October 31, 2006

Is Kerry the poster child for modern liberalist liberalism?

Let's see.... billionaire (or nearly) completely out of contact with everyday people, stuck in time (acts if we are still in the Vietnam War when there was a draft - hence his idiotic statement today about staying in school in order to avoid military service), acts as if he has no culpability for the Iraq War (although he voted for it), has virtually no response to Islamic fascism, in fact acts as if it does not exist ... I could go on. He's almost too much of a sitting duck. It's kind of amazing he was so dumb as not to apologize quickly. (No, it's not-ed. This guy was not exactly at the top of his class at Yale. No, he wasn't.] Will this latest Kerry fiasco rescue the Republican Party from a debacle next Tuesday? It just might help, if the Repubs can keep it in the news a few days (and Kerry certainly helped by refusing to apologize). But the Repubs don't really deserve rescue. This is an election in which both parties deserve to lose.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:03 PM
Comments (44)

I've been Photoshopped for Halloween

Good news: I've lost a few pounds. Bad news: I don't look anywhere near as good as Michelle Malkin.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:20 AM
Comments (3)

October 30, 2006

He may have....

... star on the ground, but his other star may be grounded.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:54 PM
Comments (1)

October 29, 2006

Politics, religion and sex

You remember them - the three subjects your grandmother told you not to discuss at the dinner table [What else is there to talk about?-ed. Ebay.] Anyway, apparently grandmothers are back, according to this article in today's NYT - The Elephant in the Room by Anne Kornblut. Especially with regard to politics, the Three No's of our youth (doesn't that sound faintly Maoist?) are being observed once again in social situations. I'm sure Anne's right, at least to some extent. I have noticed the same thing in my social set, what's left of it. People aren't keen on talking politics in mixed (political) company.

Now Anne seems to think that's a bad thing, but I'm not so sure. In my long life of dinner parties and similar events, I have noticed that people rarely succeed in convincing anyone of anything in those kinds of settings, even relatively immaterial matters like the quality of Kobe Bryant's jump shot or whether Madonna was really a Kabballist (okay, that's not so trivial!). Debate of serious issues like the war in Iraq make no headway in such venues. In fact the reverse - it usually devolves into a shouting much for the uninformed (sort of like Congress). So I think the grandmothers had a point. Enough of this sex, religion and politics nonsense. Relegate the serious debate of the significant issues to places where people can discuss them on a level with some modicum of depth [Like this blog.-ed. I knew I hired you for something.]

The real problem in our culture is not the lack of serious debate at the dinner table - it's the lack of serious debate in the political arena. And just wait until you have Harry Reid as the Senate Majority Leader - now there's a heavyweight.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:09 PM
Comments (31)

October 27, 2006

Wolf Blitzer Speaks Lies to Power

The transcript of Wolf Blitzer's interview with Lynne Cheney, now up on Drudge, borders on the comic. One of the roots of comedy is unconsciousness on the part of the protagonist and the CNN standby is sure unconscious in his pronouncements. He reminds me of no one so much as Monsieur Jourdain in Moliere's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme. Herewith, some dialogue:

WOLF: All right. Well that was probably the purpose, to get people to think. To get people to discuss these issues. Because --

WOLF: This is reporting the news. Which is what we do, we are not partisan.

Not partisan, sir? Let's start with the most obvious - the only not partisan person I've ever met is either dead or in the latter stages of Alzheimer's. Everyone is partisan, almost since birth. Partisan and biased. It's part of the human condition. And this bias often increases with age as the pressures of making a living and surviving shape us. We join cliques of like-minded people where we are cosseted and promoted. That is why people like Blitzer almost never vary their opinions. He is as predictable as a cyborg. I once substantially agreed with those opinions - now I have different opinons (biases) of my own. This is an accident of my own development. But I am partisan and Blitzer is partisan - perhaps even more than I am. After all, he works for a company whose chief news executive was so biased he was able to pronounce in public that US soldiers were deliberately targeting journalists without being able to cite any evidence of this. That's partisanship at the level of delusion. And that was the person who gave Blitzer orders.

Of course, Blitzer is only a typical representative of his class. Nothing special or exceptional in any way, except for his success and longevity. Now some people call this class the "liberal media." I reject that idea and terminology entirely. There is nothing liberal about them at all. They are a rich, privileged class much like the bourgeoisie in a Bunuel movie (or Moliere, of course). What is "liberal" is only a talking point to preserve their perquisites. Perhaps these values were there at some point, but that was decades ago in another universe. Now the real issues are good tailoring and homes in the country. Nothing should disturb that.

