A new addition to They Who Must Not Be Named, Levi Johnston.
Just cannot bring myself to care, and he is not currently involved in, or influencing, a national campaign, so he is on the list too.
Category: Media
Indeed
Nice HairEzra Klein, writing on the idea of The Washington Post having Texas Governor Rick Perry write an OP/ED on how states handle healthcare better:
Letting Perry serve as the spokesman for a federalist solution to the health-care system is a bit like letting Dick Fuld testify on the adequacy of self-regulation on Wall Street, or Donald Rumsfeld explain that occupations are easy.
Texas has, no big surprise, the largest percentage of uninsured in the nation.
Though to be fair, Texas Governor Rick Perry has really nice hair.
On a related note, one wonders how much longer he gets to the Washington Post OP/ED page, and by extension editorial page editor Fred Hiatt, c*cks*ck*rs.
I figure that the Bull Durham/Dan Froomkin rule cuts in eventually.
Pay Per View Review
Well, it was time for another family movie, and it was my choice, and my Sharon absolutely put her foot down about the Simpsons Movie, so I chose Monsters vs Aliens.
Reese Witherspoon…Susan Murphy / Ginormica (voice)
Seth Rogen … B.O.B. (voice)
Hugh Laurie … Dr. Cockroach Ph.D. (voice)
Will Arnett … The Missing Link (voice)
Kiefer Sutherland … General W.R. Monger (voice)
Rainn Wilson … Gallaxhar (voice)
Stephen Colbert … President Hathaway (voice)
Paul Rudd … Derek Dietl (voice)
It’s an old story, girl is going to get married, girl gets struck by meteor, girl grows to humongous size, girl gets imprisoned in a secret government facility….
Actually, it is an story. It’s the Wizard of Oz story with a bit of a twist.
I realized this about ¾ of the way through the movie.
That being said, it is well animated, well acted, and well scripted, and rather enjoyable.
It’s also a movie that does well with the pause and rewind buttons, because there are a number of fractured takes on old SF films and film conventions.
The big surprise here are appearances by Stephen Colbert as the president of the United States, where he most amusingly chews scenery.
Watch through the credits.
Recommended, with one caveat: If you love the golden gate bridge, you may cry at one point.
Deep Thought
True dat
Zimbabwe Update
It’s been about 3 weeks, so it’s time to update everyone on the hell hole that Bobby Mugabe made again.
On the bright side, the UK is saying that they will give Zimbabwe $100 million in aid, though I wonder if recent developments (see below) may interfere with this.
First, we have the case of deputy agriculture minister-designate Roy Bennett, who has been imprisoned on what are clearly trumped up charges, with an improperly filed indictment for, “possessing weapons for the purposes of insurgency and banditry,” a crime that carries the death sentence. (See also here)
While he was finally granted bail, this was one of the proximate causes of Tsvangirai and his MDC-T
disengaging from the ZANU-PF, which means that they are no longer attending cabinet meetings.
It should be noted that Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara and his MDC-M are also participating in the boycott of cabinet meetings.
Tsvangirai is Trying to get the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to intervene on what has increasingly become a phony power sharing arrangement.
Meanwhile, ZANU-PF harassment of the MDC and human rights activists continues apace with raids on MDC offices in Harare (also here) claiming that they were looking for arms…..Shades of Bennett’s kangaroo court.
Inter party talks between the MDC and ZANU-PF have broken off without a resolution, and the human rights situation in the country has gone straight into the twilight zone with Mugabe detaining, and then expelling the “UNHRC special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” Manfred Nowak.
Meanwhile, the Marange diamond fields, which are one of the few sources of hard currency available to Mugabe to keep his supporters paid off, are under a Kimberly process investigation for widespread torture, forced labor, and smuggling, which could lead to ban on the export of their gems.
The reports are that, once again, the Kimberly process will wimp out and do nothing , even after members of the Zimbabwe delegation to the meeting threatened and harassed witnesses at the meeting.
Finally, we have the ZANU-PF ordering the state run media to stop covering any MDC activities.
