Of course Hillary will beat Obama. She has the institution behind her, the political savvy gained from being one of the top 100 lawyers in the nation (so designated before Bill became President), serving on corporate boards and being First Counsel to a United States President. The Clinton's also have a knack for destroying their enemies. As their close friend and campaign manager James Carville puts it "When you're enemy is drowning, you don't just let him, you throw the sum bitch an anchor."
And there is no way in Hell the ticket will be Hillary-Obama. She will not pick her political rival and reward him for her attacks while she looks over her story. She will pick a minority though, and it won't be Bill Richardson either. That would just alienate the black vote completely and demonstrate to African-Americans that the Democrats take their votes for granted.
No, it will be Harold Ford, Jr. He is currently the head of the DLC, which will give Hillary cover after she runs far enough left to get the nomination. Harold Ford also has run a statewide campaign and knows its rigors. He also likely feels cheated by the race-baiting ad and therefore likely to work harder for the ticket since he has no other political office to fall back upon, unlike both Hillary and Obama.
Mr. Ford has the charm, savvy, political background and past positions to make him an ideal VP Nominee. And I predict he will be.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Sunday, July 29, 2007
USA: Master of the Summer Season
USA Network has moved aggrerssively over the past few years to capitalize on the "summer season" for television, during which the major networks priarily run ru-runs of thei existising programming.
Check out all of these programs which are all well written and well acted:
Burn Notice (Thursday)
Psyche ( (Friday)
Monk (Friday)
The 4000(Sunday)
The Dead Zone (Sunday)
These are all exceptional shows, some of which have won emmy's Obviously Burn Notice and the 4400 are my favorites of those above, since they involved conspiracies, etc. Burn Notice expertly handles the tedium of what a spy really does duing inner monologueo ver the dos and don'ts of spycraft in teh form of a lecture. This show obvisously caters to our collective yearning to learn what our spy agencies are up to while the rest us of live in sweet bliss
The 4400
The 4400 is interesteting because it's gone all meta on us this season. First The 4400 were sent collected along the timeline, given powers through genetic engineering (or some type of synaptic manipulation) and sent back to prevent and unspecified disaster for the human race. However, last season primarily was about Isabel Tyler who was a special arrival on earth with special powers and the , and who made the number of returnees officially 4401. Isabel fell under the sway of one of the "the marked" and became convinced her purpose was to eliminate the 4400. To this end she cooperated with the former head of NTAC (basically DHS under another name) leaving under a shroud of disgrace for his plan to kill the 4400, only to emerge working for Defense Department Contractors manufactring promycin, the miracle drug that allows anybody to acquire 4400 abiliites. His plan was thwarted when the promycin was acquired by a radical 4400 splinter group called Nova (a reference to the sun as a star) that it begarn being distributed to anyone who asked.
This season began with the implied resurrection of Jason Collier (J.C - Jesus Christ - the messiah's reappearance - only reinforced when we see him emerging from a lake covered in water - evoking the image of Christ's baptism) season is about a group of 10 indviduals from the future who are part of a movement to stop the timeline changes the 4400 were sent back to change. Their faction is satisfied with their existing status quo and don't want any changes because it will wipe out their existence and accomplishments. This is the same faction (presumably) who sent Isabel and are referred to as "The Marked" - as revealed in a 4400's film that claimed to expose the conspiracy before he was "gotten too."
The conspiracy within conspiracy within conspiracy leads one to wonder which is true, which is lie, and which is somewhere in between Gotta love it. Tonight we get to find out whether JC truly is good or whether he is still manipulative and desiring only to accomplish his own ends.
Burn Notice
Burn Notice is about a spy who gets black listed or "burned" and dropped in his homw town with few resources and only two reliable contacts, one of whom is playing double agent for Michael and the FBI. It's a fun romp, with Michael and his motley crew echoing the A-Team, but less formulaic and more interesting because of the ongoing, overreaching story arc ( a la Veronica Mars's first season). I highly Nip/Tuckrecommend it.
Fox and F/X virtually invented the summer season. The first with the summer seasons of Beverly Hills 90210Melsose Place
and latter with the first few seasons of Nip Tuck and Rescue Me, as well as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
TBS has been trying to break into the summer season market with their programs
My Boys
And let's not forget SciFi Network with their summer series' Flash Gordon and Eureka.
