November 29, 2006

Baby, it's cold outside ... Is this bad news for Al Gore?

It's pretty chilly here in the land of perpetual summer (LA) and I could only nod when I checked out this link from PJ about record cold weather all over the place. It also includes news the Russian Academy of Sciences is predicting a new Ice Age. I wonder if my fellow Academy members will pick this up when judging this years' documentaries - Al Gore's global warming extravaganza is among the Oscar favorites in that category. [Stop being disingenuous. You know they'd still believe in Global Warming if Palm Springs turned into Antarctica. -ed. You're right. They'd think it was a "Happy Feet" promo.] But meanwhile, what is really going on here? Are we supposed to worry about global warming, hurricanes, tsunamis and bird flu (remember that?)? Or are they all just temporary aberrations in the great glide of time? I've decided I'm going to try to be happy for ten minutes and ignore the whole thing. The good news is, we've booked a nice hotel for cross country skiing in the Methow Valley over Christmas and there's going to be plenty of snow! [Barring sudden global warming.-ed. Right, right. I forgot about that.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:47 PM
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Amongst the blind ...

... the one-eyed is king.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:21 PM
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Ahmadinejad - he's bad and he's back

Kind of reminds you of "Gable's back and Garson's got 'im," doesn't it? Anyway, Crazy Ahmad is back with another letter to the American people, to be released later today. [With another Harry Potter?-ed. Spiderman.] Those highbrows at the AP inform us: "Average Iranians were disappointed by the cold response to the May letter, the first official communication between the two countries' presidents since the Islamic Revolution of 1979." [Well, they would know, wouldn't they?-ed. Who better?]

Meanwhile, an interesting debate is taking place on Pajamas, sparked by Paul Belien's criticism of Ralph Peters' column skeptical of "Eurabia". Peters has logged in himself in the comments (alas, with a rather pompous...defensive?... opinion of blogs). Belien has informed me he will reply later in the day. Perhaps they would like to factor in this report.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:05 AM
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November 28, 2006

Did somebody get to Nancy...

... and knock some sense into her head about Alcee Hastings? I don't know and I don't care. I'm just glad we don't have a demagogue as chair of the House Intell Committee. And speaking of demagogues... well, ideologues ... I was watching Dick Morris discuss the potential Hastings nomination on Hannity & Colmes last night. (Yes, my Lord, I have sinned. I have watched Hannity & Colmes ... and after telling my daughter not to watch so much television or she would get "mushy brain." ) He made great sport of Colmes' pathetic defense of the onetime Florida jurist who apparently let a lawyer friend languish in prison so he (Hastings) wouldn't be sent up for corruption himself. The pundit then went on to eviscerate his own former friend, Bill Clinton, who, as one of his parting gestures in the Oval Office, pardoned this same lawyer who rescued Hastings. Morris - who is, as we know, er.... no saint himself - is so much more fun to listen to than either Hannity or Colmes you wonder why they don't give him the show. I wouldn't feel like such an idiot for watching.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:47 PM
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November 27, 2006

Where Your (California) Tax Dollars Are Going

It's hard to believe this bozo is actually a professor at UC Irvine, but he is. What fascinates me about fellows like this is how little attention they pay to the actual news from the area of their supposed expertise. That there have been other recent assassinations in Lebanon similar to Gemayel's (Rafik Hariri - maybe he thinks Israel is behind that one too) and that Syria has been implicated (by the UN!) means nothing to them (unless it fits their propaganda purposes).

What is the cost of an education at UC Irvine? Oh, never mind.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:16 AM
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Whither Europe?

Ralph Peters is more cynical about Europeans than I am. In his article "The 'Eurabia' Myth" he brands the Euros as "world-champion haters." ("The notion that continental Europeans, who are world-champion haters, will let the impoverished Muslim immigrants they confine to ghettos take over their societies and extend the caliphate from the Amalfi Coast to Amsterdam has it exactly wrong.")

Well, I'm no Nostradamus, but Peters' use of the word "exactly" makes me scratch my head. How does he know "exactly"? Predicting the future in such matters is iffy at best. My personal observations are different from his, but still they are only personal. Europe was once, of course, substantially Islamic. Why couldn't it be again? The demographic trends are certainly running that way, especially among the young. And if things turn violent, who does the fighting?

