The Daily Grill

What Sith All About?

There's something both chilling and comical about the fact that Vice-President Cheney (AKA "America's Dick") makes light of, and even embraces, his nickname of "Darth Vader". During a recent speech at the Washington Institute for Near East policy, Cheney remarked, "Darth Vader is one of the nicer things I've been called recently." Makes me wonder A) what those other names might be and B) whether they, too, might become the names of villains in future movies.

Good Eatin'

The good word has come down from the Environmental Protection Agency that residents of New Jersey can chow down on all the squirrel they want. It turns out that earlier reports of high levels of lead in the furry little critters were due to a tainted test, following which was the warning that Jerseyites should eat no more than just two squirrels a week. So fear not! And enjoy the other other other other white meat. "Good table fare" is the way that the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife describes squirrel and they offer recipes for squirrel chowder, stew and barbecue on their website. Just when I thought it was only hobos and the Beverly Hillbillies that ate squirrel and other varmints, it turns out that maybe The Sopranos weren't above whacking themselves a bushy-tailed snack.

Take A Stance

Click on the phodoodle to buy related festoonery!

Chokin' On Smoke

Yeesh. I'm down in Los Angeles right now. Got here Monday and hopefully can get back out tomorrow. Why in the world would someone knowingly drive into a region filled with wildfires and evacuations? Show business, why else? "Important" meetings where executives have to be able to see you because if it were just on the phone, well, you might just be a brain in a jar with a talk box rigged up. Can't have that. I'm mostly in Studio city, which is safe from the fires because it's pretty much all concrete so there's nothing to burn. But my exit strategies are getting narrow. The Pacific Coast Highway keeps getting closed while the fire(s) north and east of Santa Clarita keep pushing closer to Interstate 5 and the route to the Grapevine (as seen in the picture, taken while tooling down The 5...) The good news is that the meetings are going well. The bad news keeps coming in as 3- and 4-digit Fahrenheit figures.

Bottle Babies

Chicago is leaping aboard the bandwagon with other cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Ann Arbor, Michigan, who are moving to ban sales and use of bottled water. It's all about the vast waste of plastic. So I'm seeing an opportunity for Coca-Cola, the maker of Dasani, and the other water bottlers, to create hip designer lines of "urban canteens". Imagine strolling down the street with your Tommy Hilfiger Swigger. Or the Prada Swalla.

Cowardly Lyin'

The candidate to fill the short-timer seat for Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, during confirmation hearings today swore that if White House Resident Bush ordered him to do something he deemed unconstitutional, he would resign. What?! How about blowing the whistle on the illicit orders and calling Bush to task for it?

What's with the quitting thing, anyway?  Rumsfeld, Gonzales, Powell, Libby...the Bush Administration has turned out to be a culture of quitters. Great examples for our society: Hey, if you screw up, it's cool -- just quit your way out of taking responsibility!

Welcome To Our "Temp" Government

As revealed in a story in the NYTimes this morning, a pile of US agencies are being run by "acting" or interim head figures, including the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and Medicare. Normally the folks in charge have to pass Congressional approval but because the current figures in power were stepping in to fill a gap due to resignations or dismissals, our Lame-ocracy hasn't gotten their act together enough to officially close the deal. Think of it as if the manager of the local burger joint had quit and the kid with the zits on the french fryer is now calling the shots until further notice.

What He Wanted To Say

Are You Working For A Living?

Tell me about it. Literally. If you’ve had memorable run-ins with a boss, a supervisor, a manager or co-workers – and would love a chance to vent in the privacy of your own cube – why not shoot my writing partner and I a note? We’re looking for your funny horror stories about any of the usual suspects: Bullies. Backstabbers. Time Wasters. Bean Counters. Devil’s Advocates. Know-It-Alls. Any of these clowns sound familiar? If so, let us hear from you!

What's this all about? Jonathan Littman, my co-author, and I are doing research for a funny book (and a website) for Little, Brown Publishing in NY about how to dodge the slings and arrows of outrageous job situations. I figured my readers her at The Daily Grill would have some doozies! Please leave out last names and specific companies (the industry’s fine.) Send your story of workplace insanity and (if you want) contact information to [email protected] Inclusion of your story earns you a free copy of the book upon publication!

I'd love to hear from you. If you have friends and family that might want to share THEIR stories, please pass the word along!

Cheers,
Marc

Tired Before His Time

Is it my imagination or does Republicrank presidential candidate Fred Thompson (aka Fredhorn Leghorn) already look like the "After" pictures they take of a president after he's been in office for eight years? The one that shows how much the job has taken out of him...