John McCain, The Brick Tamland Of Presidential Candidates

Ezra Klein on McCain’s fundamental misunderstanding of how Social Security works:

There are criticisms that people make of Social Security, most of them relating to a mismatch between the program’s revenue and its future obligations. But McCain’s comment is very different. It’s like if lots of people made fun of one guy’s car because it was broken down, ugly, and lacked headlights. Then one of the dimmer members of the group, sensing an opportunity to jump in, piped up with, “yeah, four wheels and an engine? What’s with that!? When you gonna do something about that!?”

“Hey! Where did you get those clothes? At the…toilet…store?.”

This Is So Horribly Immature

Shame on you, Vanity Fair. Shame on you.

BINSK.ORG Calls Bullshit On Dan Froomkin

Dan Froomkin - 2006 Nov 30:

What is it about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert that makes them so refreshing and attractive to a wide variety of viewers (including those so-important younger ones)? I would argue that, more than anything else, it is that they enthusiastically call bullshit.

Binsk - 2004 September 29:

You know why Jon Stewart commands a well-educated audience?

You know why Jon Stewart is arguably the most respected television personality involved in this election?

You know why THE DAILY SHOW is actually “Fair and Balanced”?

Because Jon Stewart calls bullshit on people.

They make shit up, and he says, “I call bullshit on that.”

It’s that simple.

Of course we kid. BINSK.ORG loves Dan Froomkin.

Even more if he’d get a damned haircut.

Rush Will Rock You

Via Atrios.

Blair Will Rock You

Via Matthew Yglesias.

And, of course, the granddaddy of political splicings:

This Election Is So Not About Taxes

It’s hard to see a commercial like this and not punch people decrying a Democratic-led Congress because “they’re just gonna raise taxes”.

Ignoring that Bush’s tax cuts won’t be up for renewal until 2010, making them an issue this Congress won’t even debate, if you think this election is about taxes, then fuck you.

This is nothing less than a referendum on the direction of America -

Are we afraid of what may be wrong, or hopeful about what could go right?

Daily Brief: 2006 Sept 07: Of Mice And Vast Right Wing Conspiracies

Because nothing you see on TV is allowed to be true, scientists discovered that mice don’t like cheese:

Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University, backed by the Stilton Cheese Makers’ Association, have found that mice prefer foods with a high sugar content. What will really attract a mouse into the trap is muesli.

Following up the ABC “Path to 9/11” issue, Glenn Greenwald rounds-up some unlikely support, and notes:

Unlike CBS did for the much less consequential The Reagans, Disney/ABC, at least for now, is refusing to refrain from broadcasting this proaganda. C&L has the video (and transcript) of the statement from Disney/ABC here, in which they attack critics of the film by claiming: “No one has seen the final version of the film–because the editing process is not yet complete, so criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible.”

That makes no sense. The only reason anyone knows anything about the content of the film is because they sent it around to the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Hugh Hewitt precisely to induce them to comment (favorably) on it. If it’s “premature and irresponsible” to comment on the film because it’s not complete yet, why did they send around screeners to (right-wing) commentators? It only became “irresponsible” once the commentary went from drooling partisan praise to critiques of the film’s fabrications and inaccuracies.

In addition to the obvious inequities, CBS’ quick and complete cave-in to conservative protests over The Regans, set next to ABC’s combative attack on critics of this film, tell you all you need to know about the merits of the incessent, petulant complaints from Bush supporters about the “liberal MSM.”

Scholastic, who prepared a classroom companion for the “docudrama”, pulled their existing guides:

Educational media giant Scholastic, Inc. announced it’s dropping its original classroom companion guides to a controversial new docudrama, and replacing them with materials stressing critical thinking and media literacy.

Instead, new materials will focus on:

1. Media Literacy - what is a docudrama; how does it differ from a documentary; what are the differences between factual reporting and a dramatization?

2. Background to 9/11 - what are some of the causes of unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world that give rise to attacks on the U.S. and other countries?

3. Geography and Culture — there is a long history of conflict in the Middle East. How well do students understand each of the countries involved and what influences their behavior?

Actual dissemination of complex issues? Like media literacy? That’s just silly.

