Hollywood Brat Pack, because the two Hollywood entertainment groups were actually talented and have real accomplishments on their resumes. Also, neither of them are currently in jail or are doing a life sentence in prison for anything. But the BBC does have few things in common with The Rat Pack at least.

 

Both groups were based in Los Angeles. Both groups lived the high life by having great times and spending a lot of money on their social lives. The difference being The Rat Pack could afford to live the way they did because they brought in a lot of money for themselves and the people they worked for. TRP included both Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, as well as several other great people like Sammy Davis and Peter Lawford. Money was never an issue with these guys.

Source: Picmog– Murder made Joe Hunt famous

Where the BBC separates with TRP and successful social clubs in Los Angeles and I’m sure several other places, is for one the other social groups were legitimate businesses. And because of that and that they were successful they brought in a lot of money again for themselves, but the people they worked for which just meant that money was always coming in for them. They lived the high life, but they also invested their money wisely and didn’t spend everything plus more than they were taking in. And that is where I mercifully drop the Billionaire Boys Club-Rat Pack comparison.

Now, who were the Billionaire Boys Club? Think about Bernie Madoff and Ponzi schemes, but then add murder to that and then go back 25 years. The Madoff scans were going on during the late 2000s ( 2007-09 ) in that time period during the start of the global financial crisis and at the start of the Great Recession. The BBC were operating during the early and mid 1980s and by late 1983 the American economy was booming again and the BBC wanted that action ( to use a catch phrase ) and be part of that, but not do the work and come up with a business where their clients would benefit from it. They saw their business as a zero sum gain where they would get everything, instead of seeing their investments as exactly that as investments and transactions where both sided would invest and then benefit from those investments mutually.

The crime that put Joe Hunt ( the leader and founder of the BBC ) in life for prison without the possibility of parole, has to do with their murder of Ron Levin. Who was just a much better, more experienced, more accomplished scam artist than Joe Hunt could ever be in his best drunken fantasy. There are a few expressions that seem very app here intaking about the BBC. You don’t exchange verbal jabs with a wiseass, unless you’re also a wiseass. You don’t get into a fist fight with the world heavyweight champion, unless you’re also an accomplished pro heavyweight boxer. And you don’t try to con a con artist or even work with one, unless you’re an accomplished con artist yourself. And can tell when that person is being real with you, or just scamming.

Joe Hunt and his partners murdered Ron Levin, because he was scamming them and they couldn’t get their money back from Levin and needed that money back. The BBC were at best a talented but lazy group of high school seniors headed to some preppy Ivy League school, or another great school in the Northeast or Pac 12, who wanted everything now and didn’t have the patience to wait or do the work themselves and pay the price needed to be successful investors. Like getting a degree in business management, to use as an example and then getting a job on Wall Street or working for some other investment firm and learning the tricks of their trade. And then commit their last amateurish act by murdering a fellow scam artist, because that person scammed them.

 

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Warner Brothers: Honeysuckle Rose (1980) Starring Willie Nelson & Dyan Cannon

Source:Alamy Stock Photo– Dyan Cannon & Willie Nelson.

Source:The Action Blog

“Grammy-winner Willie Nelson is a country singer on the road caught in a romantic triangle with Academy Award-nominee Dyan Cannon (“Heaven Can Wait,” “Deathtrap”) and Amy Irving (“Yentl,” “Crossing Delancey”), the daughter of one of his longtime musical sidekick. Featuring Nelson’s original music, including the Oscar-nominated hit “On the Road Again,” and co-starring country-western stars Slim Pickens and Emmylou Harris. Other hits songs include “Whiskey River,” “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground,” “You Show Me Yours (And I’ll Show You Mine),” “Bloody Mary Morning” and “Working Man Blues.”

Source:Warner Brothers– Hollywood Goddess Dyan Cannon, in Honeysuckle Rose.

