Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 2:30:22 PM UTC-5, JGibson wrote:
> Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com

People can make fun of rod all they want and sure he is a huge douche(but arent most all of them on both sides?), but on the matter of that senate seat he was *exactly right*. That thing was worth a shit ton of money given the term left and how it would give someone possible advantage for the next race, and neither he nor anyone else was going to just give it away for nothing. Unfortunately thats just the way are system works.

Now he got caught, but that doesnt make his statement any less true.....

JGibson <james.m.gibson@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com
>

I have a recent story about Blago.

My wife’s close cousin was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer last
summer. We saw her over Thanksgiving, she looked good, morale was good, she
was the life of the party as usual except she was bald and couldn’t eat
much due to Chemo.

Anyway in December she took a turn for the worse. She and my wife grew up
together in a small Illinois farm town and are both lifelong Democrats and
also civil servants (cousin for the state of Iowa). We decided to do
something fun for her and my wife logged onto Cameo and it turns out you
can buy a personal video from Blago for like $125. We thought that would be
a fun thing and thought he had a sense of humor (since he had tried to do
that reality show) and in the request my wife wrote that he’s doing it for
someone fighting cancer who is a lifelong IL Dem and she would appreciate
some political humor from a political celebrity like him.

Well the video he provided was so awful we never showed it to the cousin.
All he did was talk about how himself: how his conviction was unfair and
thank God Trump saved him from prison, God this, God that, be faithful and
God will heal you (totally wrong thing to say to a terminal patient) and
what a great governor he’d been and how much he’d done for everyone.
Totally embarrassing and a waste of the $120, instructions completely
ignored. Yet another way Blago was a disappointment I guess.

And yeah the cousin died three weeks later, just after the New Year. :(. 50
years old.

--
“I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian,
liberal personality.” — Altie

On 4/4/2023 3:30 PM, JGibson wrote:
> Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com

Is it true that he is engaged to George Santos?
--
"In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In
practice, there is." Ruben Goldberg

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 12:30:22 PM UTC-7, JGibson wrote:
> Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com

This was probably an all-in moment for America on both sides of the aisle.

The 2024 Presidential campaign, and the entire future of this country, will be contested in that courtroom.

The losing political party from this will get outlawed if Trump walks, and very well might get outlawed if he's found guilty.

Mike

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 4:24:46 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
> JGibson <james.m...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Yes, actual headline on FoxNews.com
> >
> I have a recent story about Blago.
>
> My wife’s close cousin was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer last
> summer. We saw her over Thanksgiving, she looked good, morale was good, she
> was the life of the party as usual except she was bald and couldn’t eat
> much due to Chemo.
>
> Anyway in December she took a turn for the worse. She and my wife grew up
> together in a small Illinois farm town and are both lifelong Democrats and
> also civil servants (cousin for the state of Iowa). We decided to do
> something fun for her and my wife logged onto Cameo and it turns out you
> can buy a personal video from Blago for like $125.

I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....

On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:

> I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....

Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires, looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.

Mike

On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote:
> On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:
>
> > I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....
> Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires, looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.
>
> Mike

but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and reader know that, thats why it makes no sense.

michael anderson <mianderson79@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote:
>> On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:
>>
>>> I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred
>>> bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they
>>> are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You
>>> write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....
>> Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires,
>> looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.
>>
>> Mike
>
> but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for
> them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the
> person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and
> reader know that, thats why it makes no sense.

It shows that the person who ordered and paid for it cares about the
recipient and wanted to give her a lift. If Blago had 10% of the sense of
humor we thought he did, it would have given her a chuckle in a dark time.

I’m suspect those flowers in the bouquet sent to the hospital don’t
personally care about the recipient either, but it’s still a thoughtful
gift that shows that someone cares and went to the trouble. Similar
concept.

--
“I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian,
liberal personality.” — Altie

On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 1:23:43 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
> michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote:
> >> On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:
> >>
> >>> I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred
> >>> bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they
> >>> are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You
> >>> write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....
> >> Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires,
> >> looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.
> >>
> >> Mike
> >
> > but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for
> > them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the
> > person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and
> > reader know that, thats why it makes no sense.
> It shows that the person who ordered and paid for it cares about the
> recipient and wanted to give her a lift. If Blago had 10% of the sense of
> humor we thought he did, it would have given her a chuckle in a dark time..
>
> I’m suspect those flowers in the bouquet sent to the hospital don’t
> personally care about the recipient either, but it’s still a thoughtful
> gift that shows that someone cares and went to the trouble. Similar
> concept.

flowers are aesthetically pleasing though; thats the major difference.

The thing about this blago thing though is that it appeared he did more than 99.9% of these paid for read messages though- he put his own spin on it and
went off script a bit. It doesn't sound like you approved/liked what he had to say, but I've actually never heard of one of the celebrity readers taking the time to do such a thing. In all cases
they just read whatever is on the card(even to the point that sometimes people try to prank them and get them to say something innapropriate, and it often works because
they are just mindlessly reading whatever is written to the point that they can't even pick up if it is just a prank to embarrass them)

So I guess my point is I don't think your expectations were really reasonable(to expect Blago to 'be funny' spontaneously during the reading) given the nature of these things. It's just
not the standard for how those things work. But what do I know as I'm actually surprised he didn't just read straight off the card and instead took the time to do some ranting
off script.....maybe he doesn't get a lot of those(probably not right?) and thus figured he would put his own twist on it.