And from the TV Sometimes Helps department, a nice write-up of Steve Irwin:

A blond surfer-ish conservationist-cum-cable star who mugs for the camera and waxes poetic in the presence of venomous snakes can’t be a major force for good in the worldwide roulette game that is species survival. Or can he?

On the face of it, animals Down Under, especially the scary and uncuddly ones, seem to have had an easier time of it since Irwin went on the air. He strenuously protested wildlife hunts in his home country, and his personal objections to crocodile safaris had a lot to do with the Australian government’s decision to impose a ban.

A Perfect Example Of The Exact Way That America Is "Kind Of Stupid That Way"

Nice summarized by Studio Briefing:

ABC’s upcoming miniseries The Path to 9/11, which airs next Sunday and Monday nights, is being criticized as biased and inaccurate from all sides, the New York Times reported today (Wednesday). Among the critics, the newspaper observed, is former counterterrorism czar Richard A. Clarke, who says that one of the scenes showing Osama bin Laden being allowed to escape the capture of American military officers and North Alliance forces prior to 9/11 “didn’t happen. … It’s utterly invented.” Clarke is currently a paid consultant to ABC News. ABC issued a statement observing that the miniseries was “a dramatization, not a documentary, drawn from a variety of sources.” And former Gov. Thomas H. Kean of New Jersey, a member of the 9/11 commission, defended the drama, calling the controversial scene a “composite.” However, Richard Ben-Veniste, another member of the 9/11 commission, said that he and several other commission members saw the film last week and were now “trying to think how [the producers] could have misinterpreted the 9/11 commission’s finding the way that they had.” Meanwhile, the Columbia Journalism Review reported on its website Tuesday that it appears that CBS will “cave in to puritan activists” and remove offending four-letter words in a documentary depicting the 9/11 events. Two earlier versions of the same documentary had allowed the language to be included.

We can’t say dirty words because it “offends sensibilities”, yet it’s cool to “make shit up”.

Daily Brief: 2006 Sept 06: Grab Bag

Facebook gets kind of gay:

Now, every time you do anything on Facebook, you issue a bulletin for all of your friends. Now no one will miss the fact that you think you look horrible in a picture, or that you didn’t accept an invitation to someone’s event, or that you wrote what you considered to be a funny item for your list of activities (“Trying not to incriminate myself on facebook to all my future employers”) and then thought better of it ten minutes later and took it down.

Facebook said the changes were aimed at advancing the core mission of the site, which is to keep people abreast of their friends’ lives. “What we wanted to create is a news ticker, if you will, of the activity of people’s friends in their network,” Facebook’s director of marketing, Melanie Deitch, told CampusProgress.org.

This is why I hate the social networking sites. I don’t care you’re recording every thing I do, but don’t tell everyone about it. And then call it a feature! Violate that veil of privacy and you’re the next Friendster.

More commentary from the ex-sportscaster:

Whatever the true nature of al Qaeda and other international terrorist threats, to ceaselessly compare them to the Nazi State of Germany serves only to embolden them.

Variety reports on the Apple/Amazon movie rumors:

Amazon.com will launch its movie download service later this week, numerous sources confirmed, while Apple will start selling films on Tuesday as part of iTunes.

Though they’re launching near simultaneously, the two movie stores will be different. Amazon.com is believed to have most, and possibly all, of the major studios on board, including Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros., MGM and Lionsgate, according to sources close to the deals.

The only studio that will definitely be part of Apple’s movie store at launch is Disney. Other studios will likely join iTunes in the next year.

If you need something to watch those movies on, I’d get a new iMac with a 24-inch 1920x1200 widescreen LCD at the low cost of $1,999.00. True 1080p display with room left over!

And Most Importantly…

Suri exists!

Daily Brief: 2006 Sept 05: Penn State, Macs, & Wishing Stars

The Quotable Joe Paterno

The raindrops keep falling on Joe Pa’s head:

The 79-year-old coach refuses to wear a hat, insisting he would look ridiculous. Asked if he would wear one if members of the media chipped in to buy him a hat, Paterno said: “Considering what you guys would probably contribute, no.”

And he still likes coaching football:

More than seven decades after the University of Chicago’s retirement guidelines forced him to step down, the legendary coach is remembered as a football Methuselah, a wrinkled, white-haired man who seemingly patrolled the sidelines forever.

