Some things to think about while the media drools

Huckabee: The candidate for people who think George W. Bush has relied too heavily on science and reason.

Iowa Caucus results, circa 1988- Bob Dole (37%), Pat Robertson (25%), George H. W. Bush (19%), Jack Kemp (11%), and Pete DuPont (7%) (George H.W. Bush became the candidate)

1992: February 10, 1992 - Tom Harkin (76%), "Uncommitted" (12%), Paul Tsongas (4%), Bill Clinton (3%), Bob Kerrey (2%), and Jerry Brown (2%) (Bill Clinton became the candidate)

Don't count anyone out today. The front runners in Iowa aren't guaranteed to be the winners of the nomination.

When 187 is a victory

After another tough night sleeping, I was anxious about my BG reading this morning - it was 187, which was nearly 100 points lower than the last four mornings.

Two of the closing ads from today's Iowa caucuses -

Hillary Clinton



John Edwards (this one got me a little choked up)



Speaking of John Edwards, here's an outstanding and heartfelt statement about what Plaintiff's lawyers REALLY do.

Steve informs that he got sick last night, and won't be coming until tomorrow. More as that develops.

I just have to repost this

From today's Hullabaloo, written by tristero

Wednesday, January 02, 2008


Click And Munch Time

by tristero


Yesterday, I saw Denzel Washington's excellent new film, The Great Debaters, the inspiring story of a debating team from a tiny black college in Texas in 1935. There is much to say about this film - including the portrayal of an emerging African-American middle-class, something that Hollywood rarely deigns to address. But I had an odd thought, after seeing it, connected to my previous post.

While watching "The Great Debaters," I was struck by how everyone is actively, intensely involved in the cultural and political concerns of the film. Of course, such a response to the racism portrayed makes disengagement by anyone, including we viewers, impossible. But the same intensity of participation is equally apparent in the scenes shot in Texas juke-joints, even in the incidental banter at a party.

The world in which "The Great Debaters" takes place is a world that has no place for slackerism. No one, not a single student, parent, sheriff, lyncher, shrugs a shoulder, and "whatevers" the situation.

And that got me imagining what a movie about the current strange American cultural moment would look like. Think about it for a second. The tube's on, they're flashing picture after picture of torture and even murder from Abu Ghraib. We cut from the tv screen to reaction shots of the couple watching the news, jaws hanging slack, absently munching from his 'n hers matching canisters of freshly-wrought Pringles.

The husband blinks twice, points the remote at the camera, we hear a click, then the sound of Jack Bauer's voice threatening some baddie who Doesn't Look Like One Of Us. But it's only for a moment, as the music swells, denoting a 6 or 7 minute break from simulated torture in order to tout the subtle advantages accrued to the viewer if she deploys a particular brand of vaginal douche on her nether regions. Another click, and the grooviest computer graphics imaginable are superimposed over grainy footage of a guy in a gorilla costume while a narrator intones, "As the computer analysis makes clear, it is impossible to tell from the gait whether the creature shown here is human or some species not known to science."

Another click and we're back to the newscast. The correspondent for the Abu Ghraib story signs off, a pensive look marring the studied vapidity of his boytoy face and we dissolve back to the newsroom, carefully decorated to create the appearance of competent reportering. "In other news, the primary race heats up. And it all comes down to haircuts. When we come back, two professional barbers will speak with our senior correspondent in Iowa on what it takes to snip and cut when the leadership of the Free World depends upon the placement of every follicle."

Click. Munch. Click. Munch, munch. Click.

It seems that there are some new players in the old "Oil for Food" scandal over which the fundies and rockabillies have been screaming their heads off. Will they be screaming now?

Probably not.

More interesting stuff - it seems that the factual basis behind "climate change" is getting weaker, but that we're going to be hearing about it even more.

More interesting stuff - BMW is bringing their well-proven diesel to the US in 2008; now, I want one. 45 mpg highway? 27 mpg city? BRING IT!

After having read that article, I HAD to go to the BMW website and check out their gas powered 535 - holy SMOKES they have some interior fabrics/colors that are awesome.





These pictures copyright BMW USA from their website.

That's the "Cream Dakota Beige" leather and "Bamboo Anthracite" wood trim.

WOW.

The diesel won't be out until late 2008, so plenty of time to think about it.