God Bless The Onion
Seriously.
These folks are geniuses.
Warning: an “F-bomb” in the video.
The subject today: Victim In Fatal Car Accident Tragically Not Glenn Beck.
Stay classy, Rush
Yeah, Rush Limbaugh is now saying that former Republican candidate in New York’s 23rd district has, committed bestiality by endorsing the Democrat in the race.
Seriously, when one inventories the number of times that Limbaugh uses a sexual metaphor to describe someone that he does not like is striking.
I’m thinking that Mr. Limbaugh has issues, but then, that has been a likely ever since he returned from the Dominican Republican with a bunch of Viagra®.
Remember That Pundit Contest that I Lost?
My initial reaction, upon looking at the bios of the 10 winners, was that they were rather more establishment, and more “WaPo Columnist” (read conservative and mindless difference splitters) than I had hoped.
But I kind of figured that this might be sour grapes on my part, so I would let their biographies, and their submissions, percolate through my brain before I drew a firm conclusion.
Well, Kevin Drum, who already has a job as a pundit, and did not throw his hat into the Washington Post‘s ring, has taken a look at these winners of at this stage, and has a similar impression of them.
This is particularly notable because I am of the opinion that Drum spends too much time being a “mindless difference splitter”, so he is coming from a place that is far closer to the WaPo editorial board than I am.
His take on the winners:
By the way, the ten winners include a Nobel Prize winner, a Bush 43 assistant secretary of commerce (guess which one), a senior correspondent for the American Prospect, an analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, a former researcher at the Kennedy School of Government, an Atlantic Media fellow, and a small-town newspaper editor. Not exactly a crowd of just plain folks. It might have been more fun to read the other 4,790 entries.
Well, that’s a bit harsher than I would have been, but go and read the Drum’s post…It’s a good read.
Here are my announcement of my submission, and my ding letter, by way of context.
My submission is after the break.
My essay (400 words)
Recently, the Federal Reserve has been on a populist bent, expanding its purview to regulate non bank lenders, issuing rulings on bank overdraft fees, demanding information from financial institutions on compensation, and issuing new consumer protections for mortgages, home-equity loans, and credit cards.
Why? Has the Fed realized that its regulatory regime has failed the general public, or is this the result of increasing calls for change from other branches of government?
This is not a conversion on the road to Damascus, but rather the Fed has decided to employ the strategy of Fabius Maximus, who used delay to give Rome victory over Carthage.
With proposals to audit their books, move consumer protection to another agency, and change the selection process for the regional Fed bank presidents, it is clear that some in Congress are looking to clip the Fed’s wings.
Organizations fight fiercely for their authority, and against external oversight. The recent actions on consumer protections are part of a rear guard action to protect their bureaucratic prerogatives.
This is understandable, but it is a disservice to both the public and the Federal Reserve.
The Federal Reserve’s responsibilities are to maintain a stable currency and stable economy, which involves removing the proverbial “punch bowl” when times are good, in order to prevent inflation, and to provide liquidity when times are bad to allow the economy to recover.
Additionally, the Federal Reserve structure and history make it obsessively focused on protecting the banking system, and, the banking industry. That is why it has eschewed consumer protections until recently: it is loath to reduce the profits of the banks it supervises.
No institution can do this without being firmly protected from politics, since political pressure will always favor immediate growth, even at the cost of future catastrophe. Just look at Zimbabwe.
Consumer protection does not need separation from politics though, it needs to be engaged with those consumers, whom it is charged to protect, and with the representatives who have been elected by these people.
This requires a level of transparency and responsiveness to the public that is antithetical to the primary functions of a central bank.
If the members of the Federal Reserve wish to remain independent, which is both best for the country, and for the Federal Reserve, we should move those functions to other agencies which are more directly answerable to the public.
Nothing too earth shattering, but there are a lot of better thinkers, and better writers, out there, and looking back on it, my invocation of Fabius Maximus was probably a mistake. It’s too Monty Python’s Life of Brian.