Stagg was 70 and had coached 41 seasons when he left after the 1932 season. Surely, sportswriters noted at the time, no one would ever coach so long at one institution again.

But when he runs onto the Beaver Stadium turf this afternoon for Penn State’s season opener against Akron, 79-year-old Joe Paterno will have caught up to the Grand Old Man of the Midway.

Paterno is in his 41st season as the Nittany Lions’ head coach. That’s the same number of years Stagg (1892-1932) served at Chicago.

…

“I just want to get on with this season,” Paterno said. “I wouldn’t know whether I tied Stagg’s record for longevity or not. I hadn’t thought about that. Now that you mentioned it is the first time that I knew about it.”

In Other Penn State News

Penn State hates tailgating:

Hoping to cut down on underage drinking and create a safer postgame environment, Penn State is banning alcohol at parking-lot tailgate parties during football games inside Beaver Stadium.

Imbibing before kickoff and after the final whistle, though? Still OK.

Curbing drinking at a football game is like Paterno wearing a hat: It ain’t happening people.

Macintosh!

Mac Rumors: Adobe To Preview Universal Apps Next Week

A “sneak preview” will be shown of some Universal Binary versions of Adobe’s applications according to our source, however it does not appear as though any formal release is imminent.

Maybe new feature previews? That’d be nice. Last statement on release time indicated springish 2007.

Geek Patrol: Mac Performance: From the G3 to the Xeon

Looks at benchmarks from the different processors. With charts!

Politics!

Glenn Greenwald’s in need of a falling star:

If I had one wish, it would be for journalists everywhere to ingest this one extremely simple, undeniable fact — FISA, as written, allows the President to “listen in when Osama bin Laden is calling.” Under the law as it has existed for 28 years, “if al Qaeda is calling into the United States [the President can] know why they’re calling.” The “Terrorist Surveillance Program” doesn’t give the President the power to listen in on those calls because he already has that power under FISA.

Remember When Keith Olbermann Used To Talk About Like Sports And Stuff?

I don’t.

The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack.

Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.

Mr. Rumsfeld’s remarkable speech to the American Legion yesterday demands the deep analysis—and the sober contemplation—of every American.

For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence — indeed, the loyalty — of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants — our employees — with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve.

Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of human freedom; and not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as “his” troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq. It is also essential.  Because just every once in awhile it is right and the power to which it speaks, is wrong. In a small irony, however, Mr. Rumsfeld’s speechwriter was adroit in invoking the memory of the appeasement of the Nazis. For in their time, there was another government faced with true peril—with a growing evil—powerful and remorseless.

That government, like Mr. Rumsfeld’s, had a monopoly on all the facts. It, too, had the “secret information.” It alone had the true picture of the threat. It too dismissed and insulted its critics in terms like Mr. Rumsfeld’s — questioning their intellect and their morality.

That government was England’s, in the 1930’s.

It knew Hitler posed no true threat to Europe, let alone England.

It knew Germany was not re-arming, in violation of all treaties and accords.

It knew that the hard evidence it received, which contradicted its own policies, its own conclusions — its own omniscience — needed to be dismissed.

The English government of Neville Chamberlain already knew the truth.

Most relevant of all — it “knew” that its staunchest critics needed to be marginalized and isolated. In fact, it portrayed the foremost of them as a blood-thirsty war-monger who was, if not truly senile, at best morally or intellectually confused.

That critic’s name was Winston Churchill.

Sadly, we have no Winston Churchills evident among us this evening.  We have only Donald Rumsfelds, demonizing disagreement, the way Neville Chamberlain demonized Winston Churchill.

History — and 163 million pounds of Luftwaffe bombs over England — have taught us that all Mr. Chamberlain had was his certainty — and his own confusion. A confusion that suggested that the office can not only make the man, but that the office can also make the facts.

Thus, did Mr. Rumsfeld make an apt historical analogy.

Excepting the fact, that he has the battery plugged in backwards.

His government, absolute — and exclusive — in its knowledge, is not the modern version of the one which stood up to the Nazis.

It is the modern version of the government of Neville Chamberlain.

But back to today’s Omniscient ones.

That, about which Mr. Rumsfeld is confused is simply this: This is a Democracy. Still. Sometimes just barely.

And, as such, all voices count — not just his.

