'Best of TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Super Tuesday
By Baron Dave Romm
Shockwave Radio Theater podcasts
If you've made no predictions, you're way ahead of the conservative news media
The media coverage of politics has been awful for at least ten years, and this year has simply been unprofessionally bad. They've been covering the horserace to the exclusion the issues. For the most part, the issues are simple:
By giving lip service to the issues while desperately trying to make breaking stories about haircuts and minor digs at rivals, very few "political analysts" have had anything worthwhile to say. Indeed, most of the time you were better off ignoring them.
For most of 2007CE, the conservative media elite had Rudy Giuliani leading the GOP pack and were all set to usher in Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee and probable winner. As of this writing, Rudy is out and Hillary is barely holding her own. Finally, a horserace! And it's too late for the pundits to make a difference.
Netroots and online commentators such as myself (I don't consider myself a "blogger" as that would require more work) have wrested control of politics away from traditional sources because we're the ones talking about real matters. It's that simple.
A long standing prediction may be proven on Super Tuesday.
After the 2004 election I made the prediction that Hillary wouldn't be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, much less our next president. This caused Rapublicans to do spit takes. "Everybody in this room know she's going to get the nomination," claimed one amazingly sure goppie. I thought that she would make a run, but didn't really want thejob. She wants to make a difference, and as a two-term Senator (with more if she wants it) she has a lot of power. As a perennial candidate, she has a national constituency and even greater political power.
If she is the nominee she'll win the presidency and she'll be a great president. But I don't think that's going to happen. True, my top two guesses for the nominee are not running anymore (Al Gore and John Edwards) but my third guess (Barack Obama) looks poised to do well on Super Tuesday.
Perhaps Obama won't take the nomination either, once the convention is underway, though he looks pretty good. Just having a black man as leader of the country will show many countries that we really aren't as bad as Bush all the time. Obama will be a great president, though I'm still holding out for Gore to come into the fray.
But I don't think the nominee will be Clinton. I think she's happy with the growing power she has, and will do just fine as Senator for a long time.
That's my prediction. Tuesday will test some of my prognostication, and I'll wait for the rest. I can do no worse than the media pundits.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia who produces Shockwave Radio Theater, writes in a Live Journal demi-blog, plays with a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E. Podcasts of Shockwave Radio Theater. Permanent archive. More radio programs, interviews and science fiction humor plays can be accessed on the Shockwave Radio audio page.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Robert Fisk: The curious case of the forged biography (independent.co.uk)
When Robert Fisk heard that his life of Saddam Hussein was selling well, one thing bothered him: he had never written one. His investigation took him to the murkiest corners of Cairo.
Scott Thill: Can't Pay Your Mortgage? Trash Your House and Leave (AlterNet.org)
As housing markets tank, "trash-outs" are on the rise, leaving owners, lenders and banks fighting over who should pay the clean-up bill.
Connie TUTTLE (tucsonweekly.com)
There's not much separating Hillary Clinton from the white, Republican candidates who came before her.
Garrison Keillor: Liberals able to botch up schools too
Back in the day, we fundamentalists didn't mess with angels, sensing that Catholics owned the angel franchise, part of their dim smoky world of bead-rattling and hocus-pocus and lugubrious statuary, so instead we focused on the Holy Spirit who dwelt in all of us true believers and told us what to do and what to say, which is convenient for people with plenty of self-confidence.
David Wong: 7 Reasons the 21st Century is Making You Miserable (cracked.com)
If you missed this when Marty posted the link Saturday, read it now. It's worth it.
Bill Hart, 1937-2008 (villagevoice.com)
Sam Shepard remembers his late friend and theater colleague.
Chris Vognar: "Mocking racism: New wave of humor turns the tables on slurs" (The Dallas Morning News; Posted on popmatters.com)
Racial humor has long been the electric fence of the comedy world, a topic you touch at your own risk. America the melting pot has a way of boiling over when one of its components gets dissed in public.
WILL LAYMAN: "JAZZ TODAY: The Gap: Bix Beiderbecke" (popmatters.com)
It's never too late to get hip to a good thing. I've finally opened my ears to '20s-era Bix Biederbecke.
Roger Ebert: "Anarchy in the U.K.: My life with Sid Vicious" (from February 10, 1986)
I remember Rotten observing with wonderment that romance had inspired Sid to clean up his act: "He even changed his underwear for the first time in two years." "I don't believe it!" said McLaren. "Did you actually see him taking it off?" "He didn't take it off," Rotten said. "He had been wearing it too long for that. He had to shave it off."
