I Hope That Something Better Comes Along

The title of the post is inspired by the Muppets. The sentiment behind it, however, is driven by the latest legislative cowardice by Congressional Democrats. Will they ever grow a collective spine?

Too bad that principled votes for third-party candidates often lead to Republican victories.

Muppets Take Smithsonian

Not that they weren't part of Americana already, but now they're behind glass at the Smithsonian. I hope they put some airholes in the glass though, Muppets do need to breathe.

I was talking with Jenny about Muppets the other day; every time I pass by the Wilkins Avenue exit on the Baltimore Beltway, I think of Jim Henson. His Muppets' first job as pitchmen was for Wilkins Coffee back in the early '60s (late '50s?). Now, I don't know whether they had a presence in Baltimore, but Wilkins Coffee was (is?) actually based in the DC area, in Capitol Heights I believe. So my free- association with Wilkins Avenue is just that; there's no direct link that I know of. Anyway, over at YouTube, someone has collected the old Wilkins TV spots, so check them out. Most are a more violent than I would have guessed a commerical back then would have been - lots of exploding, beaten, pummeled, run-over, coffee-dumped-on Muppets. Still entertaining though! It's also interesting to note that while the featured Muppets, Wilkins and Wontkins, are somewhat primitive by modern Muppet standards, there's really not a huge gap to bridge from them to Kermit or Fozzie.