This "bad faith" informs everything they do and how they act. (When I write this, I know it infuriates them, but let me admit I am not much better.) Receiving news from Wolf Blitzer is like getting your information filtered through a highly-perfected survival machine. Well, maybe not so highly-perfected, but better than the network news, which is on the way out. (See the implosion of Katie Couric.)

Oh, by the way, Wolf, regarding that video of the snipers, there is no such thing as non-partisan film. Every frame, every camera angle, every editorial choice wreaks of partisanship - and that includes the decision to show it in a theatre or on television. Le caméra stylo, the camera is a pen, as someone quite intelligent once said. If you don't know who that is, I'll save you the effort. So stop lying to yourself and to others.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:25 PM
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October 26, 2006

Intifada in France?

While the USA is deeply involved in our election follies, France appears closer than ever to serious implosion. In his column for Pajamas Media yesterday ("France Prepares 50,000 Riot Police for Muslim Attacks") Paul Belien of Brussels Journal writes:

On Monday, Le Figaro, the leading center-right newspaper in the country, quoted a confidential report written by the Renseignements Généraux (RG), the French equivalent of the FBI. The 17-page RG report, dated 11 October, states that the root causes of last year's riots are still in place. The authorities are especially concerned with All Saints Day when "many urban youths are left to their own and have more time to cause unrest."

As we know, the French used to blame these occurrences on "les jeunes" (youth), a kind of fancy way of saying boys will be boys, I suppose, while ignoring the obvious. But that seems to be changing. Some people there at least seem to be acknowledging they are on the brink of civil war with their growing Islamic minority, even if they do not use the "I" word (unless that stands for immigrant). As Belien writes:

Gangs of immigrant vandals operate in a paramilitary fashion. A spokesman for the French police officers union, himself a policeman, has it that France is in the midst of a "civil war."

Interestingly, no public official said the union was exaggerating.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:56 AM
Comments (22)

Lobbying at the Willard

Again, sorry for the sparse blogging. Some day, Monsieur Godot, more words will appear at this site. For now, the work time for this writer has been overwhelmed with business concerns - Pajamas business obviously. I spent the last few days Sleepless in DC (hanging out with Rich Miniter does that to people) playing a supervisory role for our coverage of the DLA Piper pre-election breakfast at the Willard Hotel, some of which is already up over at PJ. (About the Willard: definitely a great atmospheric place to stay, especially on company money. The rubric "lobbyist" came from the Nineteenth Century schmoozers making deals behind the pillars in the hotel's neo-Classical lobby. I made a few paltry attempts myself.... but enough about that. )

After the breakfast at which Dick Armey and Dick Gephardt were of good cheer but bemoaned the partisanship of it all, I took microphone in hand and tromped off with our video guru Andrew Marcus and our business guru Sandra Rozanski to interview some key journalists around the nation's capital. Our purpose: a Pajamas Media series we are launching with mainstream media players discussing the way things are going between new media (blogs, etc.) and old media and whether we can work and play well with each other. Given the season, I also asked them about the coming election and got the usual round of predictions, none startling but, hey, the video cameras were rolling.

Who were the big time Fourth Estate-ists I spoke with this first round? Tony Blankley of the Washington Times, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post (yes, I asked him about his appearance on Keith Olbermann in quail hunter drag), Nina Easton (Fortune's Washington correspondent, also Fox News), Michael Barone (We could say Pajamas Media advisory board, but that would be bragging. Everyone knows Barone has more roles than Richard Burton. Minutes after I interviewed him, he was off in his capacity as Senior Writer for US News to interview this Bush guy who is trolling for votes. You could tell he was headed for something special because Michael was resplendent in a bespoke pinstriped suit with Hermes tie and matching handkerchief. Michael's an agreeable guy but I doubt he'd be wearing duds like that for a Pajamas Media interview ... yet.) Finally, I spoke with Chuck Todd, editor-in-chief of The Hotline. For those who don't know that's the Variety of politics, where the political insiders get their dope. Pajamas Media, alas, may soon have to subscribe pero cuesta mucho, hombre - six "large" per annum. Note to Chuck: Variety costs nowhere near that much. In fact it's free to us Academy members during Oscar season.

