With a hat tip to the fine editors of the Encyclopaedia Britannica who gave us "The Annotated Dennis Miller" when he was a color commentator for Monday Night Football -- which is now archived on the ESPN web site -- herewith an explanation of the multifarious cultural references made by the aforementioned Mr. Miller during his rant yesterday (look just below Moore's picture on Miller's web site: there's a link with a speaker and a play icon) on his nationally syndicated radio program about the appearance of documentary film maker Michael Moore on the steps of the capitol of the Peoples' Republic of Madison:

"I'd-like-to-buy-the-world-a-Coke-it together...": From Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'd_Like_to_Teach_the_World_to_Sing_(In_Perfect_Harmony) ): " 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)' is a pop song which originated as a jingle in the groundbreaking 1971 'Hilltop' television commercial for Coca-Cola. The song, produced by Billy Davis and performed by The New Seekers, portrayed a positive message of hope and love sung by a multicultural collection of teenagers on the top of a hill. It originally included the line 'I'd like to buy the world a Coke' and repeated 'It's the real thing' as Coca-Cola's marketing theme at the time."  Miller's reference, of course, is to the phrase's Kumbaya-like compassion.

"...halfway across the Rubicon": ("Rubicon." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/511950/Rubicon>): "Rubicon, Latin Rubico, small stream that separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy in the era of the Roman Republic. The movement of Julius Caesar’s forces over the Rubicon into Italy in 49 bc violated the law (the Lex Cornelia Majestatis) that forbade a general to lead an army out of the province to which he was assigned. His act thus amounted to a declaration of war against the Roman Senate and resulted in the three-year civil war that left Caesar ruler of the Roman world." The reference is to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's budget campaign about to make it to the other side once the vote on the "Budget Repair Bill" is made.

"...down the Lewis Carroll bunny hole": From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_wonderland): "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world (the Wonderland of the title) populated by peculiar and anthropomorphic creatures." "Anthropomorphic" describes Mr. Moore rather succinctly!

"...ostensibly showing up as our Greek chorus?": ("chorus." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 09 Mar. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/114599/chorus>.): "chorus, in drama and music, those who perform vocally in a group as opposed to those who perform singly. The chorus in Classical Greek drama was a group of actors who described and commented upon the main action of a play with song, dance, and recitation."  Miller's reference is to Michael Moore showing up to comment (in an annoying, bothersome, and buttinsky-ish way) on the goings-on in Madison.

"Why wasn't Michael Moore up there on the steps of the capitol making it rain as they do in strip clubs?  Where were the ones, baby?": From UrbanDictionary.com (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=make+it+rain): "1. In strip clubs, it is when you throw stacks of money all over women (this is the 'edited' definition)."  The opposite of Scrooge McDuck swimming in piles of his own money.  The reference to "ones" means that the stacks of money thrown in the air consist entirely of U.S. one dollar bills.

"...and act like they've got Eugene Debs in front of them.": From history.howstuffworks.com (http://history.howstuffworks.com/american-history/eugene-v-debs.htm): "In 1893, Debs formed the American Railway Union, hoping it would include all of the nation's railway workers. Against his advice, Debs's union in 1894 decided to help the workers on strike at the Pullman Company plant near Chicago by calling a strike against all trains carrying Pullman cars. The strike was broken by federal troops and court injunctions, the union was ruined, and Debs was sentenced to a six-month jail term for contempt of court. His reading in jail eventually led him to become a socialist, a fact he announced in 1897...His gentle ways and appealing oratory made him greatly admired even by those who opposed his ideas."  From (http://www.labordallas.org/hist/hist1916.htm): "He said, 'I am not a labor leader. I don't want you to follow me or anyone else. If you are looking for a Moses to lead you out of the capitalist wilderness, you will stay right where you are. I would not lead you into this Promised Land if I could, because if I could lead you in, someone else would lead you out.' That was how he talked to freight handlers and gandy dancers, to firemen and switchmen and engineers, telling them it wasn't enough to organize the railroad men, that all workers must be organized, that all workers must be organized in the workers' cooperative commonwealth."  Not very descriptive of Michael Moore! 

"The game is afoot...": From King Henry the IV Part I by William Shakespeare: "Before the game is afoot, thou still let'st slip."  Also a phrase used by the character Sherlock Holmes (quoting Shakespeare) in Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventure of the Abbey Grange: "Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!"

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