Ding Letter
I will not be the Washington Post’s “Next Great Pundit”:
Thank you for entering the first season of the America’s Next Great Pundit contest. You didn’t make the judging easy for us. Not only did we get nearly 5,000 entries, but a great many of those entries were really quite excellent — smart, interesting, funny, well written and well argued. So while we’re sorry to say that we can’t include you as one of our ten finalists this time around, we hope this isn’t the last time we hear from you. We hope you’ll follow the rest of the contest and participate as voters. But even more important, we hope you’ll pitch us more of your work. The various ways you can send various types of pieces are outlined here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/21/AR2009042103705.html
Thanks again for giving this a try. We enjoyed reading.
Best,
The Editors
So it goes.
Not surprised. There are lots of folks who write and think better than I do.
I will note that the Post still publishes Krauthammer, Will, Applebaum, Broder…TANJ.*
In any case, congratulations to Burton Richter, Courtney Martin, Darryl Jackson, Jeremy Haber, Maame Gyamfi, Kevin Huffman, Mark Esper, Lydia Khalil, and Zeba Khan.
Jon Stewart is a F%$#ing Genius, the Obama – Fox Wars
He asks the question that no one is asking, “What is Fox?” (3:36)
Well, after some examination of what Fox says that it is, and what Fox says, he comes up with an answer: Fox is a “Perpetual Revulsion Machine”. (9:46)
Heh.
H/T AMERICAblog
Signs of the Apocalypse: Wall Street Journal Edition
There it is in black and white, on the opinion page of the Rupert Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal, a we have an article that calls out the Rupert Murdoch owned Fox News for lack of journalistic integrity:
But no journalistic operation is better prepared to sing the tragedy of its own martyrdom than Fox News. To all the usual journalistic instincts it adds its grand narrative of Middle America’s disrespectful treatment by the liberal elite. Persecution fantasy is Fox News’s lifeblood; give it the faintest whiff of the real thing and look out for a gale-force hissy fit.
The author, Thomas Frank, had better hope that Rupert Murdoch does not read the OP/ED page of his flagship newspaper.
Luckily for Mr. Frank, I’d give 2 to 1 odds that he doesn’t.
Signs of the Apocalypse
A retired chairman of Citigroup writing to the New York Times suggesting that the Glass-Steagall separation between commercial and investment banks should be re-instituted post haste:
To the Editor:
Re “Volcker’s Voice, Often Heeded, Fails to Sell a Bank Strategy” (front page, Oct. 21):
As another older banker and one who has experienced both the pre- and post-Glass-Steagall world, I would agree with Paul A. Volcker (and also Mervyn King, governor of the Bank of England) that some kind of separation between institutions that deal primarily in the capital markets and those involved in more traditional deposit-taking and working-capital finance makes sense.
This, in conjunction with more demanding capital requirements, would go a long way toward building a more robust financial sector.
John S. Reed
New York, Oct. 21, 2009The writer is retired chairman of Citigroup.
Seriously, this is Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man kind of news.
H/t The Big Picture
What the $#@! Were They Expecting?
So, Microsoft teamed up with Seth MacFarlane for a Family Guy/American Dad special, and when they saw the show, they dropped it like it was nude pictures of Joe Lieberman.
They had promised, “an upcoming television event devoted to the comedy of Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, American Dad and The Cleveland Show” that would be, “unique Windows 7-branded programming that blends seamlessly with show content”.
So far, so good, but what they also got was”
According to reports, Redmond marketeers sat in on the recording of the variety special. While Windows marketing messages were presumably seamlessly integrated into the schtick, so were jokes about deaf people, the Holocaust, feminine hygiene and incest.
While Microsoft was clearly reaching for a hip and edgy audience, they presumably meant the “check me out, I’ve got an extra shot in this latte and I’m wearing an Hawaiian shirt” kind of edgy.
I am wondering if these guys ever watched Family Guy or American Dad, because this is pretty much what he does for humor.