> --
> “I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian,
> liberal personality.” — Altie

michael anderson <mianderson79@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 1:23:43 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
>> michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote:
>>>> On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred
>>>>> bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they
>>>>> are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You
>>>>> write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....
>>>> Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires,
>>>> looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.
>>>>
>>>> Mike
>>>
>>> but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for
>>> them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the
>>> person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and
>>> reader know that, thats why it makes no sense.
>> It shows that the person who ordered and paid for it cares about the
>> recipient and wanted to give her a lift. If Blago had 10% of the sense of
>> humor we thought he did, it would have given her a chuckle in a dark time.
>>
>> I’m suspect those flowers in the bouquet sent to the hospital don’t
>> personally care about the recipient either, but it’s still a thoughtful
>> gift that shows that someone cares and went to the trouble. Similar
>> concept.
>
> flowers are aesthetically pleasing though; thats the major difference.
>
> The thing about this blago thing though is that it appeared he did more
> than 99.9% of these paid for read messages though- he put his own spin on it and
> went off script a bit. It doesn't sound like you approved/liked what he
> had to say, but I've actually never heard of one of the celebrity readers
> taking the time to do such a thing. In all cases
> they just read whatever is on the card(even to the point that sometimes
> people try to prank them and get them to say something innapropriate, and
> it often works because
> they are just mindlessly reading whatever is written to the point that
> they can't even pick up if it is just a prank to embarrass them)
>
> So I guess my point is I don't think your expectations were really
> reasonable(to expect Blago to 'be funny' spontaneously during the
> reading) given the nature of these things. It's just
> not the standard for how those things work. But what do I know as I'm
> actually surprised he didn't just read straight off the card and instead
> took the time to do some ranting
> off script.....maybe he doesn't get a lot of those(probably not right?)
> and thus figured he would put his own twist on it.

It doesn’t work that way. You don’t give them a script. You get something
like 250 characters to tell them what you want and they compose it. You can
pay more to have more characters to be more specific but you do not give
them a script. That’s the whole point of Cameo, it’s in their own words.
Now they might have a general outline and some standard phrases they use,
I’m not expecting him to compose a masterpiece for $125, but part of the
appeal is it’s his own words.

I also just remembered one reason she tried Cameo. It was right after the
election and the Fetterman campaign had bought a Cameo from Snooki from
Jersey Shore to needle Oz for really being from New Jersey. It was pretty
good and my wife thought “something like that for my cousin would give her
a chuckle”. Here’s the Snooki Cameo if you haven’t seen it:

https://youtu.be/ZfbnknWE7Ug

--
“I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian,
liberal personality.” — Altie

On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 7:18:15 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
> michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 1:23:43 PM UTC-5, xyzzy wrote:
> >> michael anderson <miande...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>> On Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at 12:11:36 AM UTC-5, Michael Falkner wrote:
> >>>> On Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at 6:46:25 PM UTC-7, michael anderson wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>> I don't understand the appeal of paying a celebrity a couple hundred
> >>>>> bucks to read a statement for someone......I just don't. You know they
> >>>>> are just reading something quick for a quick buck. they know it. You
> >>>>> write it for them. I just don't see the appeal....
> >>>> Depends on the circumstances. If it's someone the recipient admires,
> >>>> looks up to, and needs inspiration from to carry on, I can definitely see the appeal.
> >>>>
> >>>> Mike
> >>>
> >>> but you would know they are just reading a statement someone wrote for
> >>> them for a few hundred bucks.......given that it means nothing to the
> >>> person the recipient admires almost by definition and the recipient and
> >>> reader know that, thats why it makes no sense.
> >> It shows that the person who ordered and paid for it cares about the
> >> recipient and wanted to give her a lift. If Blago had 10% of the sense of
> >> humor we thought he did, it would have given her a chuckle in a dark time.
> >>
> >> I’m suspect those flowers in the bouquet sent to the hospital don’t
> >> personally care about the recipient either, but it’s still a thoughtful
> >> gift that shows that someone cares and went to the trouble. Similar
> >> concept.
> >
> > flowers are aesthetically pleasing though; thats the major difference.
> >
> > The thing about this blago thing though is that it appeared he did more
> > than 99.9% of these paid for read messages though- he put his own spin on it and
> > went off script a bit. It doesn't sound like you approved/liked what he
> > had to say, but I've actually never heard of one of the celebrity readers
> > taking the time to do such a thing. In all cases
> > they just read whatever is on the card(even to the point that sometimes
> > people try to prank them and get them to say something innapropriate, and
> > it often works because
> > they are just mindlessly reading whatever is written to the point that
> > they can't even pick up if it is just a prank to embarrass them)
> >
> > So I guess my point is I don't think your expectations were really
> > reasonable(to expect Blago to 'be funny' spontaneously during the
> > reading) given the nature of these things. It's just
> > not the standard for how those things work. But what do I know as I'm
> > actually surprised he didn't just read straight off the card and instead
> > took the time to do some ranting
> > off script.....maybe he doesn't get a lot of those(probably not right?)
> > and thus figured he would put his own twist on it.
> It doesn’t work that way. You don’t give them a script. You get something
> like 250 characters to tell them what you want and they compose it. You can
> pay more to have more characters to be more specific but you do not give
> them a script. That’s the whole point of Cameo, it’s in their own words.
> Now they might have a general outline and some standard phrases they use,
> I’m not expecting him to compose a masterpiece for $125, but part of the
> appeal is it’s his own words.
>
> I also just remembered one reason she tried Cameo. It was right after the
> election and the Fetterman campaign had bought a Cameo from Snooki from
> Jersey Shore to needle Oz for really being from New Jersey. It was pretty
> good and my wife thought “something like that for my cousin would give her
> a chuckle”. Here’s the Snooki Cameo if you haven’t seen it:
>
> https://youtu.be/ZfbnknWE7Ug

Hmmm I guess there are different similar services as I remember reading about one where they were writing specific statements/scripts to catch the celebrity in a gotcha moment.

> --
> “I usually skip over your posts because of your disguistng, contrarian,
> liberal personality.” — Altie