BTW, Paul Belien of the Brussels Journal will be writing a response shortly to Peters' article for Pajamas.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:20 AM
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November 26, 2006

Stop Him Before He Reviews Again! (Part II)

My review of "The Queen" is up on Pajamas.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:32 PM
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November 25, 2006

Philippe Noiret dies

One of my favorite actors - Philippe Noiret - has died. Among the films of his I remember are Bertrand Tavernier's Coup de torchon (from a Jim Thompson novel) and The Watchmaker of Saint Paul (from a Simenon novel), the amusing My New Partner and the art house classics Il Postino and Cinema Paradiso. What a career.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:32 PM
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November 24, 2006

Krauthammer misses the point on OJ

Perhaps Charles Krauthammer was just playing the contrarian for attention (we all do), but considering his background as a psychiatrist, I was surprised at the columnist's latest piece "Why We Should Let O.J. Speak." He thinks letting Simpson on the air would have "put this matter to rest." Au contraire, Doctor Krauthammer, it would have reawakened it. In fact it already did to some extent.

Let's start here: Almost anyone who would think OJ is guilty already does. Those who are racist or just plain nuts enough to believe him innocent are hardly likely to change because of a television show or book. They are thinking with their limbic systems. Rationality will not get through. After all, it is now years since the crime and not the slightest hint of an alternative theory or culprit has been brought forward either by OJ - who was supposedly devoting himself to "solving" the murders - or anyone else. [You mean Faye Resnick is still walking around free???-ed. So it seems.]

No, rationality is not at play here and is unlikely to appear suddenly from a television show. Very few people will change their minds. As one who attended the trial (and attended many other trials during my crime writing days) I cannot imagine a more open-and-shut case short of someone shooting the judge in cold blood in front of the jury. And other than the jury at the OJ trial, almost everyone in the room knew Simpson was guilty, including his own defense team, several of whom, like Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld were willing to distort the very things they stood for for a few moments in the sun. (I have noticed neither of these two gentlemen on TV during this recent incarnation of the case. Small wonder.) Johnnie Cochran must have thought he was getting some kind of "racial justice" by getting his man off. Actually, Johnnie was making a large contribution to racism in America.

So Krauthammer is way off base here. He seems to forget his McLuhan ("The Medium is the Message"). Simply putting OJ on the tube renders the murderer more powerful. The former shrink also, oddly, forgets his Freud. OJ would be even more of a sexualized celebrity (He already is to some. He has girlfriends!). But most of all the columnist displays a serious lack of compassion for the Goldman and Brown families. That is out of character for Krauthammer and I wonder if he already regrets what he has written. If he had a blog, he could correct himself.

MEANWHILE: The Ghost Writer has been outed (talk about "Six Degrees of Separation").

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:04 AM
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November 23, 2006

Happy Thanksgiving

When I was a kid (4-8 or so), I had the good fortune to live on Central Park West with a front row view of what was then called the Macy's Day Parade. To the consternation of my mother, I can remember being perched on the radiator leaning out the window as far as I could to try to touch one of the giant balloons. We were on the second floor. It was fabulous fun. Some years Thanksgiving even fell on my birthday and we would have a gang of kids in. Then my mother would go mad thinking someone was going to fall out the window. Anyway, never happened. Happy Thanksgiving. Be sure to take your Zantac or whatever and have a look at The Pajamas Media Shopper. It's also fun. And you won't fall out the window.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:21 AM
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November 22, 2006

Deportation of Iranian woman stayed!

Pajamas has another scoop on the deportation of the Iranian dissident woman and her family at the Moscow airport. The European Court of Human Rights has ordered a two week stay on her deportation to Iran. It has been thrilling to work on this story, which the mainstream media has completely ignored, because we may have, at least distantly, be helping save a human life.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:04 AM
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November 21, 2006

The Kamalfar Saga continues...

Don't miss the latest report on the Iranian dissident and her family on Pajamas. This has been quite an experience being involved in the covering of this story. I will write more about it later, when the dust settles, as it were.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:54 PM
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Don't miss "Jihadis and whores"

... by the always interesting Spengler at Asia Times.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:39 AM
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Robert Altman dies

There was a period of time when I thought Robert Altman was a great director- capital 'g' - mostly shortly after the appearance of "MASH". I remember liking "Nashville" quite a lot too, though I have not seen it recently. I wasn't as entranced with "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," although I know many were.