ROGER EBERT: A Knight's Tale (3 stars; from 2001)
It is possible, I suppose, to object when the audience at a 15th century jousting match begins to sing Queen's "We Will Rock You" and follows it with the wave. I laughed. I smiled, in fact, all through Brian Helgeland's "A Knight's Tale," which tells the story of a low-born serf who impersonates a knight, becomes a jousting champion and dares to court the daughter of a nobleman.
Sylvia, by Nicole Hollander (womensenews.org)
Hubert's Poetry Corner
Daring Designs for George W's Library
The Dud of a Dud in Dallas?
Music! Music! Music!
Inner Surge
Inner Surge is a Canadian political metal band.
Their site contains songs (and lyrics) for tracks exploring U.S policy such as "Halliburton Piggies", "The Monroe Doctrine" and "Limb from Limb". There are also music videos for "Wolves" (based on the Rwandan genocide) and "Retribution Song".
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Mostly rainy day followed by a clear and windy night.
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie traveled up the California coast to receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's "Performance of the Year" award.
The 32-year-old actress was honored Saturday for her portrayal of Mariane Pearl, wife of slain journalist Daniel Pearl, in the film "A Mighty Heart." It's one of numerous awards Jolie has received for the role, but among the few she's personally collected.
The award was presented by Clint Eastwood, director of Jolie's upcoming drama "The Changeling."
Jolie arrived with her partner, Brad Pitt, who did not speak to the media but briefly posed with Jolie for photos.
Angelina Jolie
Photos Found
Ernie Pyle
The figure in the photograph is clad in Army fatigues, boots and helmet, lying on his back in peaceful repose, folded hands holding a military cap. Except for a thin trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, he could be asleep.
But he is not asleep; he is dead. And this is not just another fallen GI; it is Ernie Pyle, the most celebrated war correspondent of World War II.
As far as can be determined, the photograph has never been published. Sixty-three years after Pyle was killed by the Japanese, it has surfaced - surprising historians, reminding a forgetful world of a humble correspondent who artfully and ardently told the story of a war from the foxholes.
James E. Tobin, author of a 1997 biography, "Ernie Pyle's War," and Owen V. Johnson, an Indiana University professor who collects Pyle-related correspondence, said they had never seen the photo. The negative is long lost, and only a few prints are known to exist.
Ernie Pyle
Quarter of Brits Think Was Myth
Winston Churchill
Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.
The survey found that 47 percent thought the 12th century English king Richard the Lionheart was a myth.
And 23 percent thought World War II prime minister Churchill was made up. The same percentage thought Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale did not actually exist.
58 percent thought Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Holmes actually existed; 33 percent thought the same of W. E. Johns' fictional pilot and adventurer Biggles.
Winston Churchill
Microsoft Deal Bad For Internets
Google
Google Inc. raised the specter of Microsoft Corp. using its proposed $42 billion acquisition of Yahoo Inc. to gain illegal control over the Internet, underscoring the online search leader's queasiness about its two biggest rivals teaming up.
The critical remarks, posted online Sunday by Google's top lawyer, represented the Mountain View-based company's first public reaction to Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo since the offer was announced Friday.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft has been trying to depict a Yahoo takeover as a boon for both advertisers and consumers because the two companies together would be able to compete against Google more effectively.
But Google is painting a starkly different picture, asserting that Microsoft will be able to stifle innovation and leverage its dominating Windows operating system to set up personal computers so consumers are automatically steered to online services, such as e-mail and instant messaging, controlled by the world's largest software maker.
Google
Considering Google Alliance
Yahoo
Yahoo Inc would consider a business alliance with Google Inc as one way to rebuff a $44.6 billion takeover proposal by Microsoft, a source familiar with Yahoo's strategy said on Sunday.
Yahoo management is considering revisiting talks it held with Google several months ago on an alliance as an alternative to Microsoft's bid, which, at $31 a share, Yahoo management believes undervalues the company, the source said.
Few natural bidders exist beside Google that could engage in a bidding war, and Google would be unlikely to win approval from antitrust regulators, some Wall Street analysts said on Friday.
Yahoo's efforts to find an alternative bidder could simply be a measure to pressure Microsoft to boost its bid, which valued Yahoo at $44.6 billion when first announced on Friday.
Yahoo
Deal For France
"Lost"
French fans of the hit ABC television series "Lost" can watch the show just one day after it airs in the United States, thanks to a new deal between Walt Disney Co and France's TF1.
The agreement, which started on Friday, allows fans to purchase original, subtitled versions of "Lost" through a broadband player on www.tf1vision.fr or partner sites.
This will be the first time that ABC parent Disney has made "Lost" available in an international market within 24 hours of broadcast in the United States.