Not surprisingly, none of these MSMers had that much bad to say about blogs anymore (at least to me), although more than one eyebrow was raised about that old bugaboo - the lack of formal editing/fact checking in the blogosphere. But when I countered to one of those skeptics, Nina Easton, that I had received more editing on this blog than I ever did writing for mainstream publications (for simple reasons of manpower), to her credit, she took my point. Anyway, more to come, some with our redoubtable cigar-smoking Washington editor Mr. Miniter at the helm.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:00 AM
Comments (2)

October 24, 2006

The Skilling Test - Crime Pays at the UN

Claudia reminds us: not a single UN Oil-for-Food scoundrel has yet been prosecuted. More amazing yet, they have been retired with full pensions. The Mafia was never so good.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:38 AM
Comments (3)

October 23, 2006

I hope they're not planning on throwing the Baron Herzog Kosher cabernet in the garbage...

That's valuable stuff!

But who is plotting such culinary Armageddon, you may ask? Well, consult the BBC's own bias test, which they failed (duh!):

A truly shocking revelation to come out of the summit was expected to invoke a storm in Britain, which has already reached the boiling point with regards to the treatment of Muslims and the issue of the veil.

The executives said they would allow everything to be thrown in the garbage bin, save the Quran, for fear of offending the British Muslim community.

What always dumbfounds me about these supposed "progressives" is that the document that most blatantly discriminates againt women and gays is they one they most fear desecrating. [Why are you surprised anymore? Youve been calling them reactionaries for years now.-ed. Okay, I'm not surprised. But I'm tired of saying I'm "disgusted." How about "appalled"?]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:49 PM
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October 21, 2006

The 12,000 Dow - Noblesse oblige, American style

Lost in the partisan idiocy (that's too weak a word) that constitutes our politics these days is anything faintly resembling the discussion of ideas, especially those that deeply affect us and our children. I was reminded of this by an excellent editorial in the WSJ today (sub only, alas) - The Population Boon. It channels Nixon and Paul Ehrlich (both of whom were devoutely Malthusian... yes, Nixon) from the days when we were all worried about the population explosion. Times have changed. As the WSJ notes:

In Japan and Western Europe, population implosion has become the crisis of the moment. Birth rates in most Western European countries are now so low that governments are busily looking for ways to avoid a very different kind of demographic catastrophe. The problem posed by Europe's aging population is exacerbated by its reliance on intergenerational transfer payments to support its public pension systems; America, with both a greater emphasis on wealth accumulation and a higher birth rate, is comparatively better off. Demographics and Social Security are on a collision course here as well, but Europe's difficulties in this regard make America seem fortunate by comparison.

China, thanks to its draconian one-child policy, also faces a demographic challenge, embodied in the oft-heard refrain that the Middle Kingdom risks becoming the first country ever to grow old before it grows rich. Population-control measures have resulted in a shortage of women and girls, one of many unintended consequences of the population-control hysteria of the 1960s and 1970s.

A shortage of women and girls is something I personally would not like to see for a whole host of reasons. But turning back to our country, I am reminded of the Social Security debate of a couple of years ago - or the pseudo-debate, because it never happened. My former liberal allies simply shouted down the discussion before it could start. Never mind that those it might have helped most were their supposedly disadvantaged constituency. As with much affirmative action debate these days, there is a (not very) covert vested interest in failure operating whose object is to preserve the perquisites of a pseudo-liberal mandarinate.

But enough snark. Most of us know that Social Security, like most pension plans, is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme. Nothing wrong with that. Ponzi schemes have their place and are useful in this instance in the creation of a necessary safety net. But it would seem obvious that we cannot depend forever on an expanding population, useful as that may be, to preserve this net. 300 million now, 400 million later... where will it stop? And will even those numbers be able to sustain an aging population as medical science extends our lifespan toward 100. Doubtful.

Nevetherless, mega-capitalists like Ted Kennedy refused to countenance the idea of any part of Social Security being privatized. The implication here is that the lower classes cannot be trusted to invest in the market. The hoi-polloi just don't understand. And the market is too volatile for them. This of course has put the kibosh on the myriad suggestions of how to preserve this safety net while allowing for market investment. I'm far from an economist and I can think of a half-dozen myself. What the Kennedys and their ilk have done in their lust for power is cut the poor out of their share in the 12,000 Dow, keeping them down on the farm as it were. Noblesse oblige, American style.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:12 AM
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October 20, 2006

Edelman shames the blogosphere

Just as The New York Times (Jason Blair), CBS (Dan Rather) and Reuters (fauxtography) have shamed the mainstream media, the Edelman public relations firm has shamed the blogosphere. According to The Writing on the Wall (quoting Online Media Daily), the PR operation has "fessed up" to creating so-called "flogs" (phony blogs) for promotional purposes. One of them has the name "Working Families for Wal-Mart."