Then I became less interested in Altman. His semi-plotless improvisations seemed more of a schtick. Even when he came back to 'story' with "Gosford Park," he didn't appear to have is heart in it. He was one of those 'auteurs' who was in love with the sin-nay-mah, saying all the right anti-Establishment things while milking the Establishment for all it was worth. Still, actors loved him (he let them improvise - why not?) and his work has many fine and amusing scenes. It's just that the whole is vastly less than the parts. [Aren't you only supposed to say nice things about the dead?-ed. I'm sure he was a terrific guy. And I said I liked "MASH" and "Nashville."]

BTW, here's a movie I found first-rate. See it with kids if you can, but see it anyway. The film's director - George Miller - is developing quite an impressive oeuvres.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:25 AM
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Moveon.org and their ilk and the State Dept. Arabists...

.. Baker, Scowcroft, et al.... have more in common then they would like to admit. They both advocate dialog with Syria. Of course, that's not looking very good this morning. Across the Bay puts it most succinctly:

This assassination [Pierre Gemeyal] will likely ensure that if such street rallies do take place, clashes would erupt, as it's clear that the Syrians are set on that. (Just another reminder for the idiots who believe Syria is a force of "stability.")

Syria has a primary objective that outweighs everything else: kill the Hariri tribunal, and redominate Lebanon at any cost. This is nothing short than a fight to the death for the Syrians. And, as these thugs have done throughout their bloody history, they will kill anyone.

Maybe this will be a wake-up call for Bush.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:31 AM
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November 20, 2006

Seymour, a (second) Introduction

That master of the anonymous source Seymour Hersh (He loves phrases like "someone familiar with the discussion" and a
"government consultant with close ties to the Pentagon civilian leadership" Does no one talk on the record to this man on the record?) is carrying water for the CIA again. Apparently, according to Seymour, the CIA spooks are skeptical of Israeli intelligence reports of Iranian nuclear advances. Never mind that Israeli intell has a rather impressive track record compared to the Langley bureaucracy. (It was the Israelis who informed the Americans of Kruschev's famous speech denouncing Stalin, which constituted a huge change for the Soviet Union. Of course, that was years ago). And never mind that the CIA is notoriously short on HUMINT (human sources), something the Israelis are rather better at. And also never mind that we are talking about a sixty year old (nuclear) technology, the Langley crew still thinks the Iranians are far from nuclear weapons. (Racist? Nah.)

Still, Hersh, for all his water-carrying, gives a decent tour d'horizon of the various views of "What to do about Iran" in his article. Worth a read in this instance.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:11 PM
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November 19, 2006

From the Mullah's intelligence service direct to Pajamas Media

It has been quite an experience working on the video from Sheremetyevo Airport now posted on Pajamas. I have been fielding calls and emails all day as the story develops. We are still a small website, but not so small as we used to be, especially with more frequent Drudge links for original reporting we are doing. People in the media and elsewhere are watching. I hope to reveal more here about this story later, but for now I would like to call your attention to something I suspected myself and than was corroborated by one of my Iranian contacts...

At least to a small degree, Islamic regime intelligence operatives (or their supporters and cohorts) seem to be infiltrating our comments section. Here's an amusing example:

Mike, Russia :

"zahra sheremetyevo iran" - also nothing.

Oh, well then it's a fake then, right, "Mike"? This reminds me of the kind of silly garbage I used to hear from low level KGB agents when I was in the Soviet Union in the Eighties. [Maybe Borat will post a comment.-ed. I thought that was Borat.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:06 PM
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November 18, 2006

Iran was on my mind today ...

It's never that far off. I think most would agree that the Persian nation is at the heart of the world conflict. Yesterday, I received some email out of the blue, asking if Pajamas might be interested in some clandestine video of an Iranian dissident, Zahra Kamalfar, trapped in the transit area of Moscow's Sheremetyvo Airport for 73 days. 73 days, I thought. I can remember being trapped in Sheremetyvo for about six hours during the communist era and getting crazy paranoid. 73 days? It was and is hard to wrap your mind around.

So I made friends with a mysterious Iranian-American director named Ardeshir Arian, who turned out not to be so mysterious but a fine fellow, and spent the usual hours on the phone and IM with my trusty partner in crime Andrew Marcus and the results are now up on Pajamas. I hope in our little way we have helped with the fate of Ms. Kamalfar and that she will not be heading back to Tehran on Monday. Another Zahra - Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photojournalist - did not fare very well on her visit to Tehran's notorious Evin prison. I always have to laugh in a bitter way when I read these stories out of Iran and think how little time our media devotes to them and how much to the far less threatening tales of supposed American torture. Sometjmes I think if Pajamas works to correct that imbalance ... and that is all we do ... we have accomplished more than enough. Check out the video. There are some things I cannot say about the circumstances of the video and how it got here, because people would be endangered. Maybe after the Mullahs are overthrown. In the words of another friend of mine, "Faster, please!"