From Warner Brothers

Take Dyan Cannon out of Honeysuckle Rose and I have absolutely no interest in this movie. And maybe that’s just because I’m not a fan of country music or rural culture in general, except of course for country girls and cowgirls. I do like them for obvious reasons. Dyan is an example of a woman who is so attractive and so much fun to look at and be around, that she can bring guys at least to the movie or to watch the movie all by herself. She’s so funny, so adorable, gorgeous at any age in her life and still baby-face adorable as well and sexy. Talking about a woman in Dyan Cannon her late seventies was still wearing skinny denim jeans in boots, as if she was half her age or stealing from her granddaughter’s wardrobe or something.

Source: Warner Brothers– Hollywood Goddess Dyan Cannon

There are a few funny scenes in like early in the movie where it’s Willie Nelson’s first night back from his last road trip and they’re in the kitchen together with their son about to have desert and Dyan is about to serve whatever they’re eating and Willie takes some of it and rubs it on Dyan’s blouse and the kid starts laughing and Willie throws some of the stuff on him and then Dyan gets into the act and rubs whatever they’re supposed to be eating on both Willie and the kid and it turns into a food fight.

Another scene where Willie is just getting back and they’re checking each other out in their skin-tight jeans and saying things like those pants are really tight, but you fit so well into them. And they’re on the bed together as this is going on and start wrestling. Another scene where Dyan is doing sit-ups in their living room again in her skin-tight jeans and western boots. There cute funny moments like that, but a lot of this movie is really about Willie having an affair with the new female backup singer ( played by Amy Irving ) in his band a woman perhaps young enough to be Dyan’s daughter, but the new girl is not as attractive as his wife in the movie. Not as sexy, not as pretty, not as cute even, just 15-20 years younger than Dyan Cannon. Perhaps Willie has some other connection with her that wasn’t sexual.

There moments like that which is just laid out that give the movie maybe 40 solid minutes of time. Along with Willie and Dyan singing together in the movie. They both have great voices and chemistry in the movie. But for the most part the only reasons why I’m watching it is to see Dyan Cannon in it. To observe and listen to her. All her adorable facial expressions and her Hollywood Hall of Fame laugh and great body.

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Remember This: C-SPAN- Carl Rutan Interviewing Pat Buchanan in 1988: Back to The 1950s and 1980s

Source: This piece was originally posted at The New Democrat

The world that Pat Buchanan was talking about and advocating for in this 1988 interview, simply doesn’t exist anymore and we were moving away from it in 1988 if not only escaped from there by then. Gays, no longer live in the closet. African-Americans, have just as much right to vote and are treated the same as Caucasian-Americans now. Women, now work and hold very responsible jobs, making good money, running and managing their own business’s. The music is much different and much more open about life. Americans, now have the freedom and feel the freedom to be themselves. Which is Americans and individuals and we live our lives the way we want to. Not how Pat Buchanan and other Christian-Conservatives feel we should live.

The 1950s, was great for America in many ways. We were not just the economic superpower of the world, but became the number one military and diplomatic power in the world. This was post-World War II where our economy boomed and our infrastructure system boomed as a result. But the problem with this era was that many Americans didn’t benefit from these American advances. Not because of anything that they did, but because of how they were born. Their complexion, their race, their ethnicity, their religion, their gender. Not because they were, or could be any less productive than Anglo-Saxon Protestant men. What the 1960s and the 1980s brought to America, was true individual freedom. Both from a personal and economic standpoint.

If you watch this video, think you see Pat Buchanan, essentially acknowledging what I’m arguing here. That the America that he grew up with in the 1950s simply no longer exists. And when he was asked, “do you want to use government to bring that America back?” He answered truthfully and honestly and said he doesn’t believe that, because its simply not possible. Which is a very practical answer and the correct answer. As far as the 1988 presidential election, you had Vice President George H.W. Bush, for the Republican Party. Who represented President Ronald Reagan and his policies in that election. Going up against Governor Michael Dukakis, who represented the New America and the direction that America has been moving to ever since.
Remember This-C-SPAN: Pat Buchanan- Biography, Apartheid, Culture War, Foreign Policy, Free Trade: 1988 Interview

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The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson: Dyan Cannon (1982)

Source:The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson– Hollywood Goddess Dyan Cannon, on Johnny Carson in 1982.
Source:The Daily Review

“Dyan Cannon (born Samille Diane Friesen; January 4, 1937) is an American film and television actress, director, screenwriter, editor, and producer…

