Month: October 2009

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media2 Comments

Oh Dear Mister Jesus

I’m so sorry for killing journalism: In other words, theTimes is taking a whack at theTrib by hiring the people whose complacency and abject failure to create a newspaper worth reading made theTrib vulnerable to a whack-taking in the first place. Your blogger knows something about that complacency because I labored under Lipinski, O’Shea, and Warren’s “professional editing” at theTribune for several years, as did my wife. The entire organization was seized by their collective panic at lowering revenues, plummeting readership (I quite literally never met aTribune subscriber socially during my five years in Chicago), and frequently aborted frantic attempts … Continue reading Oh Dear Mister Jesus

Athenae, Marriage Equality5 Comments

Hell Yeah! … and also … What The?

New York, New York: Gov. David Paterson reiterated his pledge to bring marriage equality to New York state Thursday, telling a cheering audience at a major gay rights fund-raiser that they can expect to see a bill pass “just in the next few weeks.” And then he went on to say: “So, if you’ve been telling your loved one, ‘You know, I’d marry you, but we have this legal problem,’ and maybe, as a lot of straight people have done, you’ve led someone along thinking you’re going to marry them, one obstacle or another has prevented it, you’d better leave … Continue reading Hell Yeah! … and also … What The?

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media5 Comments

Thank God the Office Has a Lamination Thing

Looks like we’re gonna have to make press credentials for all of you: Lewisville school district officials say the revised policy merely formalizes a long-standing practice and is not an attempt to limit or curtail First Amendment rights. The new policy states that district officials may turn down an interview request “if official press credentials are not presented or available.” “This is a way of prioritizing how we communicate,” said Karen Permetti, a spokeswoman for the district who wrote the revised policy. “It doesn’t mean we’re not communicating. I’m just saying, credentials like the ones I have from a couple … Continue reading Thank God the Office Has a Lamination Thing

Adrastos, Malakatude, Television2 Comments

Malaka Of The Week: Paul Kinsey

Peter Adrastos Athas

This is a first: a fictional character as malaka of the week. I had considered piling on Lamar Alexander for his “Obama is just like Tricky Dick” comments butMichael and Athenae did such a good job giving him virtual swirlies that I decided to mock one of the Mad Men instead. Paul Kinsey is the pompous, bearded, pot smoking, semi-boho character onMad Men. He has some rather unusual techniques to, uh, stimuate his creative urges. That’s right, I’m using the word malaka in its literal sense, Kinsey, in short, spanks his monkey hoping the combination of booze, jazz and malakatude … Continue reading Malaka Of The Week: Paul Kinsey

Athenae, Political Crack6 Comments

And While We’re At It, Just Bite Me So Hard, John McCain

What a nasty, bitter, bitchy little putz: Republican Senator John McCain, later at the Reuters summit, advised Obama to tread carefully in a town where political enemies come with the territory. “I think I’ve been around this town, in the view of many, too long. But long enough to see what the Greek god Hubris will do to administrations,” said McCain, who lost the2008 presidential election to Obama. “Andif I were advising the president, which obviously in the administration I’m not, I would encourage them to tread very carefully in making enemies intentionally,” he said. “I’ve found in Washington you … Continue reading And While We’re At It, Just Bite Me So Hard, John McCain

Doc, Economy, So Called Liberal Media9 Comments

OK, let’s all give up then, I guess…

Let’s take a logical walk through this column: Traditional media are dying, not because people hate news, but because newspapers (and TV stations) enjoyed monopoly status for so long that they no longer can turn 30 percent profit margins for stock holders who would invest in toilet seats if they turned a profit. Thus, ugly whackings are continuing throughout the land, with many good journalists finding their asses fired at the point in their lives where they can a) no longer get a good second career going and b) find a job that will pay them what they had gotten … Continue reading OK, let’s all give up then, I guess…