Now I am not pro or con Wal-Mart per se. But I am decidedly against this misuse of blogs. It undercuts the transparency that we are trying to achieve. [FULL DISCLOSURE: In the interest of transparency, Pajamas Media earlier this year had discussion with Edelman about public relations representation that did not pan out. They did not then mention creating any "flogs" for us. If they had, I can assure you we would have rejected it out of hand.]

Of course, this kind of pseudo-publicity ends up backlfiring for Wal-Mart and for all of us who wish to see blogs thrive intellectually and commercially. For a good analysis of what this means, see Tom Hespos' Wal-Mart: Blazing the Trail to Distrust. [ANOTHER FULL DISCLOSURE: Hespos' Underscore Marketing works with Pajamas on our business side.]

BTW, J ohn Tierney at the NYT has written some interesting defenses of Wal-Mart in other (non-blogging) areas. Alas this is behind the paper's fuddy-duddy "select" firewall. (Note to Sulzberger: In the words of Peter Robinson, "Tear down that wall!" It's worth a shot with your stock going into the toilet.)

UPDATE: Edelman "defends" himself in Advertising Age. Hespos responds.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:26 AM
Comments (9)

A fool and his money...

Apparently Ned Lamont has blown about ten million of his personal change in his "liberalist" attempt to unseat Joe Lieberman. At the moment, Joe is cleaning his clock. Imagine what Lamont's dough could have done for something serious like medical research or education!

MEanwhile, watch out for the rise of the independent (Freeranger?). The traditional parties are getting mighty rusty in our society. Nothing stays the same forever.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:04 AM
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October 19, 2006

Sometimes I wonder why we even both to have intelligence agencies ...

I mean why bother if people go around leaking almost everything to the press. But ... in an interesting development that could ... just could ... lead to some examination of this loathsome behavior ... according to the AP: House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra has suspended a Democratic staff member because of concerns he may have leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to The New York Times last month.

How impolite of Hoekstra not playing ball with the discrete charms of the liberal media bourgoisie. He wants people to abide by the law - imagine that. Well, we shall see what we shall see. The New York Times ... you will be shocked to learn ... has not commented. Why would they? They know best.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:52 PM
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I'm moving to France!

No, really. I could get rich -- from my reading ... so far... of the Al Dura Verdict in which Phillippe Karsenty has been ordered to pay 3000 Euros to Charles Enderlin and a symbolic 5 Euros to France 2 for "insulting" them. These days I get insulted about once an hour. Just think about the possibilities, even deducting legal fees. But seereeusly folks - there's something very spooky about this Al Dura business. As we all know Karsenty was merely expressing a view of the Al Dura video - that it was unabashed fauxtography - that he been expressed by many. In this post-Reuters era, most honest people would find such a video at least suspicious. [But we're not talking about honest people.-ed. We're talking about the... Don't say it!] Okay, I'm not moving. This sure does make you think about French statist corruption, doesn't it? If you have been following Nidra Poller's coverage on Pajamas Media, you would have thought this trial was headed for a victoire for la justice. Mais non. Something happened between trial and verdict. Did "people" talk with the judge? Was a "consensus" reached that would not offend France 2? Will we ever know? Unlikely.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:20 AM
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October 18, 2006

Sorry for the sparse blogging...

... but I have been working my fingers off over at Pajamas Media, especially preparing for an event we are covering next week in DC (political breakfast with Dick Armey, Dick Gephardt, George Mitchell and James Blanchard).

