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:
The vast majority of the country
hates Bush and everything he's done, and for all the right reasons.
It's not the blind, visceral, talk radio radio-whipped hatred of the
right for Bill or Hillary. It's the hatred that comes from being
lied to and our heritage ripped apart and the miserable failure of a
coward hiding behind a "resolute" tag.
Cheney, Rove,
Rumsfeld, and too many of Bush's friends and appointees are slimey
liars who cannot be trusted.
The Iraq War is a
disaster.
The Afghanistan War is a disaster.
The "War On Terror" hasn't made you safer and has made
the world a far more dangerous place.
Bush's foreign
policy is a disaster.
The economy is going down the
tubes.
The environment is broken.
Important
but secondary issues, such as our porous border with Mexico, take
over the airwaves because Republicans and the media don't want to
talk about anything that takes more than a soundbite to say.
Covering failures doesn't generate high ratings. They'd rather whip
up controversy when very little exists.
Good ideas but
poorly implemented policy, such as No Child Left Behind, are starved
for funding while Bush gives tax breaks to his fatcat friends and
hires mercenaries because fewer and fewer brave soldiers want to
fight in his wars.
The Republican party is dominated
by right wing nutjobs who who are either 1) ripping up the
Constitution so they can play frat boy power games or 2) such
religious psychotics that they don't live in the world G_d made and
continue to deny global warming and evolution.
Meanwhile, the Democrats are letting Republicans get away
with major crimes and corruption yet continue to insist on
"bipartisanship" when what the country wants is a complete reversal
of the Gingrich revolution and the Bush
administration.
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.
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.
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.
zEN mAN (observing a dilapidated old split log post and rail fence section in an Upper Lake trailer park.....notice the nice little wind mill....someone stole the plastic pink flamingo...sad)
Meet Cathy, who's lived most everywhere,
From Zanzibar to Barclay Square.
But Patty's only seen the sight.
A girl can see from Brooklyn Heights --
What a crazy pair!
But they're cousins,
Identical cousins all the way.
One pair of matching bookends,
Different as night and day.
Where Cathy adores a minuet,
The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette,
Our Patty loves to rock and roll,
A hot dog makes her lose control --
What a wild duet!
Still, they're cousins,
Identical cousins and you'll find,
They laugh alike, they walk alike,
At times they even talk alike --
You can lose your mind,
When cousins are two of a kind.
mj was first, and correct with:
Kathy's been most ererywher. Zanzibar, Berkley square. Patty's only seen things from Brooklyn Heights. Kathy likes minuets, Ballet Russe, and crepes Suzette. Patty loves rock'n'roll and a hot dog makes her lose control (D). Identical cousins? Talk about a close family.
And what was it about teenage girls of that era. hot dogs, Moon Dogs...woof.
Alan J was second, and right, in his usual succinct manner:
A Hot Dog
Maurice responded:
F. Realizing each day that Shrub is still POTUS.
Baron Dave Romm ("We could have chain saw races every month if people would heal
faster." -- Red Green Show) said:
Our Patty loves to rock and roll, A hot dog makes her lose her
control. Now, we have Ecstasy.
Steve replied:
A hotdog, which is a little unwholesome if you think about it.
Ted wrote:
Hot Dawg, By George I think that's it, Hot Dawg.
joe answered:
I'd have to say "A" since they were opposites to the max.
Joe S ("I think my real depressions started when I was about 16 and doing The Patty Duke Show. I would go to bed at about 10 o'clock on a Friday night and not get up again until 6:30 Monday morning."
--Patty Duke) was right, and wrote:
E: Patty likes to rock 'n' roll, a hot dog makes her lose control.
YouTubes - Patty Duke Show Intro
Marian the Teacher replied:
Hot Dog
Rob & Ann said:
A hot dog
And Sally responded:
Third Stanza:
"Where Cathy adores a minuet,
The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette,
Our Patty loves to rock and roll,
A hot dog makes her lose control --
What a wild duet!"
Guess that makes the correct answer "E" or Hot dog! Didn't really see the show in the 60s, but have caught reruns since that time. I am just a theme song junkie...
PS "Shout out" to Vic. Hope he made his Alaskan move safely!
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".
Mostly rainy day followed by a clear and windy night.
Tonight, Monday:
CBS opens the night with a RERUN'How I Met Your Mother', followed by the SERIES PREMIERE'Welcome To The Captain', then a RERUN'Two &fracas; Men', followed by the SEASON PREMIERE'Old Christine'.
Scheduled on a FRESHDave is Sen. Hillary Clinton.
Scheduled on a FRESHCraig - Craig Becomes A Citizen.
NBC begins the night with a FRESH'American Gladiators', followed by a FRESH'Deal Or No Deal'.
Leno is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
Conan is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
Carson 'The Scab' Daly is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
ABC starts the night with a FRESH'Dance War', followed by a FRESH'Notes From The Underbelly', then a FRESH'October Road'.
