Dennis Miller: You're neither smart, nor funny

The BBQ Pit
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Latest drivelly rant

There’s a case to be made that manned spaceflight is a waste of money. A very strong case. But Dennis “The Dennis Miller Ratio” Miller does not make that case. Instead, he claims that NASA’s entire budget should be reduced to zero.

Reasons why this is idiotic:
(a) NASA’s entire budget, in the grand scheme of things, is peanuts
(b) much of what NASA does has immediate practical implications… GPS, Weather Satellites, etc.
© much else of what NASA does has somewhat less immediate, but still practical, implications… scientific and medical research of various sorts
(d) while I agree that some of what NASA does has tangible benefits only in abstract science, there’s still something about it which appeals to our national will and spirit. If we, the nation which banded together in a rare moment of national solidarity and pride and put a man on the moon, cut funding for NASA to zero, how would that make us feel as a nation?

Grrrrrrrr.

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The weird thing is, he used to be smart and funny! Wha’ happened?

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See if you can seperate your dislike of his humor from your dislike of his politics. I find him funny in the same way I find Bill Maher funny. Think of it as a challenge to your normal way of approaching a subject.

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Channeling Mike LaFontaine are we?

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Space: The final comedic frontier.

Supposedly.

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Max, I wasn’t sure I would answer this because either you’re starting off a thread with one big whoosh, or you somehow completely missed the point of his column.

******* It’s SATIRE! ********

It wasn’t a serious call for zero funding, it was a humor column pointing out the following:

1 China can do more for humanity by taking care of its people; not by shooting one (or three) up into space

2 The US could use some decent mass transit too

3 Drone warfare resembles video games

4 Maybe successfal spaceflight will involve some radical changes in engineering (shop-vac driven rockets)

So, while it didn’t knock me off my chair with laughter, it did make me smile.

Bubbadog
Made my tail wag too.

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Yeah, I’ve got a better idea. Let’s not spend jack shit on Iraq, take that $87 billion, and fund NASA for five and a half fucking years at its current level.

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Eve said, “The weird thing is, he used to be smart and funny! Wha’ happened?”

I dunno, but I saw him on Bill Maher’s show a while back, and he looked positively shit-faced. He was slurring his words, kinda slopping out of his chair, and Bill Maher kind of gave him a disapproving look. He’s taken to the drink if you ask me.

Although I saw him on Boston Public the other night. So he’s still working.

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Ricky Ricardo, actually . . .

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Eve said, “The weird thing is, he used to be smart and funny! Wha’ happened?”

I dunno, but I saw him on Bill Maher’s show a while back, and he looked positively shit-faced. He was slurring his words, kinda slopping out of his chair, and Bill Maher kind of gave him a disapproving look. He’s taken to the drink if you ask me.

Although I saw him on Boston Public the other night. So he’s still working.

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I like Dennis.

Not everyone will hit the mark, but I think he still has it in him to approach a subject from an entirely different angle.

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Dennis Miller rules. There have been times he’s said something I strongly disagreed with in the context of making a joke, but that’s kind of what humor and satire are all about. Most of the time, I think he’s clever and witty.

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Hey, if I had to kowtow to the conservative right to keep my career afloat, I’d start drinking heavily too. :wink:

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He makes his home here in Santa Barbara (Montecito actually). He was interviewed in the local paper last week and, get this, he said he is considering a run for the US Senate next year.

Haj

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Get to Saturn with a ShopVac. He He

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I read the interview, hajaro. I was pretty shocked by how drastically his politcs have changed. I hadn’t heard any of his comments about the war, or anything post 9-11. It really affected his viewpoint on the world deeply.

I still think he is a pretty smart guy, but I don’ t agree with him nearly as much as I used to.

pat

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[Peter Griffin] What’s a rant? [/Peter Griffin]

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I like Dennis Miller.

I find him hilarious 80% of the time. The other 20% he irritates me, so he must be saying something that is right on target.

His only ongoing flaw is a slight weakness for foreign expressions and words, which he has a tough time pronouncing correctly. He should work on this (a lot), or eschew such obfuscation (I’ve always wanted to use that!).

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Dennis “Whee, I have a thesaurus” Miller was never funny.

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His talent is the ability to deliver the material. Without decent writers, he would would be totally useless.