"Lost"
Republican Script
Religion
In a U.S. election campaign where presidential candidates from both major parties have talked openly about their Christian faith, some non-Christians feel shut out or turned off.
Despite the constitutional separation of church and state, religion plays a big and sometimes decisive role in politics in America, where levels of belief and regular worship are far higher than those in Europe.
In recent decades, part of the American political drama has been scripted by the "religious right" -- mostly white evangelical Protestants united by strong opposition to abortion and gay marriage who have been a key base of support for the Republican Party.
Religion
Catapulting The Propaganda
Whitewash Commission
The Sept. 11 commission's executive director had closer ties with the White House than publicly disclosed and tried to influence the final report in ways that the staff often perceived as limiting the Bush administration's responsibility, a new book says.
Philip Zelikow, a friend of then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, spoke with her several times during the 20-month investigation that closely examined her role in assessing the al-Qaida threat. He also exchanged frequent calls with the White House, including at least four from Bush's chief political adviser at the time, Karl Rove.
Zelikow once tried to push through wording in a draft report that suggested a greater tie between al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and Iraq, in line with White House claims but not with the commission staff's viewpoint, according to Philip Shenon's "The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation."
Shenon, a New York Times reporter, says Zelikow sought to intimidate staff to avoid damaging findings for resident Bush, who at the time was running for re-election, and Rice. Zelikow and Rice had written a book together in 1995 and he would later work for her after the commission finished its job and she became secretary of state in 2005.
Whitewash Commission
Need Techs
Wind Farms
The line of towering wind turbines stand motionless on the ridgeline above Interstate 70 in central Kansas, Y-shaped silhouettes amid the swirling snow.
Despite the weather, dozens of technicians are working to get the 10-mile-long Smoky Hills Wind Farm ready to begin producing electricity.
Jason Martinson, who is supervising the 56-turbine operation on behalf of Enel North America Inc., said after almost a decade in the industry he's still amazed by how fast wind farms like Smoky Hills are going up across the country. But he also said workers like those braving the blizzard-like conditions outside his office are becoming increasingly rare.
"Finding experienced techs is impossible with wind growing as fast as it is," Martinson said. "You get one year's worth of experience and it's like dog years."
Wind Farms
Woolworths Pulls Girls Bed
Lolita
A shopping chain has withdrawn the sale of beds named Lolita and designed for six-year-old girls after furious parents pointed out that the name was synonymous with sexually active preteens.
Woolworths said staff who administer the website selling the beds were not aware of the connection.
In "Lolita", a 1955 novel by Vladimir Nabokov, the narrator becomes sexually involved with his 12-year-old stepdaughter -- but Woolworths staff had not heard of the classic novel or two subsequent films based on it.
Hence they saw nothing wrong with advertising the Lolita Midsleeper Combi, a whitewashed wooden bed with pull-out desk and cupboard intended for girls aged about six until a concerned mother raised the alarm on a parenting Web site.
Lolita
Weekend Box Office
"Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert"
First, she sells out a nationwide concert tour. Now Miley Cyrus and pop-star alter-ego Hannah Montana are selling out movie theaters in such record-breaking style that the film's run has been extended.
"Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert," the 3-D film chronicling her recent tour, was the biggest debut ever over Super Bowl weekend, pulling in $29 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert," $29 million.
2. "The Eye," $13 million.
3. "27 Dresses," $8.4 million.
4. "Juno," $7.5 million.
5. "Meet the Spartans," $7.1 million.
6. "Rambo," $7 million.
7. "The Bucket List," $6.9 million.
8. "Untraceable," $5.4 million.
9. "Cloverfield," $4.9 million.
10. "There Will Be Blood," $4.8 million.
"Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert"
In Memory
Gus Arriola
Cartoonist Gus Arriola, whose long-running "Gordo" was one of the first syndicated comic strips to celebrate Hispanic culture, died Saturday following a lengthy illness, according to his publicist. He was 90.
Arriola, who was born in Arizona but of Mexican-American descent, started drawing "Gordo" in 1941.
His strip about a bean farmer-turned-tour guide who taught Americans about life south of the border ran for 44 years in as many as 270 newspapers. He retired in 1995.
Early in his career, when Arriola worked as an animator for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's cartoon studio, his talent with pen and ink were put to use reinforcing the popular image of Mexican banditos, and his original incarnation of Gordo featured a lazy scoundrel taking siestas under a tree.
He remade the strip after a few readers complained that his work was a disservice to fellow Hispanics.
"I was going to do a Mexican Li'l Abner," Arriola said. "I was just going to be funny, then I realized that I'm depicting a real group of people here. I was caught, and I had to go with what I had created."
Gus Arriola
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