Riffers Live, Puppets Died
James Heflin’s article “The Wisecracking Puppets Who Wouldn’t Die” [April 8, 2010] was a frustrating piece to read for a longtime MST3K fan. Heflin cites several episodes from the series and states: “All that giddy humor was absent from screens for years.”
Michael J. Nelson was head writer of the show long before he ever joined the crew on the Satellite of Love. He and fellow cast members Kevin Murphy and Bill Colbert performed two live broadcast events in 2009 that appeared in movie theaters nationwide. The first was “Plan Nine of Outer Space” and the second a Christmas Shorts Extravaganza. The article made no mention of the trio or the impressive catalog of DVD commentaries available on Rifftrax.com.
While I’m not trying to advocate team Mike over team Joel, it is disappointing to read a featured article written by a person not particularly familiar with the series or its aftermath (the puppets did indeed die; it was the riffers who did not). J. Elvis Weinstein is credited as Tom Servo in the article. He voiced the bot for the first season. Murphy voiced the next 10.
Meredith Brouillette
Northfield
Heflin responds: As a longtime Mystery Science Theater watcher, I know well the work of Mike Nelson and friends. The details of the rivalry, imagined or real, between Nelson, Hodgson, and former MST3K executive producer Jim Mallon in the wake of the show’s demise is a story unto itself, one which seemed of limited interest for all but diehard MSTies in a story about Cinematic Titanic’s visit to Northampton.
Obama a Republican?
The health care bill doesn’t, as Rall would have you believe, increase taxes on the poor [“Obama the Republican,” April 8, 2010]. The way it works out to increase government revenue is by cutting costs significantly by reducing the number of people who don’t have coverage (and who would normally wait until they needed to go to the emergency room, thus passing the cost of their treatment on to the public), by taxing the so called “Cadillac” insurance plans some individuals enjoy, and, of course, by penalizing people who do not buy coverage (there’s also a tax on tanning salons in there and some other smaller measures). I’m assuming Rall is referring to this last point when he says the bill will increase taxes for the poor. The simple fact is that, without this clause, expanding coverage to people with pre-existing conditions is impossible—unless, of course, we’d gone with the single-payer system which most of us liberals would prefer, but which was simply a political impossibility.
I’m a liberal myself, but unlike Rall, I’m aware of political realities. Liberals are in the minority, and we have been for several decades now. Acting as though Obama can just ignore these realities (and somehow magically bypass actual barriers like the filibuster in the process) is to expect him to be like the Republicans: ideologically stubborn to the point of not caring whether the country is run into the ground.
Yes, I’m not completely satisfied with the President so far, but the health care bill took considerably more political spine than Clinton ever possessed. Additionally, seven out of nine of the policy decisions you point to as evidence that Obama is a Republican are in the area of national security. Yes, I agree Obama should’ve pulled out of Afghanistan; yes, I agree Guantanamo constitutes a major civil rights violation. But in a serious recession, it’s foolish to expect the executive to use political capital on issues that simply aren’t on most voters’ minds. The “war on terror” is also an area where Obama effectively has no wiggle room, especially considering the barely thwarted attack back in December. To close Guantanamo right now would give the right even more fuel. I know that sounds callous in a sense, to put men’s civil rights on hold for political reasons, but the truth is, if the Dems lose control, we’ll undoubtedly see a return to even more extreme “homeland security” measures and much more severe repeals of civil rights.
To summarize my point, Obama is a pragmatist, not a Republican. He has to make tough, controversial decisions because he inherited a country in a mess and he actually has to deal with political realities, and these are things someone writing for the Valley Advocate will never have to worry about.
Steve Dunne
from our online comments
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Rall is wrong. Very wrong. To illustrate it the way I’ve done to a number of “progressives,” when you’re playing a tough opponent, you don’t throw for the goal line as soon as you get the football. You slam into the other line, four or five yards at a time, until the other side gets tired and demoralized. That’s what Obama’s doing. The only reason the other side is not demoralized is that they read people like Rall’s agreeing with them to mean that they’re chagrined with Obama.
I’m wondering how on earth Rall thinks we can elect a left-of-center president if progressives pull the rug out from under Obama. African Americans know full well that the average progressive is white (and middle aged or older). If the President is sabotaged, blacks are not going to say, “Well, Trent Lott and Glenn Beck were against Obama because they don’t like us to have political power, but progressives just had our best interests at heart.” No, they’re going to think whites have stuck together once again and we’re all the same in the end, and Democrats will lose their most reliable voting bloc. You can call it “identity politics,” but that’s the hard reality.
Thomas Niksa
Milton, Vt.
from our online comments
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Most Americans want socialized medicine? What planet do you live on, man? Every single poll taken during the Health Care entitlement debate showed the majority of Americans opposed this bill. Now, you could argue that they opposed it because it did not include a full-blown government take over of health care, but you would just be kidding yourself.
As a wise man has said many times, liberalism is a disease. You have been infected, comrade. Obama is as far left a president as this country will ever see. To infer that he is not only not liberal enough for your taste but in fact too much of a Republican is laughable.
The uprising in this country has been stirred by our far-left-leaning political leadership. It simply is not representative of the ideals of the majority of Americans. We are, and for a great while now have always been, a center/right country. Understandably the Bush presidency had people itching for a change. Well, they’ve gotten it. And now all those who either voted for the first time or voted for this breath of fresh air have said….oops.
This great nation was founded on the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our government was established for limited purposes which have eroded inch by inch over time, culminating in what we have now: overreaching government trying to meddle in every aspect of individuals’ lives. Enough is enough. But, hey, look at the bright side: after November you’ll have plenty of liberal ex-Congressmen to write about. That should keep your mind off Obama’s conservative Republican agenda.
Michael Perry
from our online comments