Uncategorized2 Comments

Quitting Time Booster Shot

Welcome to the Booster, whereRoger Ailes is apparently living in the Bizzaro-Land version of this Eddie Murphy skit… – I’m pulling against the Yankees in the ALCS this year, but not for the reason you might think. If the Yankees meet the Phillies in the World Series, it’ll likely be C.C. Sabathia against Cliff Lee in the first game pitching match up. As an Indians fan, it’s killing me: the idea that the Indians had the last two American League Cy Young Award winners and here there are, facing off against one another for two teams with deeper pockets while … Continue reading Quitting Time Booster Shot

Michael F6 Comments

Oh Yeah, the Resemblance is Uncanny

FromAlbum3 It doesn’t surprise me that long time hacks like Lamar Alexander and Sean Hannity would go into concern troll/hissy fit mode re: the Obama administrationstating the obvious, neither does it surprise me thatprofessional prissies like Jake Tapper would haul water with such enthusiasm…but listening tolibrul NPR parroting the line was a bit of an eye opener for a provincial like myself. Geez, what a bunch of, I was going to say good losers, but good losers almost implies some kind of fight, at least initially. This is more like the political equivalent of Stockholm Syndrome, with long term librul … Continue reading Oh Yeah, the Resemblance is Uncanny

Athenae, So Called Liberal Media8 Comments

Using Tools

Brian Williams, he who hates cats flushing toilets and thinks Jay Leno is awesome, does not get it: You’re an avid blogger, but you’re not on Twitter. Why not? The details of my own life bore me, so I cannot imagine anyone expressing interest in them. My blog has so far proved to be enough of an outlet for me. There’s no rule saying the Internet has to be inane, Brian. You could use Twitter for any number of things. Just because Ashton Kutcher uses it to talk about what he had for lunch doesn’t make that, you know, mandatory. … Continue reading Using Tools

Uncategorized10 Comments

So Shall Ye Reap

FromAlbum3 This is what a generation of catering to the absolute lowest common denominator comes to — a far right conservative likeLindsey Graham is dismissed as insufficiently zealous by an ignorant, superstitious, petty, vicious, and pea-brained crowd of constituents. I’m a little surprised they didn’t call him a witch and and take to “traditional” justice to settle the question. But it’s not like I’ve got any tears for Graham, et al. They made their deal with the devil…who’s now coming to collect. Continue reading So Shall Ye Reap

Athenae, Terrorism9 Comments

Worth It

Susie, writing about real things: During remarks at the American Enterprise Institute recently in Washington, Tedeschi said some servicemembers found the changes in their lives so profound after combat, they expressed gratitude for having gone through it — even if it cost them permanent physical damage. “They’d felt they’d changed as people in ways they otherwise wouldn’t have,” Tedeschi says. “At the same time, as this trauma separates them from other people, it also allows them to maybe see themselves as more human than they ever were before, have a closer connection with what it means to be a human … Continue reading Worth It

Athenae, Political Crack5 Comments

Oh Jesus God, Shut Up, Lamar

For serious: WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A topU.S. Senate Republican invoked the memory of the scandal-marred Nixon administration on Wednesday to urgeU.S. President Barack Obama: “Don’t start an enemies list.” Senator Lamar Alexander told Reuters he sees the ObamaWhite House adopting an attitude similar to that of the Richard Nixon White House four decades ago, that “everybody is against us and we are going to get them.” Alexander cited as examples the Obama administration threatening to strip the insurance industry of its exemption of federal anti-trust laws, “taking names” of bondholders who opposed the auto bailout, its reported aim to “neuter … Continue reading Oh Jesus God, Shut Up, Lamar

Current Affairs, VirgoTex, Web/Tech5 Comments

Workin’ in the data mine, goin’ down down down

This isn’t another Balloon Boy post but it starts somewhat adjacent to it, so stay with me here. In her post the other day, It Doesn’t Concern You, A. talked about feeling “pressured” to have an opinion and/or be invested in hyped-up stories “that have nothing to do with anything.” But increasingly I feel pressure by the media-sociological machine to have a personal opinion about other people’s lives and that gets on my damn nerves. It’s all news of the weird now, all little personal outrages, all the time, and none of it matters to anyone. She was looking at … Continue reading Workin’ in the data mine, goin’ down down down