Of course, I have had a chance to read Peter Robinson's excellent WSJ piece on my alma mater. It's not just for Dartmouth graduates. The situation in Hanover is hardly unique and has a lot to say about about the condition of academia generally. The professorate has evolved into an American nomenklatura. But like the Soviet version, it may contain within itself the roots of its own destruction, especially as the cost of the education/indoctrination offered by this rigid system escalates into the stratosphere.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:23 PM
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October 17, 2006

Photo printer review

Those folks at Canon keep getting better and better. I just purchased a Pixma 6700D for 170something bucks at Amazon and tested it with some photos taken last weekend with my already aging Nikon D70. (Well, not really aging, just compared to Gerard's lighter and more nimble D50.) Anyway, the Pixma is producing gorgeous prints straight out of the box without any of those tiresome and tiring adjustments. The ink (aye, therein will lie the expense) is said to make prints of a new sort that last thirty years or more. You can check back with me at that time. But I will say this, most of my first generation digital prints are fading badly after three or four years. This printer may get a workout. The problem is, I think you have to stick with Canon ink if you want those good and enduring results. One other good thing, however: the print head is replacable. No more throwing out the whole machine when those pesky devils get clogged beyond redemption.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:14 PM
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October 16, 2006

Yes, but can he get me a suite at the Bellagio?

Senator Harry Reid (D-NV... where else?) "has been using campaign donations instead of his personal money to pay Christmas bonuses for the support staff at the Ritz-Carlton where he lives in an upscale condominium. Federal election law bars candidates from converting political donations for personal use." (AP)

This reminded me of something... oh, yes... Remember Senator Pat Geary from Godfather II... Wasn't he from Nevada?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:45 PM
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It takes an independent man to love an independent candidate

According to the list of polls at Pollster.com, Lieberman is doing very well with Independents, but not so well with Democrats. No surprise, I suppose.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:31 PM
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October 13, 2006

On the Road Again

I will be camping with my daughter's school over the weekend, so (probably) off line until Sunday night. I leave you with this: The Harry Reid Scandal linked by Glenn says everything about our politics today. It's blood sport performed by truly uninteresting performers-basketball without Kobe, Shaq or Jordan. People like Reid, Hastert, Pelosi are complete mediocrities who should be at much lower levels in our society. Something is fundamentally wrong on both sides of the aisle if they are the upper leadership of our Congress. Maybe the Internet (properly used) can do something about this by exposing them. A good example of what the Internet can do is the analysis in the comments of Omar's article on the Lancet report on Pajamas.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:33 AM
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David and Myrna's Excellent Adventure (in political advertising)

Check out my podcast interview with David Zucker and Myrna Sokoloff about their infamous suppressed political ad featuring Kim Jong Il and Madeleine Albright. Zucker apologizes to Albright (sort of). Lots of one-liners, some even good.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:47 AM
Comments (4)

October 12, 2006

Coming soon at Pajamas

A podcast interview I just did with David Zucker and his producing partner on the infamous Madeleine Albright video Myrna Sokoloff. Look for it - this one's pretty amusing. (Zucker's a funny guy - as you know.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:29 PM
Comments (1)

More on the Lancet funny numbers

Soldier's Dad in the comments over at PJ.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:22 PM
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October 11, 2006

Berger & fries

I must admit I was surprised myself when Sandy Berger turned up on Fox News the other day opining on the Korean crisis (dissing two Bushes, when everyone... or no one ... is open to dissing where the NORKS are concerned) . But I should know never to underestimate the narcissism of public figures - they can't stand to be out of the limelight, even if they have committed a crime. I'm not sure if this investigation of "Pants" was triggered by this appearance, but it sure caught the attention of a lot of people. He is not exactly the kind of guy you want representing you during election season - or maybe any season. He had been skating by on that repellent Washington noblesse oblige afforded former officials of both parties. No longer. In the Foleygate atmosphere, all gloves are off. Of course what Berger did is vastly more dangerous to the public good than anything even conceived of by poor Foley, not that I have much brief for either man.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:33 PM
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Lancet

The onetime British Medical journal Lancet, now a mouthpiece of the ultra-bourgeois left (I know - a redundancy), is publishing a study saying 655,000 Iraqis have died in the Iraq War and related conflagrations. That's approximately thirteen times the number of other studies. Lancet has done this before and was roundly attacked. But CNN is publishing an article that seems to give a lot of credence to the new study. Of course, we all know CNN's narrative. Pajamas Media has asked Omar of Iraq the Model to respond.

UPDATE: Omar on Lancet. Not be missed under any circumstances.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:08 AM
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October 10, 2006

Long Live David Zucker!

The Republicans who didn't have the cojones to run this ad don't deserve to get elected. It is the only halfway creative political ad I have seen in years. (Yes, it's a field filled with drones and incompetents.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:21 PM
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And the Roger L. Simon "Partisan Hack of the Day" award goes to...