Had he or his president perhaps proven any of their prior claims of omniscience — about Osama Bin Laden’s plans five years ago, about Saddam Hussein’s weapons four years ago, about Hurricane Katrina’s impact one year ago — we all might be able to swallow hard, and accept their “omniscience” as a bearable, even useful recipe, of fact, plus ego.

But, to date, this government has proved little besides its own arrogance, and its own hubris.

Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or intellectually, about his own standing in this matter. From Iraq to Katrina, to the entire “Fog of Fear” which continues to envelop this nation, he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their cronies have — inadvertently or intentionally — profited and benefited, both personally, and politically.

And yet he can stand up, in public, and question the morality and the intellect of those of us who dare ask just for the receipt for the Emporer’s New Clothes?

In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised? As a child, of whose heroism did he read? On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight? With what country has he confused the United States of America?

The confusion we — as its citizens— must now address, is stark and forbidding.

But variations of it have faced our forefathers, when men like Nixon and McCarthy and Curtis LeMay have darkened our skies and obscured our flag. Note — with hope in your heart — that those earlier Americans always found their way to the light, and we can, too.

The confusion is about whether this Secretary of Defense, and this administration, are in fact now accomplishing what they claim the terrorists seek: The destruction of our freedoms, the very ones for which the same veterans Mr. Rumsfeld addressed yesterday in Salt Lake City, so valiantly fought.

And about Mr. Rumsfeld’s other main assertion, that this country faces a “new type of fascism.”

As he was correct to remind us how a government that knew everything could get everything wrong, so too was he right when he said that — though probably not in the way he thought he meant it.

This country faces a new type of fascism - indeed.

Although I presumptuously use his sign-off each night, in feeble tribute, I have utterly no claim to the words of the exemplary journalist Edward R. Murrow.

But never in the trial of a thousand years of writing could I come close to matching how he phrased a warning to an earlier generation of us, at a time when other politicians thought they (and they alone) knew everything, and branded those who disagreed: “confused” or “immoral.”

Thus, forgive me, for reading Murrow, in full:

“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty,” he said, in 1954. “We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. “We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.”

And so good night, and good luck.

Video at Crooks & Liars.

A Little Perspective On Iran

The always sensible Matthew Yglesias:

The Iran debate has really become rather surreal. You have the “Islamofascist” locution jumping from the fever swamps of rightwing punditry into the mouth of the President of the United States. You have the Secretary of Defense issuing dire warnings of another Munich. These things are being done by the exact same people who, four years ago, were utterly dismissive of claims that invading Iraq was likely to serve Iranian interests better than American ones. Indeed, you have the exact same people who two years ago were assuring us that it made sense to commit American blood and treasure to fight Sunni insurgents on behalf of Iranian-backed Shiite militias now saying we need to commit more blood and treasure in Iraq to stop… Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

You have Richard Cohen, who backed the Iraq War and came to regret it, turning around and saying it’s time to party like it’s 1938. Meanwhile, this entire view of the world has, as best I can tell, no relationship whatsoever to reality.

The entire piece is worth reading.

Mr. Rogers Is A Better Person Than You

Mr. Rogers before the 1969 Senate hearing for funding of the newly formed Corporation For Public Broadcasting.

Rick Santorum Don't Come Around Here No More

Editorial in 2006 May 26 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about Sen. Rick Santorum’s residency:

Before every election, the Post-Gazette routinely sends letters to the candidates seeking material for the Voters Guide. Back in March, as part of that process for the primary, the newspaper sent a letter to Rick Santorum at his home address, at least the one that he claims. Back from Penn Hills came the letter with a sticker from the U.S. Postal Service checked as “Not Deliverable As Addressed — Unable To Forward.”

That is all you need to know about the nasty dispute between the Republican Sen. Santorum and his Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr., in the November election. The whole thing is rooted in one inconvenient fact for Sen. Santorum: He doesn’t live here anymore.

I Disagree With Curt Weldon's Spokesman

From the 2006 May 24 edition of the Delaware County Daily Times:

Bush’s arrival comes as a poll— conducted earlier this month by the liberal-leaning Democracy Corps — shows 45 percent of 7th District voters supporting Sestak, a former Navy admiral, and 49 percent supporting Weldon, a 10-term incumbent and vice chairman of the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees.