Adrastos, Congress, Current Affairs, Political Crack2 Comments

Misnomer

Peter Adrastos Athas

My current fave rave member of Congress is Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York who is anything but a wiener, weenie or, heaven forfend, a whiner. He is a bit of a hot dog but, hey, he’s a politician so that’s to be expected. Just slap a bit of mustard and relish on him. Okey doke, I’ve exhausted the frankfurter jokes and Felix has been in the grave for a long time. Anyway, Mr. Weiner comes from what Howard Dean called the Democratic wing of the Democratic party and is one of the House Dems standing firm for the public … Continue reading Misnomer

Athenae, Film, Political Crack4 Comments

Be Great Instead of Being Ashamed

Bono, and Obama: “We will support the Millennium Development Goals, and approach next year’s summit with a global plan to make them a reality. And we will set our sights on the eradication of extreme poverty in our time.” They’re not my words, they’re your president’s. If they’re not familiar, it’s because they didn’t make many headlines. But for me, these 36 words are why I believe Mr. Obama could well be a force for peace and prosperity — if the words signal action. The millennium goals, for those of you who don’t know, are a persistent nag of a … Continue reading Be Great Instead of Being Ashamed

Adrastos, LOL, Of Interest9 Comments

Heene Meenie Minie Moe…

Peter Adrastos Athas

…catch a Balloon Boy by the toe, if he hollers let him go ontevee and puke. Heene meenie minie moe. I have a confession to make: I’m enjoying this ridiculous story; particularly because it’s making the cable tevee nitwits squirm because they fell for such a blatant hoax. Dumbasses. The latest twist is that Richard Heene not only has Hugh Grant hair but he wrote a theme song for the reality show he hoped the hoax would, uh, launch before it crash landed: Dig that crazy spelling folks, Richard Heene Psyience Detective. And that tune: I guess they thought it … Continue reading Heene Meenie Minie Moe…

Adrastos, Stupid Republican Tricks7 Comments

Oy

Peter Adrastos Athas

TwoSouth Carolina GOP officials have praised the wingnut-atollah, Senator Jim DeMint, for watching the nation’s money like, um, I’ll let them speak for themselves: There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves. By not using earmarks to fund projects for South Carolina and instead using actual bills, DeMint is watching our nation’s pennies and trying to preserve our country’s wealth and our economy’s viability to give all an opportunity to succeed. The scary thing is that … Continue reading Oy

Adrastos, Congress, Current Affairs, Political Crack4 Comments

It’s Time To Step Up, Mr. President

Peter Adrastos Athas

I hate using cliches; especially such a hackneyed sports derived one as “step up.” But it fits the current state of the health care reform debate. Big Mo, as Poppy Bush once memorably dubbed momentum, seems to be on the side of the pro-public option, uh, side. The estimable Iowan Tom Harkin has, uh, estimated that52 Senators favor some form of public option and that it’s time for the slackers, weenies and namby pampy Dems to get out of the way of the majority. My language, not Senator Harkin’s but I can imagine him using stronger language. One of them … Continue reading It’s Time To Step Up, Mr. President

Athenae, Political Crack8 Comments

Hey, Max

Who’s an asshole? You’re an asshole: Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) insisted on Monday that a public option for insurance coverage was very much “alive” as he and two other Democratic senators merged together disparate health care bills. But in what will surely be a disappointment for progressives, the Montana Democrat hinted strongly that the provision would be watered down. “This issue is alive and we are looking at it to see what makes the most sense,” the senator declared on a conference call with reporters. “The major overall goal here though is to get health care reform that passes the … Continue reading Hey, Max