Check out all of these programs which are all well written and well acted:
Burn Notice (Thursday)
Psyche ( (Friday)
Monk (Friday)
The 4000(Sunday)
The Dead Zone (Sunday)
These are all exceptional shows, some of which have won emmy's Obviously Burn Notice and the 4400 are my favorites of those above, since they involved conspiracies, etc. Burn Notice expertly handles the tedium of what a spy really does duing inner monologueo ver the dos and don'ts of spycraft in teh form of a lecture. This show obvisously caters to our collective yearning to learn what our spy agencies are up to while the rest us of live in sweet bliss
The 4400
The 4400 is interesteting because it's gone all meta on us this season. First The 4400 were sent collected along the timeline, given powers through genetic engineering (or some type of synaptic manipulation) and sent back to prevent and unspecified disaster for the human race. However, last season primarily was about Isabel Tyler who was a special arrival on earth with special powers and the , and who made the number of returnees officially 4401. Isabel fell under the sway of one of the "the marked" and became convinced her purpose was to eliminate the 4400. To this end she cooperated with the former head of NTAC (basically DHS under another name) leaving under a shroud of disgrace for his plan to kill the 4400, only to emerge working for Defense Department Contractors manufactring promycin, the miracle drug that allows anybody to acquire 4400 abiliites. His plan was thwarted when the promycin was acquired by a radical 4400 splinter group called Nova (a reference to the sun as a star) that it begarn being distributed to anyone who asked.
This season began with the implied resurrection of Jason Collier (J.C - Jesus Christ - the messiah's reappearance - only reinforced when we see him emerging from a lake covered in water - evoking the image of Christ's baptism) season is about a group of 10 indviduals from the future who are part of a movement to stop the timeline changes the 4400 were sent back to change. Their faction is satisfied with their existing status quo and don't want any changes because it will wipe out their existence and accomplishments. This is the same faction (presumably) who sent Isabel and are referred to as "The Marked" - as revealed in a 4400's film that claimed to expose the conspiracy before he was "gotten too."
The conspiracy within conspiracy within conspiracy leads one to wonder which is true, which is lie, and which is somewhere in between Gotta love it. Tonight we get to find out whether JC truly is good or whether he is still manipulative and desiring only to accomplish his own ends.
Burn Notice
Burn Notice is about a spy who gets black listed or "burned" and dropped in his homw town with few resources and only two reliable contacts, one of whom is playing double agent for Michael and the FBI. It's a fun romp, with Michael and his motley crew echoing the A-Team, but less formulaic and more interesting because of the ongoing, overreaching story arc ( a la Veronica Mars's first season). I highly Nip/Tuckrecommend it.
Fox and F/X virtually invented the summer season. The first with the summer seasons of Beverly Hills 90210Melsose Place
and latter with the first few seasons of Nip Tuck and Rescue Me, as well as It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
TBS has been trying to break into the summer season market with their programs
My Boys
And let's not forget SciFi Network with their summer series' Flash Gordon and Eureka.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Dingell vs. Pelosi
New York Times Story
This week’s National Journal article on the conflict between Chairman Dingell and Speaker Pelosi over the shape of future energy legislation illustrates a point I have long maintained: leadership of small majorities is inherently different than the leadership of large majorities.
Speaker Pelosi has demonstrated that she inherently grasps this concept by adopting the Republican model of using the Committees as an extension of the House Leadership, and bypassing committees entirely when they likely wouldn’t obey leadership’s desires as Republicans did with abortion-related issues and the Energy & Commerce Committee or alternatively creating new Committees to bypass those found troubling a la the new Global Climate panel. Like Speakers Gingrich and Hastert before her, Speaker Pelosi rewards those who fall in line, or need fundraising help, with seats on so-called “A Committees” or “Super A Committees” depending on the party by using the Democratic version of the Republican Steering Committee to dole these seats out. These Committees happen to be: Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce, and Appropriations.
Large majorities, such as those the Democrats enjoyed for approximately 70 years before Gingrich Revolution (give or take a few Congresses), and those enjoyed by Republicans for the 70 years prior than that have a different dynamic. The House Leadership needs to adopt a Laissez-faire attitude towards Committees because the larger the majority, the larger and more numerous the competing party factions it contains, and Leadership needs to spend more time negotiating and finessing the fissures among these factions. This leaves far less time for involvement in policy development per se.