…

“This is the kind of stuff that is disgusting,” said Weldon spokesman John Tomaszewski. “I also find it hard to believe that those inflated numbers mean anything, considering the fact that good research shows that Mr. Sestak has very little name recognition in the district.”

Obviously any poll by an opaquely partisan organization should be taken with a grain of salt, but even so, Tomaszewski’s statement is dumb. A candidate with “little name recognition” trailing only by four-points (plus or minus the aforementioned grain of salt) before major campaigning begins indicates a big problem for a 10-term incumbent.

Pennsylvania Senators Love Lobbyist Money

Senators Santorum and Spector are currently ranked second and third (respectively) in total contributions from lobbyists, according to the Congress Watch of Public Citizen:

Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) - $1,163,560
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) - $1,019,317

Number one is Ex-Senator (D-S.D.) Tom Daschle, so technically, Pennsylvania owns the top of list, making us finally good at something, even if it is political whorery.

Via Will Bunch.

Joe Sestak Supports Net Neutrality

Joe Sestak:

I’m not a career politician. I don’t need polls to tell me what to believe. I’ve looked at the facts, weighed the evidence, and I strongly believe that Net Neutrality is good for America.

Good for him. A position I agree with on an issue I care about from a politician I want to vote for. It’s like the trifecta of… something.

Support This

Since military recruitment is down, and UK troops may be pulled from Iraq, I have an idea for a recruitment strategy.

Go down to your local recruitment office, grab a bunch of enlistment forms, and stick them under every "Support Our Troops" magnet you see.

Now, there's few things I hate as much as finding fliers on my windshield, but seeing as this is for a worthy cause, I'm willing to make an exception. Especially for people who obviously care enough about the troops to put a two dollar magnet on their SUV, I'm sure they'd be happy to support America.

comments (2)

Santorum

Rick Santorum:

What the Democrats are doing is "the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 saying, "I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city? It's mine." This is no more the rule of the senate than it was the rule of the senate before not to filibuster.

Wow. I'm going to vote so hard against him next year that his grandkids will lose their election for patrol leader.

comments (7)

The Reoathening

New JibJab cartoon.

Predictable, but funny.

Watch the DAILY SHOW.

comments (1)

There's Your Answer, Fishbulb

CNN: "Poll: Nation split on Bush as uniter or divider"

Well, duh.

Courtesy of Josh Marshall

Fuzzy Bunny Slippers

Does being retarded affect the memory?

A Fraters Libertas post on the Free Republic's site:

Irrational? Despicable? Slanderous? I won't say their wasn't a lot of hatred, because fuck Bush, but if our hatred of Bush is irrational, then exactly how do you explain yours of Clinton?

Unless it's a rational hatred because you're jealous he got blow jobs and you didn't.

Ashcroft Resigns To Pursue Singing Career

Oh thank God. It's all better now:

John Ashcroft, in his handwritten letter of resignation.

Don't let the door hit your anointed ass on the way out.

Early Winner Declared! Landslide Victory!

Vows To "Transform" Nation

comments (5)

Sometimes Your Vote Doesn't Need To Not Count

When you can't even cast it…

Employees of a private voter registration company allege that hundreds, perhaps thousands of voters who may think they are registered will be rudely surprised on election day. The company claims hundreds of registration forms were thrown in the trash.

Anyone who has recently registered or re-registered to vote outside a mall or grocery store or even government building may be affected.

The I-Team has obtained information about an alleged widespread pattern of potential registration fraud aimed at democrats. Thee focus of the story is a private registration company called Voters Outreach of America, AKA America Votes.

The out-of-state firm has been in Las Vegas for the past few months, registering voters. It employed up to 300 part-time workers and collected hundreds of registrations per day, but former employees of the company say that Voters Outreach of America only wanted Republican registrations.

LINK

Stoned Slackers

You know why Jon Stewart commands a well-educated audience?

You know why Jon Stewart is arguably the most respected television personality involved in this election?

You know why THE DAILY SHOW is actually "Fair and Balanced"?

Because Jon Stewart calls bullshit on people.

They make shit up, and he says, "I call bullshit on that."

It's that simple.

Well, we could go to a bar, find some people we don't like and beat the crap out of them.