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:00 PM
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Dhimmitude at the UN - Israel walks out

From UPI:

Israel's ambassador walked out on the United Nations session that resulted in a strong call to Israel to end its military operations in the Gaza Strip.

The 192-member General Assembly voted Friday night 156-7, with six abstentions, in favor of the non-binding resolution in an emergency special session.

It's no surprise that the Islamic nations vote this way. They are hardly democratic and doctrinally racist against Jews (dhimmitude, etc.). But I always wonder about the Europeans. What are they thinking? Of course anyone with an IQ in the proverbial triple-digits knows that Israel pulled out of Gaza unilaterally not very long ago and that since then, virtually non-stop, Palestinians of various "progressive" stripes (Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Fatah) have been lobbing missiles into Israeli territory. What are the Israelis supposed to do? Allow them to continue? If Spain were lobbing missiles into France on a daily basis, it's likely the Spaniards would be hit with a nuclear attack. The Israelis have been remarkably gentle in their response, if you consider historical comparisons.

So what is the motivation for the Euros? Part of it is certainly a desire to justify their own unconscionable treatment of the Jews during the Holocaust. (The Jews are bad, therefore what we did is not so atrocious... but, of course, it is.) But this hunger to escape responsibility has been augmented of late by an escalating desire to make nice with the Arab and Islamic worlds. And as we know, it's not just about oil; Europe itself is now increasingly Islamic. As Mark Steyn points out, soon enough several European countries may be living under some version of sharia. At that point, their attitudes toward Israel won't be subject to debate. They will be written in the Koran.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:17 PM
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November 17, 2006

Pelosi Implodes at the Gate

I thought for a moment I was reading the name Bush and not Pelosi in the New York Times' editorial headline of today: Speaker Pelosi Tempts Disaster. The editorial states: But Ms. Pelosi's damage to herself was already done. The well-known shortcomings of Mr. Murtha were broadcast for all to see - from his quid-pro-quo addiction to moneyed lobbyists to the grainy government tape of his involvement in the Abscam scandal a generation ago. The resurrected tape - feasted upon by Pelosi enemies - shows how Mr. Murtha narrowly survived as an unindicted co-conspirator, admittedly tempted but finally rebuffing a bribe offer: "I'm not interested - at this point."

I don't recall The Times referencing Murtha's "checkered" past when the Congressnitwit was opining about Iraq. But never mind. At least they're doing it now.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:29 AM
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November 16, 2006

The Goldman Family screwed again - this time by Judith Regan

The Drudge Report screams "Regan: I did not pay him!" But click on the link and, buried deep in the bizarre apologia pro vita Judith Regan - written as if her story, not Ron and Nicole's, was the important one here - comes the pathetic truth:

"I don't know why he did it - why he did the book, and sat for the interview. Was it his own disturbed need for attention? Did he have remorse? Was he ready to come clean and make amends and do his penance? I wouldn't know until I sat down in a chair across from him.

What I wanted was closure, not money."

Oh, really? Well, once again the Goldman Family, more deserving than any of closure, gets none of it (closure or money)- just more salt poured in their wounds as Mad OJ stalks the airwaves, thanks to Judith Regan.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 11:04 PM
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Sacha Wacha

My positive review of Sacha Cohen's Borat on Pajamas generated quite a discussion. A number of folks, many of whom evidently had not seen the movie, were angry with Cohen (and by extension me for praising him) for exploiting innocents from Romania to Texas. I see their point to some very minor extent. It's nice to be nice, I suppose. Only art isn't nice, particularly comic art. Aristophanes wasn't nice. Rabelais wasn't nice. And even Groucho wasn't nice to poor Margaret. He was brutal, in fact.

And Cohen is deadly serious in his brutality. But what fascinates me is how many people completely misconstrue him. I heard the same thing on Larry Elder's radio show the other night on my way home from work. Elder had seen the film and liked it, but some of listeners were registering the same PC objections I read on PJ. One woman was complaining that Borat was being anti-Semitic in his treatment of a kindly Jewish couple at a bed & breakfast, when it was Borat's primitive anti-Semitism itself that was being lampooned, not the couple. (The film goes so far as to show a crazed and terrified Borat throwing dollar bills at cockroaches he thinks are the incarnation of the kindly couple.)