Chairman Dingell hails from “Old Bull” era of large majorities when House Committee Chairmen were all Barons with their Committees as their individual fiefdoms. The new arrangement must be somewhat of a shock to the Committee Chairmen like Dingell who have been around for a while and remember the days of their former glory.
For personal reasons I wish him well in the conflict over the shape of energy legislation.
This week’s National Journal article on the conflict between Chairman Dingell and Speaker Pelosi over the shape of future energy legislation illustrates a point I have long maintained: leadership of small majorities is inherently different than the leadership of large majorities.
Speaker Pelosi has demonstrated that she inherently grasps this concept by adopting the Republican model of using the Committees as an extension of the House Leadership, and bypassing committees entirely when they likely wouldn’t obey leadership’s desires as Republicans did with abortion-related issues and the Energy & Commerce Committee or alternatively creating new Committees to bypass those found troubling a la the new Global Climate panel. Like Speakers Gingrich and Hastert before her, Speaker Pelosi rewards those who fall in line, or need fundraising help, with seats on so-called “A Committees” or “Super A Committees” depending on the party by using the Democratic version of the Republican Steering Committee to dole these seats out. These Committees happen to be: Ways & Means, Energy & Commerce, and Appropriations.
Large majorities, such as those the Democrats enjoyed for approximately 70 years before Gingrich Revolution (give or take a few Congresses), and those enjoyed by Republicans for the 70 years prior than that have a different dynamic. The House Leadership needs to adopt a Laissez-faire attitude towards Committees because the larger the majority, the larger and more numerous the competing party factions it contains, and Leadership needs to spend more time negotiating and finessing the fissures among these factions. This leaves far less time for involvement in policy development per se.
Chairman Dingell hails from “Old Bull” era of large majorities when House Committee Chairmen were all Barons with their Committees as their individual fiefdoms. The new arrangement must be somewhat of a shock to the Committee Chairmen like Dingell who have been around for a while and remember the days of their former glory.
For personal reasons I wish him well in the conflict over the shape of energy legislation.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Snap Review: The Ms. DC Pageant – Few Contestants Knew Anything About DC
Q: How come in a “chocolate city” like DC (apologies to George Clinton), African-American contestants were outnumbered 3:1?
A: Most of them likely came here to try for the Ms. DC crown because they thought it would be easier to win than their own state pageant.
Note: How do I know pageant contestants do this? Ms. America 1990, Debbye Turner, told me in an interview that year that she moved to Missouri to participate in Missouri’s pageant after being runner up in her native state. It was her victory there that qualified her for the Ms. American Pageant, which she won.
Another reason I believe that most of the DC contestants aren’t really from here is that most of them could not answer any questions about DC that were related to their “platforms.” One contestant was asked about a DC institution, musical group, performance group etc which inspired her. Her answer: The Kennedy Center. How completely trite, and it doesn’t even require any knowledge of DC to say that. There are a million things she could have said including HR 57 – the Center for the Preservation of Jazz and Blues – after all, she claimed to be influenced by Jazz and blues in her interview and her talent was vocals.
I’m very pleased that the girl who won, Shayna Rudd, obviously was was familiar with DC and beat the others.
The pro-life contestant, Ashley Ahlquist, came across as borderline racist. Her platform “Providing Positive Solutions for Crisis Pregnancies” basically boils down to tricking poor women who want an abortion into entering a center where she will be lectured to and threatened with eternal damnation. Regardless, her question was along the lines of “How would you make DC safer for women?” Her answer: “I would increase police presence in certain areas” and used the phrase “certain areas” two other times in relation to how more police in “certain areas” would reduce crime. I wonder to which areas this Catholic University student was referring? Hmm. Anyone else care to hazard a guess?
On to the review:
The audience was composed primarily of contestant's family members and supporters, and had a surprisingly low number of drag queens in attendance Though one did seem to have more than a passing acquaintance with the outgoing Miss DC. (Oh for the good old days of Zigfield’s).
I have only this to say about the rest of the interviews: those girls need to learn better grammar, and it would be nice if they bothered to learn a thing or two about our fair city beyond the typical crap any tourist could tell you. (I know, it’s ironic because I sometimes use bad grammar, but my excuse is drunken blogging, not that I don’t know better).
