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February 28, 2007
From "The Plank": Best Blog Post of The Day
ANNALS OF UNDERSTATEMENT:
"He's not a perfect package either but does anyone doubt he's experienced?"--Kathryn Jean Lopez, fantasizing about a Cheney presidential run over at the Corner.
K-Lo's enthusiasm is based primarily--scratch that, exclusively--on the idea that a Cheney candidacy would make liberals deeply unhappy. Speaking for myself, I suspect most of us could take some measure of solace in the resulting 45-state sweep.
--Christopher Orr
Posted by emily at 7:00 PM | Comments (0)
Muppet Chain Gang
Awaiting word on the Trial of The Century... so, we've dismissed a juror, there's been a question the Judge didn't understand, but it didn't matter anyway because the jurors answered it themselves... and more GOP flakeheads whining about "not being a crime." I love the limited memory wipe to their activities in 1998.
Whatever. Convict and see if Libby goes to Fitzgerald to squeel like a Miss Piggy. Then, we get dirty on Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Then, impeachment. Then, the clouds break and the sun shines through and people dance in the street and children cry tears of gold...
Posted by emily at 3:54 PM | Comments (0)
February 27, 2007
Fuck The Dow II
Watching my new fav program "News War" on PBS... I yet again find myself angered at the business world when it comes to journalism. Every talking head on this program that is on the business end of journalism is talking out of their ass about what the public wants. Fuck you. This is the horrible dividend of deregulation and the end of "equal time" rules at the FCC... newspapers and the evening news has to be at a profit.
It's NOT about what the public wants to know. It's not about catching pedophiles at a house. Murrow spins in his grave so fast at this point, he could be an alternative energy source. Cutting corners and wanting ratings has made us stupider. Watch CNN and you know what I mean.
David Westin sickens me. SICKENS ME! "I put teenage sex on the news because that's what people want and it gets me ratings and it makes the investors happy." That's what he would say if he was honest. We all know it's the truth. But he says it is news. No, teens having sex, not news.
Thank god for Koppel on this thing. He just speaks my soul on this. I know I'm blogging right now, but I have great respect for the history of journalism and to see it die so slowly and painfully saddens me.
Sorry to put it like this: if you get surprised by the next threat out there, remember the news was not serving you at this moment. It was serving the public's salvatory glands. Not it's brains.
Posted by emily at 10:50 PM | Comments (0)
Fuck The Dow
Stock markets crash all the time. Helen Thomas lost her front row seat, the one her sassy ass has sat in since the JFK administration.
Yes, Virginia, there is nothing sacred.
Posted by emily at 10:45 PM | Comments (0)
Funny, I guess..
Have you ever noticed when the right/GOP/conservative peeps on the TeeVee talk about Al Gore/Global Warming/Green/Enviroment, they make jokes? You don't really hear many strong counter-arguments or anything. The talking points boil down to: "Al Gore, hee, hee, he's fat. We can eat the polar bears, hee, hee."
I mean, if you don't believe global warming is real, make an argument. George Will does. But the idea you can mock an issue into irrelvency... doesn't work too well. Remember anti-littering? The right mocked that, too. But people don't litter anymore.
Posted by emily at 4:52 PM | Comments (0)
February 26, 2007
Goodfella
Well, I was happy to see Marty win, finally! I had totally forgot who he lost to in 1990, when he was up for Goodfellas... Kevin Costner. Blech. He SHOULD have won for Goodfellas... and I also have a soft spot in my heart for The Last Temptation of Christ. It pissed off a lot of Christians and got itself firebombed in France. Fight the power, Marty!
It was the most moving moment in the Oscars, but you knew it was coming when Coppola, Spielberg and Lucas came out the present Best Director. I mean, they're going to present the award to the guy who directed "Babel"? Of course not. You only get the three Young Turks from the 70s together to fete the Fourth Young Turk: Martin Scorsese. And it was very sweet, I have to say. Especially the part where they pointed out Lucas hasn't won a directing Oscar... well, he wasn't going to win for the last three Star Wars films. Woof! "American Graffiti", on the other hand, or the first "Star Wars"... well, I've gotten off topic.
