Nick Offerman plugs book, and I ramble about the Greatest Generation.

Nick Offerman had a tough act to follow on Monday night's interview on the Daily Show. It's not every night that Jon Stewart breaks into song, and I have to admit, his rendition of "Try a Little Tenderness" belongs in the rock 'n' roll Hall of Fame.

But Nick was nonplussed and nonchalant. I have to admit, the The Daily Show and the Colbert Report are pretty much the only television I ever watch because they do such a good job of mocking the sheer existence of television. But I'm willing to bet that Parks and Rec is at least as good as people say it is after watching this interview.

Jon is enthralled with Nick's wordworking, while Nick is nonplussed about it.

What is striking about Nick is that he views his acting and his carprentry as un-remarkable. And yeah, there's a stark contrast between Nick's craftsmanship and the worthless, endless supply of hipster handbags and artisanal Oreo's. Nick's work is good quality, and he is completely humble about it. For Nick, acting is just a job, ditto for his homemade canoe. It's perhaps the softest book sell I've ever seen.

Seeing Nick talk about his humble rise from high school drama nerd to accomplished actor and woodworker reminded of someone I was lucky to know personally: Grandpa. Specifically, my Grandpa Miner. He wasn't famous by any stretch, but his story does carry an important relevance to work ethic, humility, and everyday exceptionalism.

Bruce Bear Miner graduated high school at the age of 16, top of his class. He would have graduated at 14, but he briefly left school to help on the family farm. America was like that in the 1930s. After high school, he obtained his undergraduate degree at Cornell University.

I remember visiting his house when I was a small boy. Even as a child, I could appreciate all the unique work my grandfather had done to make his small plot of land his empire.

The first thing anyone would notice when they pulled into the driveway was that Bruce had planted evergreen trees, perfectly spaced, along the front exposure of the house. This gave everyone total privacy from the road. When we walked around the house, we were greeted with stone paths that had been engraved with old license plates. His backyard seemed to have everything: an above ground pool, a picnic table--even an outdoor shower! On hot day my sisters and I could play basketball, or cricket, or anything else in the backyard before taking a dive in the pool. When swim time was over, we could just take a quick rinse in the outdoor shower and sit down and eat burgers straight from the grill and fresh vegetables picked right from the garden.

Like any good parent, his proudest accomplishment was his own family. He and his wife Marion raised two boys, Bruce Jr, and Brian. One thing that made raising Brian difficult was that he had behavior consistent with autism. There was very little known about the autistic spectrum half a century ago, and even less was known about treatment. Bruce and Marion however, offered Brian much love, support and patience. One could say that Bruce and Marion were trailblazers, but they would say that they were just doing their duty as parents as any good parent would.

Bruce also loved photography, and installed a dark room in his basement. Bruce Jr and Brian both loved photography. After Bruce returned from Vietnam in 1972, he had a lot of time on his hands and little direction. Photo shoots with Brian filled the void. Were they any good? I'll let you be the judge!

Photo credit: Brian Miner. This is a copy of a copy; the original is much better.

That's my soap box for now. What do you think? Was I over the top in spinning tales from my youth? Was I the only who saw Nick Offerman plug his book and think, "Greatest Generation! But not really!" If so, do you have any Greatest Generation stories of your own that you would like to share?

If so, please do. As always, the conversation must go on.

Am I a stupid man?

A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.

We happen to see this a great deal on the Daily Show. And after watching Secretary of Health and Human Services sit down with Jon to talk about the Affordable Health Care Act, I decided that this was conversation that must go on.

Jon can't help but revel in his applause, and Sebelius can't help
 but smile at the mention of universal Medicare.

I have to admit, I hadn't seen Kathleen Sebeilius's Oct. 7th appearance on the Daily Show until now. As happens all too frequently, there was an insightful conversation not seen anywhere else on in media, cut short.

"She didn't answer my question!" Protested Jon, in his voice that deftly combined sillyness and seriousness. But I think Jon had other reasons to be upset.

What bothered me throughout the whole interview was the amount of pure condescension that Sebelius displayed towards Stewart. To me, Sebelius showed more than just a typical "duck and dodge" towards Jon Stewart's question about enrollment dates for individuals as compared to employers. She had to spout out talking points that she herself couldn't possibly believe to be true.

What grilled me is that Sebelius kept grossly exaggerating the percentage of Americans who have employer-provided health care coverage. When Jon Stewart, said blank and too much applause, that businesses would be more profitable if health care were de-coupled from employment, and consumers would save money through single-payer, Sebelius doubled down.  "The President," she said, "did not want to dismantle the health care that 85 percent of the country has."

Um, not really. Not even close. The figure of Americans with employer-provided health-care coverage is closer to 55 percent. And thanks to President Truman, private companies receive a tax credit of 30 percent from the Federal Government (not zero, as Sebelius claims). If someone receives employer-provided coverage from a government job (ie Police Officer, Fire Fighter, Secretary of Health and Human Services), obviously, that figure is 100 percent. Even if the "85 percent figure were true, how is streamlining a system of payment for health care akin to outright "dismantling?"

Kathleen Sebelius must know that employer-provided health care is on its way out.

And that is a good question: since so much of America's health care is already taxpayer-funded, and employer-provided health care is already in a state of constant decline, why bother propping up a for-profit health care industry whose failure to provide affordable coverage started this mess in the first place?

Put me in Jon's camp, but what do you think? Should Jon have done a better job fact-checking Sebelius and her bogus claims, or would that have made her even more guarded and evasive with her answers? Are we stuck with "ObamaCare," warts and all, for another half-century? Or can Jon Stewart's pro-business argument for Universal Medicare seize the day in the not-to distant future?