It's almost as if these people didn't realize Borat was a satirical character and identified him one for one with the actor. Scary. Anyway, the film's popularity continues unabated. That's reassuring.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:29 PM
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I stand corrected - and quickly

Maybe things aren't as bad as they seem (see post below). The Democratic Party acted with sense today by saying "no" to Nancita and picking Hoyer.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 12:28 PM
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November 15, 2006

Rant Alert: Our two major political parties are dreadful

The last few days ... the reincarnation of Trent Lott, the rise of Murtha, etc., etc. ... have cemented in my mind that anyone who has the remotest confidence in either of our major political parties has cement for brains. Forget the best and the brightest. The leadership of both parties is dominated by an almost willfully constructed collection of the dull, talentless and (often enough) corrupt. Most would be eminently unqualified for a real job that required serious education and, especially, creativityand original thought. Many aren't even good at public speaking and communicatiing - that baseline second mother's milk of politics. And here we are at one of the most critical passes in human history with a passel of Third World countries ruled by despots and religious fanatics about to obtain nuclear weapons (if they don't have them already).

The big secret about the last election is that it didn't matter who won - both sides stink. I'm serious. Our system is broken given the quality of leaders we have developed. Make fun of third parties, if you will, and tell me they never work, etc., etc., but then tell me, if you will, with a straight face, that the Democratic or Republican parties are doing a job worth preserving. (END OF RANT)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:28 PM
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Nancy Pelosi's Odd Behavior

It's hard to understand why Nancy Pelosi is going to the mattress for John Murtha this early in her career as Speaker (elect). Besides being a divisive figure with "dangerous liaisons," Murtha doesn't seem like the brightest bulb on the block. Of course, I don't know the man and he may secretly be a great scholar of the Punic Wars or some such, but I don't think he's going to be giving competition to Victor Davis Hanson as a Classicist any time soon. (Speaking of which, why aren't people like Hanson in our Congress rather than the Hastert/Murtha variety who seem ripped straight from the pages of Sinclair Lewis?)

Perhaps I'm missing somethning, but Nancita picking a fight so quickly does not appear smart to me. It may be intended as a show of strength, but comes off as weakness. What the public is clammoring for is clearly bi-artisanship and she gives us... Murtha? Well, that smells defeat in '08. Republicans should be happy. As a Freeranger, I just sit back and watch the show.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:25 AM
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November 14, 2006

Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills

Overheard by Ron Rosenbaum. Ron also has a somewhat more serious post: Second Holocaust Watch.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:25 PM
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November 13, 2006

'08 has started: Rudy goes exploring

I had a great time interviewing Chuck Todd of The Hotline a couple of weeks ago. Chuck's a bright and savvy guy. So I admit my jaw dropped - out of surprise and disappointment - when he opined that Rudy Giuliani would not run for president. The former mayor wouldn't want the grief from the NY tabs (that scandal thang). Also Chuck thought Giuiliani was too interested in the big bucks to go for the power, even if that power was the most important job on earth.

Well, I'm pleased to say, for now, that Chuck was wrong. Rudy seems to be running. He did the Exploratory Committee thing today. And I'm a happy camper not just because his views most closely represent mine (they do), but because he appears able to lead, a trait few have and one that will be highly necessary, I suspect, in the years to come. He also seems not particularly bound by party and ideological cant (a Freeranger, in the new Pajamas parlance). That's a good thing to me, although I know "party faithful" are suspcious of that. But I'm suspicious of "party faithful." And I think, as the years go on, there are going to be more people like me. [You've been wrong before.-ed. Not in the last ten minutes.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:09 PM
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Baker's dozen

My Pajamas colleague R. Miniter has an interesting column in the NY Post this morning with more evidence that the Bush Team is in full retreat. Other earlier evidence was the drafting of James Baker & Co. to bring forth a new Iraq policy. On the other end, the President had promised to defend John Bolton and is standing firm on Iran on some level. What to think? I have no idea. Things seem to me to be spinning out of control at the moment. Perhpas they have been for some time. We are all in the hands of history now.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:41 AM
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November 12, 2006

Stop Him Before He Reviews Again!

Yes, God, I have committed the sin of reviewing once again. Please forgive me. But I have done it on Pajamas, not on NRO. Does that make a difference? [No.-ed. I didn't ask you.] And I have given a rave review. Does that help? [To Borat? So has everybody.-ed.]

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 8:46 AM
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November 11, 2006

The secret to Spielberg's success ...