Anyway, cheers for Scorsese. But maybe it's better NOT to win. The list of those great directors who never won an Oscar: Robert Altman (discount honorary), Orson Welles, Alfred Hitchcock, Stanley Kubrick, Sidney Lumet, David Lynch, Tim Burton, Igmar Bergman, Charlie Chaplin, Alan J. Pakula, Peter Weir, Spike Lee, Cecil B. De Mille, Federico Fellini, Norman Jewison, George Lucas...
And they gave one to Costner. Just think about it.
Posted by emily at 3:36 PM | Comments (0)
February 25, 2007
Dreaming of Gore
I'm still waivering in the wind. I know that all the Dem candidates are waiting for me to endorse (I'm sick of your phone calls, Dodd!). I'm 51% behind Obama. 10% for Mo Udall. But I still have a warm spot, a warming spot in the globe of my heart, for Al Gore. Is it because he already won once? That he spent 8 years as veep?
Gore/Kucinich '08, baby!
Posted by emily at 5:18 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007
England Picks Up It's Tea Cozy and Goes Home
Tony Blair is going to announce British troops are leaving Iraq. Not all of them, but many of them, about 1/5.
It's over, Mr. Bush.
Posted by emily at 8:08 PM | Comments (0)
February 15, 2007
Keith Re-Ups
Four more years of throwing spitballs and Bill "Orally".
Awesome.
Posted by emily at 1:36 PM | Comments (0)
February 14, 2007
So what does this mean for Dana Carvey's run for garbage collector?
Al "Sleeps With Ariana" Franken running for US Senate out of Minnesota. The Wellstone seat, as we call it. (RIP as always, Mr. Wellstone.)
Posted by emily at 3:10 PM | Comments (0)
February 12, 2007
Wonkin' Walnuts
In my web surfing, which does take up a fair amount of time when I should be studying Civ Pro II, I am always amused with Wonkette. I am less amused by Ana Marie Cox, but she's not there anymore. I don't know why they've taken to calling John McCain John WALNUTS! McCain. But I don't need to know the backstory or the reasoning behind the choice. WALNUTS! McCain is cool on it's own.
And this story:
"Walnuts McCain Worries Iraq War Could Become Unpopular!
No longer even loosely tethered to reality, John WALNUTS! McCain is now making his worst fears public: that something could happen in Iraq that might possibly turn Americans against the war!
“A lot of us are also very concerned about the possibility of a, quote, ‘Tet Offensive.’ You know, some large-scale tact that could then switch American public opinion the way that the Tet Offensive did,” McCain told the Associated Press. And where is American public opinion at the moment?
67% oppose the handling of the war.
Just 32% approve of Bush.
Just 26% approve specifically of Bush’s handling of the war.
62% say the war should’ve never happened.
Is Walnuts hoping for American bloodshed so outrageous and devastating in Iraq that all of us will go crazy, too, and suddenly switch to supporting the awful carnage? We can’t wait to see this psychotic old fool on the primary debate circuit!"
Oh, the great Wonkette. http://www.wonkette.com/
Posted by emily at 9:40 PM | Comments (0)
A Promising Sign
This logo is very soothing. Very, very soothing. I think this is a good start for Barry.
Posted by emily at 4:15 PM | Comments (2)
February 9, 2007
Muppets In Jail!
Six witnesses... a pretty good case for the prosecution. Plus, you have a gimpy talk-show host completely contradicting I. Lewis Scooter Libby's testimony. Looks bad for the former VPCoS.
But the question left unanswered: what grown man goes around with the name "Scooter"?
Posted by emily at 5:14 PM | Comments (0)
Fat Charlie Wants!
Best bumper sticker I've seen in awhile. Get it?
M Peach Bush
Posted by emily at 3:48 PM | Comments (0)
Norma Jean, She Wasn't
I promised myself not another word. I agree with everyone at HuffPo that this shit on the blond floozy needs to STOP. At least the space nut in the diaper was novel. Nobody had done that before. Two-bit stars have died mysteriously before. But there's some major news on Doug Feith and pre-war intel and I'm watching the 24/7s and NOTHING. "Pentagon report stays ex-policy cheif gave dubious info to the White House" IS ON THE FUCKING CRAWL. HOW IS THIS NOT ON THE FUCKING NEWS!!!
