WHO WEEPS FOR VICTORYA HONG?

As readers of this blog well know, my very essence has been concentrated on seeking out a solution to this writers' strike, so that the unimaginable catastrophe of the Oscars being cancelled does not occur.

However, even with my tunnel-visioned focus, an injustice has been committed, and in such matters, I am loathe to hold my tongue.

Nina Garcia, Michael Kors and Heidi Klum, like thieves in the dead of night, wheedled and conspired to eliminate the most talented fashion designer yet seen in the history of "Project Runway". I speak, of course, of Ms. Victorya Hong, whose creations inspired America during her time on the show.

Now we are left with a collection of five-thumbed hacks vying for an undeserved opportunity to present at Fashion Week. I shan't be watching the remainder of this year's shows and I would encourage all to follow a similar course of action.

And to Ms. Hong; worry not. I am with you in Rockland.

SOUTH CAROLINA: DECISION 2008

As part of our continuing series to provide different viewpoints surrounding the events leading up to the Presidential Election, we today welcome guest blogger, Jerry Weltz. Mr. Weltz has had his comments published over 43,000 times on The Daily Kos website, always accompanied by his familiar tagline, "Zero tolerance for Republican bullshit".

Umm, Huckabee . . . pander much?

SOUTH CAROLINA: DECISION 2008

IBP will be welcoming a number of guest bloggers in the coming months to report on the 2008 Presidential campaign, including the venerable C.W. Eversham, who has reported on every American presidential campaign since Dwight Eisenhower's re-election in 1956. No less an authority than author, Theodore White, once dubbed Eversham as "the crustiness on the American political baguette."

When people ask me to describe South Carolina, I ask them if they have ever taken a sauna bath with a group of toothless men attempting to in some way in their conversation approximate the English language. The answer is usually in the negative for which I tell them they may thank their lucky stars.

The laughably dubbed "Palmetto State" has already pronounced its verdict in the GOP primary. Governor Huckabee continued on the path to the anonymity he so richly deserves, despite wrapping himself in the Confederate flag. Even that transparent shameless tactic was not enough to garner him a victory in this hotbed of succession. Young Romney was similarly unsuccessful, proving that for their many faults, the low rent back country intellect of South Carolinians is superior to that of the Michigan ignoramuses and Nevada soddomites in ferreting out an empty suit with a full head of hair and a bulging wallet. I never cared for his father, George, either; had me thrown off the press train over forty years ago for calling him on one of his positions.

As for the Democratic primary, I will be keeping my head low these next few days. Mrs. Nixon seems intent on whipping up a race riot with her code words, and experience has taught me that it is best not to be in the area when one of those commences, and that is a philosophy which has stood me in good stead.

TINSELTOWN: REPORT ON THE CONTINUING CRISIS

As we each deal with the exquisite individualized torment of comtemplating the very notion that the Oscars may be cancelled, this corner would be abdicating its responsibility if it did join all of Hollywood in mourning the loss of one of its brightest young stars, Mr. Heath Ledgers. Beginning and continuing in his breakout performance in the landmark "Brokeback Mountain", Mr. Ledgers left an acting legacy for which we will all be the poorer in not having seen fulfilled.

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

The Giants 23-20 overtime win over the Packers in the NFC Championship Game presented an interesting contrast in strategies by the opposing coaches. Giants' Coach Tom Coughlin, left a good bit of his face exposed, earning the Civil War General-like sobriequet, "Ol' Red Face" Coughlin, whereas Packers' Coach Mike McCarthy, with far more expansive jowls to protect from the cold, wore a full head and neck covering wool cap.

MICHIGAN: DECISION 2008

IBP will be welcoming a number of guest bloggers in the coming months to report on the 2008 Presidential campaign, including the venerable C.W. Eversham, who has reported on every American presidential campaign since Dwight Eisenhower's re-election in 1956. No less an authority than author, Theodore White, once dubbed Eversham as "the crustiness on the American political baguette."

The telex has been chattering with missives all day from various and sundry second guessers, back seat drivers and Monday morning quarterbacks, questioning as to the howcomes and whyfors I did not foresee a Romney victory. The answer is simple. How can a rational man be expected to anticipate the actions of the ignoramuses who roam the countryside in this nightmarish State, which I was mercifully allowed to depart this evening.

However, I must add a note regarding the increasing coarsening of civility. I realize that the time when a respectable man would not dream of going out for so much as a walk in the park without a dress coat and proper hat is long gone. But today, when I arrived at the airport, I saw an apparent rummy, holding a sign suggesting that a certain presidential candidate be defecated upon. I made a point to flag down a passing constabulary and had that man arrested. And as much as the thought of returning again to Michigan before the passage of another four years sickens me, I will, as a matter of principal, return to testify against this dullard should the law so demand.

MICHIGAN: DECISION 2008

As part of our guest blogger series, IBP is honored to present Claude Augern, for years the host of NBC's popular Sunday Morning show, "Augern's America". As he did for over twenty years on his talk show, Augern will be seeking the amusing, unsual and eccentric characters that flit around the edges of important American events.



Here in the airport which serves the former trading outpost of Detroit, travelers scatter like the beavers and otters around Lake Michigan. As I traverse the short distance from the baggage claim towards a waiting cab, I notice a weary fellow traveler, who signals me with an upward jerk of his head and a connivial, "S'up."

Sitting on a rumpled dufflebag by the exit, cadging change in a plastic cup, is Hugh Farlin. His one moment of glory came twenty-two years earlier at the Democratic Convention in New York City, when he was shown holding aloft a sign proclaiming, "Grits and Fritz Give Me The Sh**s", Hugh Farlin has traveled to Michigan, following candidate, Mitt Romney. Hugh Farlin believes that the ease with which "Mitt" can be rhymed with a common barnyard expression for feces, gives him his best opportunity to replicate his crowning moment of 1976.

Today, Hugh Farlin informs me that he believes the Romney campaign will breath its last this evening in the Michigan primary and he will forever be denied a second chance at fame. Thus, like many of us, desperate for a final grasp at the brass ring, Hugh Farlin has decided to take a shortcut. He will no longer support Romney. Instead he will try to catch the attention of the nation's media by holding aloft an anti-Romney sign, which reads simply, "S** on Mitt".

I leave Hugh Farlin to his coin cadging and wish him luck.