Sandy "Pants" Berger who... this afternoon on the Fox Network... blamed both Bushes for North Korea. Of course the premise here is that anyone could have told Kim Jung Il what to do, an assumption that is, to say the last, highly dubious. And who would trust Berger anyway? Putting this character on television to attack Bush must be another Rove conspiracy.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:07 PM
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Notes from the "edge"

La Barbra apparently told an audience member at her upteenth farewell to STFU when he heckled her George Bush sketch, which mirabile dictu portrayed the President as "dumb." According to the AP, "Once the outburst (which Streisand later apologized for) was over, Streisand noted that 'the artist's role is to disturb,'..." Well, she may be right about that, but not in her case. In her case, the artist's role is to be utterly conventional, especially in her political thinking.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:55 AM
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October 9, 2006

Liberman over Lamont - what it means

Peter Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute thinks it's good news for McCain. Reliapundit thinks no... it's good news for Giuliani. I hope the Relia is right.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:59 PM
Comments (2)

Mr. Kim drives Foley off the front page - or does he?

Well, he'd better ... because if North Korean nukes aren't more important than the sex life of an obscure congressman, Ahmadinejad is right - our civilization is in deep trouble. But I suspect it's not - in deep trouble, that is - not that deep anyway. Besides Foley was starting to get boring. How much of this trivia can people take, especially if it's not about Paris Hilton?

Meanwhile, the most important part of the North Korean situation to me, so far, is that the Chinese are taking it very seriously, calling it a "brazen" act. Will this precipitate a kind of realignment of states with a vested interest in the global economy? The Japanese have set up a "task force." Any bets on how long it would take Japan to go nuclear, if they haven't already? About as long as it takes them to get out the latest Sony Vaio, I would think. In the end, this is probably a good development. A strong Japan is going to be very necessary. The South Koreans themselves will not be far behind, I would imagine. I'd bet my Samsung monitor on it. [You gave that one away.-ed. Yes, but it was great.]

But all kidding aside - and I promise not to make any more nuclear jokes, Dr. Strangelove ... at least for the next few minutes - what this brings to light for me is another underscoring of the fundamental lack of seriousness of a great part of our society, especially in the political and media classes. They have spent the last few years in an over-sized game of the Bickersons while history is moving forward at a frightening velocity. North Korea, Iran, the Pakistani intelligence service - look around and you see an international cartel of psychologically deranged nuclear armed states forming. Who's next? Syria? In a way I hope the Democrats win in November, so that they are forced to face reality. We're going to need everybody pulling together on this one.

(COMMERCIAL: Pajamas is following the North Korea story closely, of course.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:21 AM
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October 8, 2006

The Cinema of Self-Congratulation

Thanks to Samizdata (via PJ), I know now the MacGuffin of "Death of a President," a movie I never intended to see anyway. It's hard enough as an Academy member keeping up with recommended films as voting season approaches. Why would I waste my waning eyes on clichéd tripe of this nature (the Bush assassin is the father of an African-American soldier killed in Iraq)?

But it does make me think of the growing trend of Cinema of Self-Congratulation. These movies are not so much about art or even entertainment as they are about the audience and filmmakers feeling good about themselves, in the sense that both are right-thinking or of the "correct" sort. Great art abhors this of course. It is all about wildness and complexity - from Medea to The Godfather, nothing is simple ... or perhaps I should say "Nothing is written" (until, as Lawrence of Arabia tells us, it is).

Occasionally, this new genre of self-righteous films reaches larger audiences. Critics and we Academy members are complicit in this, placing ourselves inside that circle of self-congratulation and rewarding these right-thinking works with plaudits they don't deserve. An example is last year's Edward R. Murrow hagiography Good Night, and Good Luck - a thin enterprise with no discernible story line or character development. It depends entirely on the consent of the audience that Murrow was a godlike figure whose every action was to be applauded or coolly finger-snapped - like the hero and villain in vaudeville, only there aren't any jokes. But then this genre is basically humorless anyway.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:45 AM
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Dead letter office - Iranian division

There have been reports of clashes in Iran where a cleric is risking his life by protesting the "political religion" that has taken over his country since Khomeini. The cleric - Ayatollah Mohammad Kazemeini Boroujerdi - is seeking a return to "traditional religion."

"We believe that our nation is tired of political religion and they want to return to traditional religion," Boroujerdi told Iran's labor news agency ILNA on Saturday.

He said he had written to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, Pope Benedict and other leaders asking them "to make efforts to spread traditional religion", ILNA reported.