The talent portion was surprisingly trite (including a Mariah Carey song and “All that Jazz” from Chicago) until one of the contestants sang a Porgy & Bess song.
In the Miss Teen DC Pageant, the dramatic readings were powerful. And all of the girls had great poise and posture throughout the show, and the little Princesses (girls 4-12) were of course adorable.
A: Most of them likely came here to try for the Ms. DC crown because they thought it would be easier to win than their own state pageant.
Note: How do I know pageant contestants do this? Ms. America 1990, Debbye Turner, told me in an interview that year that she moved to Missouri to participate in Missouri’s pageant after being runner up in her native state. It was her victory there that qualified her for the Ms. American Pageant, which she won.
Another reason I believe that most of the DC contestants aren’t really from here is that most of them could not answer any questions about DC that were related to their “platforms.” One contestant was asked about a DC institution, musical group, performance group etc which inspired her. Her answer: The Kennedy Center. How completely trite, and it doesn’t even require any knowledge of DC to say that. There are a million things she could have said including HR 57 – the Center for the Preservation of Jazz and Blues – after all, she claimed to be influenced by Jazz and blues in her interview and her talent was vocals.
I’m very pleased that the girl who won, Shayna Rudd, obviously was was familiar with DC and beat the others.
The pro-life contestant, Ashley Ahlquist, came across as borderline racist. Her platform “Providing Positive Solutions for Crisis Pregnancies” basically boils down to tricking poor women who want an abortion into entering a center where she will be lectured to and threatened with eternal damnation. Regardless, her question was along the lines of “How would you make DC safer for women?” Her answer: “I would increase police presence in certain areas” and used the phrase “certain areas” two other times in relation to how more police in “certain areas” would reduce crime. I wonder to which areas this Catholic University student was referring? Hmm. Anyone else care to hazard a guess?
On to the review:
The audience was composed primarily of contestant's family members and supporters, and had a surprisingly low number of drag queens in attendance Though one did seem to have more than a passing acquaintance with the outgoing Miss DC. (Oh for the good old days of Zigfield’s).
I have only this to say about the rest of the interviews: those girls need to learn better grammar, and it would be nice if they bothered to learn a thing or two about our fair city beyond the typical crap any tourist could tell you. (I know, it’s ironic because I sometimes use bad grammar, but my excuse is drunken blogging, not that I don’t know better).
The talent portion was surprisingly trite (including a Mariah Carey song and “All that Jazz” from Chicago) until one of the contestants sang a Porgy & Bess song.
In the Miss Teen DC Pageant, the dramatic readings were powerful. And all of the girls had great poise and posture throughout the show, and the little Princesses (girls 4-12) were of course adorable.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Live Earth Post-Mortem: We Were Only In It For the Music
I forgot to mention in my last post that the scientists playing in Antarctica were surprisingly good, and of course we all love penguins, so their images crossing the screen during the performance produced serotonin unloading among the rocking masses.
Anyway, the most discouraging thing about the concert was that immediaty outside the show, as we walked back to the shuttle buses back to Port Authority, there were no trash cans and loads of litter stacked along barriers or simply on the ground. This was the result of concert goers being given free Sunchips and Dannon Yogurt drinks as they left the show. The willingness of everyone to just blatantly litter after spending the whole day being lectured on the importance of being environmentally correct shows just how serious the concert goers were about the political message.
The products demonstrated by the concerts' sponsors showed how unserious they were about the global climate change message as well. Philips wanted everyone to switch to their new highly efficient, helix-like light bulbs which happen to contain mercury and therefore will only result in worse landfill problems, albeit gradually since the lightbulbs really do last significantly longer. And Democrats in Congress want to mandate that all schools and nursing homes have these mercury filled lightbulbs. If you don't believe me, read the official outline of the bill here.
And Smart, a Mercedes subsidiary showed off their 3-cylinder death bubble. This car, about the same size as the Mini with a bubble top, doesn't look like it could make it over a steep hill, let alone get you anywhere you needed to be in rural America. And you'd likely die in any accident, given the design of the car and the use of light materials to build it. However, my bigger point is that the majority of cars in the U.S. are 6 or 8 cylinders. Even most European cars are at least 4 cylinders. This car can't get you anywhere.