From Geta Yedi

“There is no initial comedy segment. Johnny first asks Dyan Cannon how she feels about being called sexy. She says it used to bother her, but no longer. She confirms that producer Jerry Wald gave her the name Cannon because he said she reminded him of explosions. She agreed to the change to get a screen test. After the test she was rejected, and told her nose was too flat. She went to a surgeon to have it changed, but he refused. Then she and Johnny talk about how men and women try to change partners in relationships. She says she became a spokeswoman for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and Johnny says he is also involved in the organization. She then talks about her film “Author, Author”, and a clip is shown. Next comes the comedy segment: Johnny as a spokesman for the banking industry. Dr. Ruth Westheimer talks about why American society has difficulty dealing with the topic of sex. She talks about her radio show. She and Johnny then discuss various issues that people are curious about…

Source:IMDB– Hollywood Goddess Dyan Cannon, on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, in June, 1982.

From IMDB

Hollywood Goddess Dyan Cannon, on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, in June, 1982. This photo is from another video that apparently is not available online right now, but you can still see the interview on this blog by clicking the link from Geta Yedi.

Source:The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson– Hollywood Goddess Dyan Cannon, on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, in 1982.

Johnny Carson, needed to be careful about having people like Hollywood Goddess Dyan Cannon on his show, because she was probably as quick as he was off the cuff with the humor, or at least in the same ballpark. Who didn’t need a script to crack joke and even do monologue.

And as good as Johnny was at poking fun at famous people and he might be the best comedian ever at doing this, he wasn’t exactly flawless. I mean he was basically the male Liz Taylor when it came to married life. Both when it came to his multiple marriages and divorces. He could write a book literally based on his personal experiences in life of what not to do when it came to married life. And Dyan knew these things and knew him very well.

Late night comedic hosts have to draw a line about who they pick fun at when they have guests on. I mean if they have people on who are experts at screwing up, sure! Making fun of them would be easy, especially if they don’t know how to punch back, or even screw that up. But not many people would want to see that.

But if they go after quick-witted people like a Dyan Cannon who knows the host well and has had her issues in life that could be poked fun at like her multiple marriages and divorces, but can give it back as well then they’ll end up taking clean shots on their own show and perhaps even be put on the defensive.

Johnny Carson, whether they were standup comedians, or not and Dyan’s case, more of a comedic actress with a quick off the cuff humor and great ability to improvise, loved funny people. Which is why having Dyan on his show worked so well.

Johnny, also liked intelligent people and intelligent people who were funny. Frank Sinatra comes to mind, Burt Reynolds would be another one and Dyan Cannon would be close to, or at the top of this list. He would mention things to talk about and generally what was going on in Dyan’s life and what she’s interested in and they would simply talk about like two people who knew each other very well. With no script and would do it in a very funny way that would keep the audience interested and laughing. And even have Dyan with her adorable laugh laughing her head off for most of the interview which is what you see here. Dyan Cannon, was the perfect guest for Johnny Carson, because she kept him on his toes and made him think.

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The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson: Ann Margret & Johnny Talking About the Middle Ages

Source:The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson– Hollywood & Swedish-American Goddess Ann-Margret, on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson, at some point in the 1980s. I hope that’s not too specific and that I’m not giving too much away here. 

“ANN-MARGRET ON “THE TONIGHT SHOW” 80S #1″

From The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson

Ann Margret saying that she doesn’t live in the past or the future. Well that would be physically impossible to do anyway, unless you have a time machine. But I take her point that lives in the present and takes it day by day.

She also said she doesn’t know what middle age is. I could understand that with the face and body that she still had this point and perhaps today. When you’re that adorable and then add gorgeous to that, how you supposed to know what middle age is: because you’re always baby-face and gorgeous.

Ann Margret is one of the top goddess’s that this world has ever produced. And I’m just glad she left her native Sweden for America as a little girl, or perhaps the rest of the world never knows that. Or at least not to the degree that we know today.

A hot, baby-face woman with a great body, who can act sing and dance and make you laugh. Just so sweet looking like she couldn’t scare a fly even if you wanted to and looking like she would never want to.