But let me just speak for someone whom I'm not a big fan of, but who wasn't a two-bit star at all... if one more shallow, vile, disgusting and purile "entertainment reporter" compares the Dead Blond to Marilyn Monroe, I will go to Norma Jean's grave, wake her up, give her a gun and direct her to their houses. I'm no Marilyn fan; I like Dietrich, Garbo, the Hepburns and Bette Davis. But to compare the two really spits on Marilyn's memory and also her career. Marilyn Monroe had talent and brains and charm. The persona grates on me, but it was HER original persona. Not a two-bit knock-off.
Posted by emily at 3:09 PM | Comments (0)
J-Pod, Steyn, et al.. V Sullivan
They are sniping at each other something fierce. I'm with Sullivan completely; American officials torturing people isn't a real side-splitter, you know? I mean, the idea that you can find amusment in sadism like that... that doesn't say good things about your sanity or mental state. I think there must be some sort of cognitive split going on here: the Cornerites think torture and see something out of an Acme cartoon. It's not real to them, so it's funny.
Posted by emily at 2:21 PM | Comments (0)
Wiener Savage Might Run For President!
Oh, baby! If Michael Savage runs, '08 would be BEST ELECTION EVAHHH!!
I mean this in an entirely sick and twisted way, mind you.
Posted by emily at 2:13 PM | Comments (0)
Is Al Gore Our "Safety School"?
Yahoo! makes a big smelly deal of the headline "HE'S NOT RUNNING." Read the text and it's the same wish-wash as always. Maybe a bit more definite.
The question is why do so many Democrats want him to run. There are obvious answers: he won before (the popular vote at the very least, and most likely Florida as well), he's been prescient to the point of psychic on the hot issues of the day (literally, hot as in warming globe and Iraq), he has huge name recogonition, etc...
But outsider, activist Gore is much preferred to RunningForPresident Gore, who was, well, a robot. Why ask him to drain his blood and sweat and become a piece of wood again?
Another answer beckons: Dems are nervous about Hillary and Obama. Al Gore is our Michigan State. Hillary is our Harvard and Obama is our Yale. If we don't get those, we want a safety to fall back on. But Michigan State has just rejected us, apparently.
Posted by emily at 10:58 AM | Comments (0)
February 8, 2007
The Agony of No Political News
Can one of you 24/7 noise machines go back to covering actual news? I'd really rather hear about Tim Russert's tesimony in the Libby trial today. You know, there's a war on and everything and N. Korea's at the bargaining table....
This is worse than that cosmo-nut with the diaper.
Posted by emily at 5:40 PM | Comments (0)
Train Wreck Finally Derails
Why didn't Molly Ivins get this coverage? That's right... there's no nude pictures, drug abuse, old husband, dead son and trashy behavior. Sad what we reward. But she bled and so now she leads. Smart, fiesty, "well-behaved" woman like our Molly don't make 24-hour news coverage.
Posted by emily at 4:53 PM | Comments (0)
February 7, 2007
New E-mail For Fat Charlie
I have a new e-mail, BTW. If you need to know it, just send me a comment.
Posted by emily at 9:11 PM | Comments (0)
Timmy Puts The Kibosh on Scooter... Perjury Sure Is Fun When It's Not About Blow-Jobs!
Posted by emily at 5:44 PM | Comments (0)
February 6, 2007
Joe Klein V. Ariana Huffington, Mickey Kaus, et al...
Here's my beef: Time Magazine, employer of Mr. Klein, recently gave precious deadtreespace to... you guessed it... Bill "Uber-Neo-Con" Kristol. Joe Klein reserves the right to be wishy-washy... he's a triangulator (sp?) after all, a 3rd way man. Wishy-washy is Clintonian crack. But being "not sure" on Iraq four years ago means you are 50% more credible than Kristol, who while being more consistant than Klein, is more consistant in the sense he wants to bomb every fucking thing on the planet that blinks at us the wrong way.
I'm sure The Huff (as I refer to her in my head) would gladly (and has gladly) thrown many a stone at Kristol. But why let him leave your sights and go after Mr. Primary Colors?
Posted by emily at 5:14 PM | Comments (0)
The Deliberative, Democratic Body
I haven't really known what to think about the resolutions in the Senate. I do know that this liberal-lovefest with Chuck Hagel will come to an end eventually; the guy's a conservative, not a maverick. But he's not a Bushite and so he sounds heroic at the moment.