Or, to quote Eric Duckman:
Bunch of thin-skinned, no-humor pansies! You tell them an ice-breaker or two about women’s libbers, gays, environmentalists, several minorities, the homeless, couple of religions, anorexics, obese people, the handicapped, old farts, baldness, and people who walk real goofy because they’ve just had a vasectomy, and suddenly, they get all sensitive, like I offended one of them or something!
Why Do We Listen to Guys Like This?
And why do we pay them to manage our money?
Case in point, Paul Donovon, managing director and deputy head of global economics at UBS who is seen here on video suggesting that the recovery will be ‘Swoosh’ shaped.
Swoosh shaped? This has to be the lamest analogy used to pump up the recovery that I have heard this far:
Heh
Click for full size
Mount Vernon, Washington decided to hold a Glenn Beck day, because he is a native son of that town.
May be this was a really stupid idea:
Glenn Beck Day in Mount Vernon was an expensive lesson for this small town, as it found out the cost of hosting a controversial celebrity.
It’s on the hook for $17,748.85, mostly for 239 hours of police overtime.
….
Well, says Ken Bergsma, the town’s police chief, better to be prepared than not.
The chief says the crowd of 800 to 1,000 demonstrators that greeted Beck for his early-evening appearance on Sept. 26 was the biggest protest he’s seen in his 32 years as a Mount Vernon police officer.
The city council officially distanced themselves from the Mayor’s decision when he made it, and it turns out that they were right, to the tune of almost 18 grand, which is not a small amount of change when the town has a population of 26,232.
There is, and should be, a cost to honoring people whose raison d’être simply self promotion and ego.
Just Read Froomkin
Adventures in Branding
The House Dems are now trying to call the public option Medicare Part E, as in “Medicare for Everyone”.
They should have done it months ago, and they won’t be able to make it stick, but it’s worth a try.
It’s Away!!!!!
Click for full size
I really look way too much like this Starwars dude
Yes, I know it was Red 9 who said that, but I look more like the fat pilot
Did you know that the Washington Post is having a, “America’s Next Great Pundit,” contest?
Well, I’ve heard of it, basically, after submitting an article, and going through a series of “run-offs” with other winners, you get a 13 article gig for the Post online at $200 an article.
You are supposed to start with an essay of less than 400 words and a bio/sales pitch of less than 100 words.
After one abortive attempt (it was too much about me, and I do not write well about me), I ended up revisiting some of my posts on recent Federal Reserve ass covering on consumer protection, where the Fed discovers that, in order to avoid getting boned in the battle between regulators in the new banking system, they need to pretend that they care about consumer protection.
You know, it’s tough to imagine the Washington Post OP/ED hiring me, but they could do worse, by picking….Hmmmm…..I’ll get back to you on that.
In any case, I can’t publish this essay here, at least not until I get the news about whether it has been rejected or not, because the contest requires that, “I certify that I have perpetrated no fraud or deception in connection with my entry, that my Opinion Essay and my Paragraph above are my original work (created solely by me solely for participating in the Contest), and that neither my Opinion Essay nor my Paragraph have been published previously.“
This is subject matter that I have written about before, but it is a completely new essay, and until the folks at WaPo tell me, “Sorry Charlie,” I can’t publish it here.
Then again, my regular reader(s) have already read most of the statements and the thesis, only spread around about a dozen short posts, with hyperlinks.
Which is true, I haven’t
The Recent Pissing Contest Between Fox and the White House
Well, for once, the White House was actually telling the truth when Anita Dunn said, “”Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party…Let’s not pretend they’re a news network the way CNN is.”
That being said, it’s kind of like declaring that milk is white, and the sky is blue, so I find it uninteresting, and it really means little in the scheme of things.
Quote of the Day
Will Bunch notes that a number of so called liberal pundits have gone after Barack Obama:
Kind of reminds me of all those conservative columnists who gave Bush a honeymoon in those early months of 2001 but eventually went after him when it became clear that he’d invaded another country for bogus reasons, was assaulting the civil liberties of Americans and bankrupting the national treasury with unnecessary tax cuts at a time of proflagate spending.
Remember those columnists?
Me neither.
(emphasis mine)
Too true.