Scheduled on a FRESH, but writerless, Jimmy Kimmel are Hugh Hefner, Bruno Tonioli, and Jill Scott.
The CW offers a RERUN'Gossip Girl', followed by a RERUN'Girlfriends', then a FRESH'The Game'.
Faux has a FRESH'Prison Break', followed by a FRESH'Sarah Connor'.
MY has 'Celebrity Expose', followed by 'Paradise Ho-Tell 2'.
A&E has 'CSI: The 2nd One', 'Intervention', another 'Intervention', 'Paranormal', and another 'Paranormal'.
AMC offers the movie 'National Lampoon's Animal House', followed by the movie 'The Karate Kid', then the movie 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'.
BBC -
[12:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep. 1 Bonapartes;
[1:00 PM] Cash in the Attic - Episode 3;
[2:00 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 27 Kedleston 71;
[2:30 PM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 28 Wetherby 55;
[3:00 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 4;
[3:30 PM] How Clean Is Your House? - Episode 5;
[4:00 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 7;
[4:30 PM] You Are What You Eat - Episode 8;
[5:00 PM] My Family - Ep 4 Living the Dream;
[5:30 PM] Coupling - Ep 7 Dressed;
[6:00 PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares - Ep 1 Lanterna;
[7:00 PM] BBC World News America;
[8:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 4;
[9:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 3;
[10:00 PM] BBC World News America;
[11:00 PM] Top Gear - Episode 4;
[12:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 3;
[1:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 4;
[2:00 AM] Top Gear - Episode 3;
[3:00 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 8 St. Ives;
[3:30 AM] Changing Rooms - Ep. 9 Blackpool;
[4:00 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 27 Kedleston 71;
[4:30 AM] Bargain Hunt - Ep. 28 Wetherby 55;
[5:00 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 36 Wheatley;
[5:30 AM] Cash in the Attic - Ep. 37 Fanning;
[6:00 AM] BBC World News. (ALL TIMES EDT)
Bravo has 'Inside The Actors Studio', 'Project Runway', another 'Project Runway', and 'Make Me A Supermodel'.
Comedy Central has 'Scrubs', another 'Scrubs', an old 'Jon Stewart', an old 'Colbert Report', 'Futurama', 'South Park', 'Scrubs', and another 'Scrubs'.
Jon Stewart is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
Colbert Report is FRESH, but writerless, and the corporate masters don't want you to know who the guests are.
FX has the movie 'Robots', followed by the movie 'Starsky & Hutch', then the movie 'Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines'.
History has 'Modern Marvels', another 'Modern Marvels', 'Cities Of The Underworld', and 'Ancient Discoveries'.
IFC -
[06:00 AM] The Prime Gig;
[07:50 AM] The F Word;
[09:15 AM] Eulogy;
[10:50 AM] Confidence;
[12:35 PM] Swingers;
[02:20 PM] The F Word;
[03:45 PM] Confidence;
[05:30 PM] Swingers;
[07:15 PM] Reefer Madness;
[08:30 PM] Framed on IFC #3;
[09:00 PM] A Hard Day's Night;
[10:30 PM] The Bridge;
[12:05 AM] The Whitest Kids U'Know #109;
[12:30 AM] Framed on IFC #3;
[01:00 AM] A Hard Day's Night;
[02:30 AM] The Bridge;
[04:10 AM] Reefer Madness;
[05:20 AM] Bright Young Things. (ALL TIMES EST)
Producers, left to right, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Walter Mirisch and Scott Rudin pose in the press room after the Coen brothers and Rudin received the Darryl F. Zanuck producer of the year award for theatrical motion pictures for their work on 'No Country for Old Men' at the 2008 Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Photo by Danny Moloshok
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.
Director and producer Michael Moore, left, shakes hands with comedian Kathy Griffin, center, as her boyfriend Steve Wozniak, right, co-founder of Apple Computer stands with them on the red carpet at the 2008 Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Photo by Danny Moloshok
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.
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.
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.
YouTube co-founders Chad Hurley, left, and Steve Chen, right, arrive at the 2008 Producers Guild Awards where they received the Vanguard Award on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2008 in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Photo by Danny Moloshok
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.
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.
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.
A South Indian dancer performs at the rear of the historic Taj Mahal monument during a programme to promote tourism in the northern Indian city of Agra February 3, 2008.
Photo by Brijesh Singh
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.
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."
A participant playing the role of an "Ogre" wait in the wings during the bean-scattering ceremony at the Zojoji temple in Tokyo February 3, 2008. The bean-scattering ceremony or Setsubun ,a special ritual to cleanse away all the evil, was held to celebrate the upcoming arrival of spring and to drive out bad luck.
Photo by Issei Kato
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.
"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.
A dancer from Sao Clemente samba school performs during a carnival parade at the Sambodrome in Rio de Janeiro, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008.
Photo by Silvia Izquierdo
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."
A sailboat carries tourists on a sunset sail off the beach of Boracay, one of the world's most famous beach resort, south of Manila January 31, 2008.
Photo by Darren Whiteside
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