Of those three, the only one with a hope of writing back would be Benedict.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:26 AM
Comments (1)

October 7, 2006

Independent's Day: A Lieberman Rout?

If things remain roughly the same - he is now up 20 in the polls - Joe Lieberman will have a rather triumphant walk back to his Senate seat come January. I wonder what his supposed friends will be thinking ... Chris Dodd, Ted Kennedy, among others, not to mention Al Gore, who, of course, no longer sits in the Senate ... the ones who deserted him for the not-ready-for-prime-time Ned Lamont. Will they come up to congratulate him? What will Lieberman say? He will have the power to wound them - morally and politically - but my guess is he will be gracious. People like Dodd (I understand he supported Lamont because he didn't want his own presidential ambitions to be tainted by apostate Joe) and Kennedy (who is an all-time champion when it comes to cowardice, for reasons we all know) don't deserve to sit in the same chamber as Lieberman. They hew to the lines of their party like over-stuffed apparatchniks of some lost Politburo of the mind (separated at birth - Ted Kennedy and Malenkov?). Maybe this election will begin an awakening of sorts. The public is no doubt disgusted with latest Congessional political hijinks. Anyone with an IQ in triple digits knows it is nothing more than a sideshow. The tremendous success of Lieberman (so far) shows that the citizens of Connecticut (at least) respect a man who thinks for himself and does not adhere to the brain dead orthodoxies of party politics as currently practiced in this country. In his interview with Pajamas Media, he indicated pretty clearly he would be an Independent first, then a Democrat. What a guy. What a grown-up!

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:57 AM
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Mothers, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys!

Washington Post editor says: Everyone in Our Newsroom Wants to Be a Blogger.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:48 AM
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Maybe we are the New Roman Empire ...

... because, while our nation stands transfixed by (pretty minor league) scandal, matters of tremendous importance are transpiring. For the moment, this blog seems to have the most appropriate title.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:10 AM
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October 6, 2006

Outing myself

I just read David Corn's post about The List. I hate to admit it, but it gave me a crise de conscience, although I cannot say I am really a Republican. I only voted for Republicans twice in my lifetime (once each for Bush and Schwarzenegger). Still... despite the fact that I have been married three times (to women) and have three children (of my own seed, as far as I know), I cannot cover up any longer. This dual life has become intolerable. I am gay!

There. I've said it. Doesn't that make you feel better, David? (Can we get back to serious issues now?)

UPDATE: I think I've opened a can of worms here.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:22 AM
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October 5, 2006

Dept. of the Counter-Inuitive - Weed division

Having smoked (and inhaled and held in) my quota of reefer over the years, I was... how shall I say it... blown away to read the news that marijuana may stave off Alzheimer's disease. What's going on here? Two tokes of good weed and you could barely remember your name. This is the answer to Alzheimer's? If only Jerry Garcia were still alive.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:38 PM
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Aristophanes in Gitmo

In yesterday's post, I mentioned how I saw the Foley affair (yes, I am the culprit who invented Masturgate but was too embarrassed to admit it ) more as Aristophanes than Shakespeare (farce, not tragedy). After reading Claudia's report on the "dreadful" US prison in Guantanamo, which dovetails nicely with Rich Miniter's, I thought once again that the Greek dramatist is the perfect artist for our times. Who better to describe a trip to Gitmo than the man who did such a brilliant job lampooning Dionsysus' descent into Hades to bring home Euripides? Too bad he's not alive now to satirize the villainous riffraff surrounding the Guantanamo story - the Newsweek "virtuosi" who made up the tale of Koran flushing (where they don't even have flush toilets) and the greedy nabobs of so-called human rights organizations who enrich their coffers by pretending we are torturing Islamic inmates when, apparently, they are growing fat on international cuisine. Dr. Strangelove or even Aristophanes' own The Frogs had nothing on this. Yet too bad indeed the great Greek is not with us today to decapitate the self-satisfied smirk of modern liberalism. Can you imagine what he would have done with a tour of Gitmo by, say, Streisand and Penn?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:03 PM
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October 4, 2006

Not Shakespeare... Aristophanes!