Click here. (ht: Wendy)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 10:54 AM
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High Noonan in Iraq

Peggy Noonan's statement - quoted on Pajamas this morning - is something I have felt and blogged about a long time:

We have divided government. Good, and for many reasons. One: It confuses our enemies. "Who do we hate now?" they ask in their caves, "the evil woman from San Francisco or the old infidel from Texas? Which do we hate more? And if we hate them both does that...unite them?"

We are in a 30-year war. It is no good for it to be led by, identified with, one party. It is no good for half the nation to feel estranged from its government's decisions. It's no good for us to be broken up more than a nation normally would be. And straight down the middle is a bad break, the kind that snaps.

In a sense this is a coherent response to email I received from my friend John Hinderaker yesterday, asking me to participate in a forum on Power Line. Powerline, and this forum, takes the, I think basically correct, view that the Republican defeat last week was a message of weakness to our enemies. Only the truth is at this moment we are weak. We are a divided country unwilling to wage war against Islamic fascism. A slight, eked out Republican victory wouldn't have changed that much - and a slight, eked out victory is the only kind anyone can have in this divided land.

Which is, I think, Noonan's point. But where do we go from here? Our recent Sec'y of State once famously said of Iraq something like "You break it, you keep it." Well, he had half a point. In any war you "break it" to a great extent. But then what do you do? Fix it or walk away? Finish the job or abandon the people whose lives you hoped to improve?

Of course the problem is more complicated than that. Nancy Pelosi doesn't think we're really in a war. She doesn't think the Atocha Station bombers were serious when they said they wanted "Al Andaluz" (if she knows what that is). I don't agree, but (who knows?) she may be right. Now we're going to find out. And she's going to find out. Will she be able to learn? (I'm not just talking about her here, obviously, but her "class".) And the same goes for me. Will I be ble to learn, if I am wrong? In any case, assuming there is a war, as Noonan points out, the USA better be united to a significant degree in order to win it. I see this minor Democratic Party victory as part of this process. My only disagreement with Noonan is that she understates things. She thinks we're in a 30 years war. I'm more pessimistic. I think it's closer to a 100. I sure hope I'm wrong.

UPDATE: No doubt Hamza al-Mujahir knows what "Al Andaluz" is.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:48 AM
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November 9, 2006

57 million blogs?!

Yes, that's the current Technorati number quoted in Michael Malone's latest Silicon Insider column. (He also has some nice things to say about Pajamas Media's video election coverage - thanks, Michael.) If that figure is even faintly correct, we've entered a mind-boggling era of communications here. Assuming that roughly half that number is American, the ratio of blogs to potential readers in this country is around one to ten - not a tremendously optimistic stat from a publishing point of view. No wonder I detect real fear of the Internet from some journalists I know. It's a ruthless meritocracy out here, especially if you're not doing porn. You're not protected in the way you are (or more likely were) with a traditional newspaper job. You may even have to be able to write to attract attention [Present company excepted. -ed. Of course.] Another thing that amuses me is that there are still people around who have not heard of blogs or say they don't know what they are. Talk about Luddites. Have they heard of television? Or radio? Anyway, by force of sheer numbers, it is likely the best blogs would be superior in many ways to what is offered by the diminishing mainstream media. History and technology march on. Recent events at the LA Times are just an inevitable blip. Still some rich guys are trying to buck the trend - sentimental Luddites, I suppose.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:22 PM
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No Joy in Mudville

The most interesting two graphs in Mort Kondracke's Roll Call summary of exit polling on the recent election are buried at the bottom:

Possibly the most arresting single statistic in the exit polls was the finding that a plurality of voters - 40 percent - believe that the next generation of Americans will experience a life "worse than today," while only 30 percent expect it to be better and 28 percent about the same.

This means that voters are discouraged not only about America's present but also its future. The message of the elections is that the country wants its politicians to stop squabbling for partisan advantage and restore the American dream.

I don't know how these stats compare with previous generations, but even so I wonder about the causes of these dark views. The Democrats were elected with no discernible program other than Not Bush. But if they pursue that program - endless hearings under the "wise" tutelage of Conyers, Dingell, Wachsman, et al - they will succeed in running themselves into the ground in nothing flat. We are on Internet time now. Politics as usual won't cut it. The Republicans may find themselves back in power before they know it. But to inherit what? The system itself is broken and needs over-haul. But that's not really surprising, is it? It's been running much the same way for quite a long time. The gears are grinding down to nothing.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:28 AM
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November 8, 2006

Robert Gates

Some bloggers are questioning the timing of the nomination (and firing), questioning his qualifications for SecDef. I'm wondering about those things myself. I strongly suspect the explanataion may be that he was far from the first choice.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 2:55 PM
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Post mortem

A little groggy here after all the action at Arnold HQ last night. Can't believe I'm actually awake, but I guess I was too hyper to stay asleep. Had to check if PJ had more of our videos up. And it does - the best one yet by Evan Coyne Maloney, Hitchens too is worth a shufty.

