Blog bits: The preacher who tried to steal Christmas

Bah-humbug

I appreciate the local TV news for bringing me craziness like this next little ditty, but as usual, there’s no context or explanation. It was literally a 1-minute hit on the 11 o’clock the other night.

According to WLOS, a “preacher” (it seems like any fat redneck with a few folding chairs can call himself a preacher around here) named the Rev. Dale Ruff of Polk County filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court asking the federal government to ban Christmas.

No shit. I’m going to see if I can track down the filing.

Ruff, according to the local TV station, is claiming a violation of the church/state rule to allow government to celebrate the Christian holiday. He doesn’t think federal employees should get paid for working Dec. 25. Somehow, all this is tied into the Supreme Court’s decision this past week regarding the display of the Ten Commandments.

These people are crazy around here.

Cuevas making shit up and taunting us with it

Chief Meteorologist Mike Cuevas, who has been making shit up almost every night and passing it off as a weather forecast, crossed the line the other afternoon. Usually, we just sigh and go on with our lives when we see Cuervo’s weather reading.

But in talking about some severe weather patterns, Cuevas put on his teaching hat to tell us that tornadoes over water are called “waterspouts.” OK. Then he said that tornadoes, when they happen over mountains, are called “mountain-nadoes.” Yeah, he really did say that.

I just gotta call bullshit on that one, Mike. C’mon, dude, have a little respect for your viewers.

A rose to Le

John “Punnyman” Le can show flashes of brillance, as we’ve said before, which makes his usually inane, pun-filled work so annoying.

But he showed his expert TV storytelling the other night on the story about the Health Adventure’s Sesame Street exhibit. It was told perfectly through one excited little girl who couldn’t get enough of the fun, as well as her mother, who seemed to be reliving her childhood through her daughter.

Le just told the story. He didn’t insert himself into it. And it was beautiful (just like that story a month or so ago about the young pickers at their grandfather’s little gas station out in the middle of nowhere.)

Now that’s good TV!