Only the Greek playwright's manic disposition could correctly characterize the times in which we live when the semi-sex life of an obscure congressman leads to the downfall of an administration and the rise of Nancy Pelosi (!) as Speaker of the House followed by... what... impeachment hearings? Lysistrata anyone? Meanwhile, does anyone think it is ironic that so-called progressives who excoriated eavesdropping on terrorists are feasting on the publication of supposedly confidential email and IMs? You can forget about privacy. It no longer exists, if it ever did. The Patriot Act, if you think about it, is on some levels a joke, the Constitution a sideshow. The craven and rapacious stalk the corridors of power egged on by a loathesome media as hypocrisy rules and child abuse rears its ugly head with the age of consent debated by people whose only interest is their own ambitions. Meanwhile, lost in the shadows, an enemy whose "Messenger" married a nine -year old watches and waits.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, it's a bi-partisan epidemic.

ONE MORE THING: In all the hullabaloo over the Sexual non-Healing of developmentally arrested congresspeople, I have been reminded once again just how bad we are at bringing our best into the political arena. I know when I rail on here about the weakness of our two party system, many attack me for casting aspersions on our big tents. But let me ask you one thing, if the best those tents can come up with to lead the largest deliberative body of the most powerful country on Earth are Dennis Hastert and Nancy Pelosi, isn't it time to start asking some serious questions?

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 3:25 PM
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Hanson vs. Woodward

A real historian versus a fauxtorian:

Every source in Cobra II, Fiasco, or State of Denial, may be accurate, but we will never know that, because for a variety of reasons the authors who claim they worked from notes and recordings, chose not to identify the most inflammatory sources by name. It would be as if I [Hanson] wrote a history of the Peloponnesian War and, to support my most controversial points, added footnotes that stated "A manuscript in the Vatican," or "Private letter to author from anonymous Greek shepherd attesting a stone altar in his field"

The other day I wrote of my own similar dismay at Woodward's "thought" process. Of course, I don't remotely have the qualifications VDH has in this area. If you look down at the link, you will see I added update backing off somewhat. After reading Hanson, I greeted that, not that anyone will care in the world of All Foley All The Time.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:30 AM
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YouTubing Dartmouth

See Peter Robinson at The Corner.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:20 AM
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October 3, 2006

Angelides hits the panic button

Watching Phil Angelides on Fox the other night was like watching a one man herd of deer caught in all the headlights on the Santa Monica Freeway simultaneously. Or maybe all the cars streaming out of the USC game, because he was throwing the "Hail Marry Pass" of all time to prevent being swamped by the onrushing Arnold. If elected, our Phil now pledges to pull California troops out of Iraq unilaterally! Good boy, Phil. You win the "nice liberal boy of century medal," but it ain't gonna help you win the gubernatorial election one jot. In fact it makes you seem like a fool, preaching to the choir like some clueless lost cause, while your opponent bestrides the political center - where, as everyone knows, elections are won - well, like a weight lifter. And you know he's not budging. Not our Arnold. [Do you remember one time Angelides was almost even in the polls?-ed. When was that?]

UPDATE: Bill Bradley has the state of play.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:23 AM
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October 2, 2006

Foley's Libido: the Internet is Written in Indelible Ink

I read this morning that Mr. Mark Foley of Florida is headed for rehab to treat his "alcoholism." (The debbil made me do it! ) Don't they always? And usually they're out in three to six weeks (hello, Mel Gibson) when three to six years is not even enough to get to the roots of their dysfunction.

But I'll leave the psychoanalysis of Foley to others. I have other fish to fry here. What interests me in this whole predictable epsiode - the seduction of Capitol pages of both genders by members of both parties is as old as, well, the Capitol - is the ignorance our representatives have of modern communications. Don't they realize by now the Internet is written in indelible ink? Nothing you type online in whatever form ever goes away. It's much more permanent than anything written on paper. (Note to bloggers: forget that at your peril) I suspect many of our politicians don't have a clue about this. They think (Foley probably thought) instant messages rocket across the screen and disappear into cyberspace.

We live in a highly technical era. It's time to reevaluate our leaders for basic competence in understanding what is going on. This was always a problem. Very few have the intellectual horsepower of a Daniel Moynahan. And the situation is getting worse as the baseline rises. Ten seconds with Dennis Hastert shows you what a dilemma we are in. He certainly wasn't up to speed on the perils of email. Would you like a man like that dealing with issues of nuclear power. Do you think he'd pass a basic physics test? People like that will forever be at the mercy of their staff, assuming they have staff that is competent, which is a helluva assumption. Anyway, it's something to ponder as we go forward.

(Note to the Republican devout who are defending Foley because "the other side did it and got away with it." So what? In the post-Monica era, that dog not only " will not hunt." It won't get off the floor to eat dinner.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:58 AM
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