How many of those suckers, er, GOP senators, will have the balls to stay with Bush until '08? I say many will. The GOP is the party that praises loyalty and partyline above everything else. That's really all they care about, isn't it?
I'm not for bipartisanship. I'm really not. There are good people in the GOP but John Dean is right. They have a dictator-loving streak a mile long. Follow the leader. And that's where Hagel and Collins and Warner, to some extent, are brave... because apparently they didn't get the memo about what the GOP really is about.
There's a lot of reasons to squirm about the Dems, especially if you're on the left, left, left like me, but Nader's argument seems 1,000 years ago. Gush and Bore make me want to puke? Well, maybe in 2000. But I'm going to cry when Al Gore wins his Oscar; tears of pain to see him finally win the prize when he wins the popular vote.
We Dems are disorganized. We're vulgar. We're the party of abortion, gays, Al Sharpton, house music, pot smokers, swear words, Government cheese, big society, multiculturalism, Reggae music, yoga, stem cells, Buddhist monks, Dennis Kucinich, hippies, sensitivity, socialism, Marxism, "from each according to his means, to each according to his needs", Jane Fonda in a tank, Clinton's blow jobs (received, not given), peanut farmers, "We Shall Overcome", tax the rich, give to the poor, rip the goddamn creche from city hall... and Gary Hart.
I am a Democrat because I approve of all of the above, especially the Reggae music. I believe government can be the answer, not the problem. I don't believe the market solves everything; I believe the market works to better the market, not the people. I believe in people, not business. But that doesn't mean I think business is evil. I just think its not the end-all, be-all of what America is about, what American can do. I think we all have an obligation to take care of the sick and the poor. I believe in a level playing field.
But those aren't the reasons a lot of people nowadays lean Dem. George W. Bush has been the gift that keeps on giving for us. But to just be offended by the GOP's stance on many social issues (and most people I know who are my age are, to some extent, put off by the anti-gay) and the Iraq war does not a Democrat make. We can argue the size of government till the blue chips come home... but I think the real debate is not the size, but what it does. Government is going to remain huge; just deal with it. The FDA and FCC and the Fed are not going away. So what is it do you want them to do? Nothing? Sit there and collect a salary while e-coli goes into our Spinich? (and for you conservatives: Sit there and collect a salery while vulgarity and Janet Jackson's breast™ go into our airwaves?)
So, getting back to Chuck Hagel... I disagree with him on 99%, but right now is, to use Dick Cheney's evil mind, a 1% doctorine time. He won't get rewareded in the GOP for this. He'll get shunned. Because while they say "shrink government", "free market", that's not what they're really about... the modern GOP is about loyalty. You can say you're a pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control New Yorker and as long as you haul Bush's skanky Iraq water, you'll be on top of the polls (IE: Rudy Guiliani).
Posted by emily at 1:17 PM | Comments (0)
February 2, 2007
I Don't Have Space
I'm waiting for Fed Admin class to start and I look around to all the laptops. Everyone is on their myspace page. Can I get cool points for NOT being on it? Not that I'm looking to rachet up the cool points. But I did the friendster thing and found it annoying after awhile. And it's just too big, you know? It's lost its cachet.
Posted by emily at 6:23 PM | Comments (0)
MSNBC Bitch fights
BTW, Huffpo's got a thing about Tim Russert reportedly hating Chris Matthews. I don't know if I don't care or I don't care. They are both annoying. Russert's annoying in a quiet voice, but they're both suck-ups to power.
P.S. BTW, all woman anchors on cable are annoying. all of them. Christiane Amanpour doesn't count; she's not an anchor. And Allison Stewart is fine. Everyone else is screechy and bubbly at the same time. They wear Mizz America make-up and hair and pretend to have IQs of a wax candle. Where's Linda Ellerbee when you need her?
Posted by emily at 4:59 PM | Comments (0)
A New Look Will Come
ctriv will be bringing you (and I) a new look for this page. I'm excited... I feel that this blog-crash has been an act of creative destruction.
Speaking of blog-crash, didn't I tell you Biden was dead in the water? My Con Law prof says his smile scares children. I don't know if that's true, but Joe opens his mouth and little clean and articulate feet just come flying out.
Posted by emily at 4:56 PM | Comments (0)