Meanwhile, what to say about this election? I am not particularly distressed. Part of this is the inevitability. And, yes, I'm not especially looking forward to Speaker Pelosi. But then I wasn't especially impressed by Speaker Hastert either (putting it mildly). At this point, I'm wishing the Dems well and hoping they can get some sense in their brains. Maybe all of Hitchens' optimism about Webb et al will pan out. Who knows? But I do know that if I am right (excuse the pomposity here) and we are at the beginning of frightening historical epic that threatens our civilization, we need everyone to - shall we say - pitch in to help preserve it. Now it's the Dems turn to exhibit some seriouness. If they waste our and their time in an orgy of recrimination (congressional investigations), they will pay dearly at the ballot next election.

Why did the Bushies lose? I think, mostly, it was a "failure to comunicate." Yes, the media was aligned against them, but they knew that, didn't they? They relied on traditional political strategems (get out the vote, etc.) in times that are no longer tradtional.

As for my own political stance. I no longer consider myself a Democrat. And I'm not a Republican. For now (like Arnold and Joe - the big winners yeserday), I'm a "Freeranger." The only place you can be a radical anymore is in the center.

PS: I'd just like to add my public congratulations (I already did this privately) to my colleagues at Pajamas Media. I think they did great work in their election coverage, particularly the videos, which were a massive experiment using simple digital cameras ($270 Canon A630s). Next time, we'll be even better, I hope.

UPDATE: This post by Dean Barnett is on the money.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:44 AM
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November 7, 2006

Why the Republicans are losing

They keep the press away from the buffet table (not smart). Yes, Pajamas Media is accredited press at the Schwarzenegger coronation (again, not smart.... in our old mere citizen days -- without the dangling press passes around our necks -- we could have wandered up to the buffet unnoticed... not that it's that good anyway).

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:59 PM
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Notes from the Bev Hilton

Just saying hello form my PJM bunker in the Beverly Hilton. Actually having a great deal of fun working with Bill Bradley on interviews. You hear a lot of rumors around here - about exit polls and such. I'm not publishing them here or on Pajamas Media. We don't do exit polls. We do facts - and snark.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 5:51 PM
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A Los Angeles Dilemma - Trying to figure out how to vote

This morning I am headed over to Brentwood to hook up with Bill Bradley to shoot a short video of Arnold voting (if we can). The Governator is scheduled to vote at nine AM. From my house to Brentwood takes a minimum of forty-five minutes on a good day. This won't be a good day and it's likely I will run four-square into a media traffic jam. So I'll probably have to leave the Hollywood Hills long before the polls open. And after Arnold, we have to upload our video, leaving me little time to get all the way home to vote before heading over to the Beverly Hilton to set up Pajamas computers for tonight. (I should have gotten an absentee ballot.) It will be interesting to see how speedy the hotel's connection is - it's advertised as the same one the Bev Hilton uses for the Golden Globes. Now it's being used for the Schwarzenegger campaign party. That's democracy in Beverly Hills.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 6:06 AM
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November 6, 2006

Behind the scenes with Pajamas Video

We'e going to be having some fun on election day at Pajamas, making videos with the extraordinary Canon A630. It's amzing what you can do with a $270 camera now. I was playing with it last night on Hollywood Boulevard [You sure you want to say that?-ed. ] making a short promo with Bill Bradley. Tomorrow morning, bright and early, Bill and are going to be down Schwarzenegger's Brentwood polling place, doing the video thing of the Terminator voting. It will be interesting to see him cast his ballot in that hotbed of rich liberalism. (Spielberg is his neighbor.) I wonder if Arnold splits his ticket or votes Repub. Perhaps we will get a chance to ask him, not that he would say (I assume). I am told he is good friends with Jerry Brown, another "well-known" Californian far ahead in the polls. Come to think of it - who in this star-driven state could even have dreamed Phil (Who?) Angelides had a prayer?