You can also see this post on Blogger.

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TSN: AWA 1985- Curt Hennig vs Nick Bockwinkel: Winnipeg, Manitoba

Source:AWA Wrestling– Curt Hennig vs Nick Bockinkel in a bloody hell.

“Nick Bockwinkel vs Curt Hennig Showboat bloody match AWA. The last 8 minutes of the 1 hour match that was on TV, both had the crimson mask.”

From Strad

Curt Hennig and Nick Bockwinkel, two of the best pound for pound pro wrestlers of all-time. I first got into AWA pro wrestling around 1987 or 88 when my parents finally got cable TV in the house. Curt Hennig was part of the World Wrestling Federation at that point. But Nick Bockwinkel the Ric Flair of the AWA, All Star Wrestling Association was still wrestling and winning championships in his early fifties at this point. And you can tell just by looking at him that he was in great shape. Still wrestling at two-hundred-fifty pounds of so and most of that being muscle.

Curt Hennig had his career cut somewhat short dying in the late 1990s or early 2000s, but someone who could do anything in the wrestling ring. He got bigger when he went into the WWF and WCW and wrestled at about two-fifty pounds or so, up from two-hundred thirty-five pounds from when he was in the AWA. But he was a classical wrestler who also had great athletic ability, strength and pure wrestling knowledge and intelligence. That made him a world champion several times.

You can also see this post at The New Democrat, on Blogger.

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20th Century Vision: ‘MacNeil/Lehrer Report- 1988 Iowa Caucus, Democratic Candidates’

Source:20th Century Vision– PBS News political analyst David Gergen.

Source:The New Democrat 

“These guy’s get everything wrong.”

From 20th Century Vision

Governor Michael Dukakis looked like the clear Democratic nominee for President as early as the summer of 1987 and was never really seriously challenged for that nomination. Representative Dick Gephardt was supposed to win the Iowa Caucus and that is exactly what he did being from Missouri and having so much support from organized labor and Iowa being a big organized labor state. Mike Dukakis being more of a New Democrat from Massachusetts even, which is probably not very common, who was to the right of Senator Ted Kennedy.

Mike Dukakis was the Democrat that the George H.W. Bush Campaign feared in 1988 and knew he could definitely beat them. And knew that voters especially Independents would probably like Dukakis who had a great personal and family story coming from a Greek immigrant family. Working his way up and making big success in life. Compared with George H.W. who was an Anglo-Saxon-Protestant, from Connecticut, who was born to great wealth. And the Bush Campaign set to take Dukakis down as soon as he won the nomination, because they knew Dukakis would probably beat them otherwise.

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Baltimore Orioles: ‘Are 1983 MLB World Series Champions’

Source:Press Box– the 1983 MLB World Series Champion Baltimore Orioles.

“This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Baltimore Orioles winning the 1983 World Series, the last time the Orioles won it all.

For me, 1983 was the most special season imaginable. It was the first season I had my own Saturday and Sunday postgame radio show on WFBR, which held the rights to Orioles games. To be in that spot and tap into the amazing current of electricity that existed in our community back then was almost magical.

In fact, during the early seasons of my show, I was downright cocky at times. A short anecdote might help explain just how “baseball-entitled” some of us felt back in the real era of Orioles magic.

One day during the 1984 season, I distinctly remember doing a score update and I got to the Cleveland Indians score. It must have been late May or early June, and the Indians were losing a game and already well out of first place.”

From Press Box

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ABC Sports: MLB 1982- MLB All Star Game

Source:Phenia Films– I guess this was a hot ticket in 1982.

“1982 All Star Game from Olympic Stadium in Montreal original NBC Broadcast includes pre game show from 7/13/82
This Represented the first All-Star game played outside the USA. Dave Concepcion drills a two run HR to lead the National League to another victory
Digitalized and remastered off original recorded VHS tape and a new audio dub.”

From Phenia Films

The first and last MLB all-star game at Montreal Olympic Stadium. Which is a good thing because this place was basically a football stadium and was simply huge for baseball with an awful concrete field where baseball probably should’ve never have been played.

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