Meanwhile, on that other coast, Pajamas is doing the video thing at Lieberman's (we assume, touch wood) victory party at the Goodwin Hotel in Hartford. Andrew Marcus and Evan Coyne Maloney are going to be there with Pamela of Atlas Shrugs, Sissy Willis and Solomonia. And in DC, Rich Miniter (produced by Maura Flynn) is going to be trying to get the pundits to say something embarrassing - at least we hope so. Check it out.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 1:34 PM
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November 5, 2006

The reactionary EU gives further proof of its romance with fascism

Our friends in the European Union are urging the Iraqis not to give Saddam the death penalty. Pretty predictable, I'm sure most would agree. But as one who is (almost always) opposed to the death penalty, I think this view on the part of the EU is not only narcissistic (in the routine sense) it is quite crazy and self-destructive.

If there is one class of person who deserves, and indeed needs to have, the death penalty, it is the mass murdering tyrant like Saddam. If given life sentences, these autocrats almost always have many adherents who devote their lives to springing the dictator so he can return to power and kill again. These die-hard adherents (we've seen plenty already in Iraq) will do this either directly via insurrection or prison break or indirectly via hostage-taking that could go on and on and result in many deaths. It would be as if Hitler had been captured at the end WWII, incarcerated for life, only to be freed by power-hungry ex-Nazis to reopen Auschwitz.

Will the EU answer an argument like this? No, they will ignore it because their position is indefensible and based entirely on magical thinking - magical thinking that at its root is a highly-disturbed cocktail of self-loathing and jealousy/hatred toward the US. Though they deny it, in their heart of hearts, they want the Iraqis to fail in their quest for democracy. They want Saddam back. Nothing could be more obvious.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:30 PM
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Saddam Verdict

I suppose most of you have seen the huge roundup on Pajamas Media and the first postings by Omar and Mohammed of Iraq the Model.

What a moment in history this is. Who knows how the future will regard the American actions in Iraq? Anyone who thinks he can understand it now is a pompous fool.

Quote of the Day - Judge to Ramsey Clark: "You are ridiculing the Iraqi people. You have come here from America. Get out."

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 7:33 AM
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November 2, 2006

Theo one more time

I have blogged on here many more times than once about the depressing silence from Hollywood about the murder of Theo Van Gogh. That death and the earlier murder of Pim Fortuyn awakened me to the seriousness of the change in the Europe I grew up with and loved. These murders seem to have had no affect on my former colleagues in the film community, if indeed they have ever heard of them. It's been two years now since the Dutch director Van Gogh was cut down in the streets of Amsterdam by a psychotic Islamist, as Pieter Dorsman notes on Pajamas. But it seems like yesterday and a hundred years ago simultaneously. The situation in Europe continues to worsen. I was reminded of how bad things have gotten in the Old Country when Sheryl and I had the pleasure of entertaining Paul Belien of Brussels Journal and his wife Dr. Alexandra Colen for dinner at our house. The food and conversation were great, only the substance of that talk was bleak in the extreme. When I asked Alexandra whether there was hope that Europe could still turn around, she hesitated only slightly before shaking her head and saying simply "It is too late."

UPDATE: Related story form Europe by Nidra Poller on Pajamas. (Bragging rights here: I don't think anyone anywhere is doing better work in English on la situation francaise than Nidra.)

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 9:38 PM
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November 1, 2006

John Kerry as Margaret Dumont

Would you like to have been a fly on the wall ... or a bug in the satellite ... listening in on all the conversations John Kerry had in the last 24 or so hours.? ("John, you really have to apologize, John... I know they're SOBs but... hey, swallow your pride, there's an election going on... You want to be responsible for what happens Tuesday... You already lost once... etc, etc.) Any bets on who finally got Kerry to cave and "apologize"? Howard Dean? Nancy Pelosi? James Carville ? (who has the laugher of the day, calling Kerry "one of the great war heroes to ever serve in the Congress." - Did he say that with a straight face? I guess that's why Carville gets the big bucks.) After Kerry floated the possibility that this was all a "botched joke", all I could think of was this is the man with less sense of humor than a rotten turnip. Can you imagine Kerry telling jokes?
Well, I can imagine him being the butt of jokes, rather like Margaret Dumont in all those Marx Brothers classics. I remember reading Groucho saying she just never got the jokes and that was what made her funny. That's kind of like Kerry. I never believed him as "nuanced," but, rather, clueless. I think that's the reason for all his legendary flip-flopping. He doesn't really change his mind - just doesn't get the joke.

Posted by Roger L. Simon at 4:18 PM
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