When I asked the company representatives if the car was either flex-fuel or a hybrid, the almost literal response I got was "No. We just want people to change the way they approach driving and then we'll work on those things." They would rather get you to change your behaviour than actually manufacture a car that produces less exhaust through better catlytic converters or other advances in technology.
I was not impressed, and little disgusted. A car that won't be able to do a damn thing on a farm and will kill you in a wreck. What's Mercedes trying to do - kill us and wreck our ag economy?
Anyway, the most discouraging thing about the concert was that immediaty outside the show, as we walked back to the shuttle buses back to Port Authority, there were no trash cans and loads of litter stacked along barriers or simply on the ground. This was the result of concert goers being given free Sunchips and Dannon Yogurt drinks as they left the show. The willingness of everyone to just blatantly litter after spending the whole day being lectured on the importance of being environmentally correct shows just how serious the concert goers were about the political message.
The products demonstrated by the concerts' sponsors showed how unserious they were about the global climate change message as well. Philips wanted everyone to switch to their new highly efficient, helix-like light bulbs which happen to contain mercury and therefore will only result in worse landfill problems, albeit gradually since the lightbulbs really do last significantly longer. And Democrats in Congress want to mandate that all schools and nursing homes have these mercury filled lightbulbs. If you don't believe me, read the official outline of the bill here.
And Smart, a Mercedes subsidiary showed off their 3-cylinder death bubble. This car, about the same size as the Mini with a bubble top, doesn't look like it could make it over a steep hill, let alone get you anywhere you needed to be in rural America. And you'd likely die in any accident, given the design of the car and the use of light materials to build it. However, my bigger point is that the majority of cars in the U.S. are 6 or 8 cylinders. Even most European cars are at least 4 cylinders. This car can't get you anywhere.
When I asked the company representatives if the car was either flex-fuel or a hybrid, the almost literal response I got was "No. We just want people to change the way they approach driving and then we'll work on those things." They would rather get you to change your behaviour than actually manufacture a car that produces less exhaust through better catlytic converters or other advances in technology.
I was not impressed, and little disgusted. A car that won't be able to do a damn thing on a farm and will kill you in a wreck. What's Mercedes trying to do - kill us and wreck our ag economy?
Sunday, July 08, 2007
Live Earth: Snap Reviews
The concert yesterday rocked! Of course it would - the lineup was amazing, but the performances uneven (like me). The only real problem was that the artists only played 4-6 songs each.
The Police - Started off with a strong performance of Roxanne, and then seemed to play the order of their set list from the their 1980s best of albumn. Their solid performance definitely earns them a strong recommendation that you see them at Pimlico for the Virgin Festival on August 4th.
Roger Waters - First time I've seen him perform, and it was excellent. His superb performance of Us and Them seemed to be especially attuned to the current zeitgeist. For the less intelligent in the crowd, he beat them over the head by mixing the final juxtaposiiton of the song and war images with that of President Bush in a flight suit and the Mission Accomplished banner in the background.
Smashing Pumpkins - Gave a strong performance out of the gate with a lot of guitar gnashing before going into a new song from their next albumn (Zeigeist, out on Tuesday). Great performances of crowd pleasers Bullet with Butterfly Wings and Today. Based on this performance, I highly recommend you buy tix to their Tuesday show at the 930 Club, and see their August 5th performance at Pimlico during The Virgin Festival, on August 5th.
Bon Jovi - Obviously, the hometown favorite, after all the Meadowlands is actually in New Jersey. Added thousands of new faces that he's rocked at the concert. Ok, he spent his alotted time mostly playing from Slippery When Wet, and seriously rocked the stadium with Dead or Alive , which was one of the highlights of the night. The rumors of a surprise Bruce Springsteen appearance to paly with Bon Jovi proved unfounded. Unfortunately.
Kelly Clarkson - Put on a solid perfomance and really moved the crowd with Since You've Been Gone. Her newer music didn't sound as good.
Akon - Definitely won new fans with his great performance.
Dave Mattews Band - Not as strong as other performances I've seen. Mostly focused on early favorites that seemed to especially please the folks who came up from Virginiga. a surprisingly high number of the much younger fans could sing along to the early favorites too.
Missed John Mayer and Alicia Keys, both to my chagrin. Also missed Melissa Ethridge - a good artist, i just felt like eating instead.
The Police - Started off with a strong performance of Roxanne, and then seemed to play the order of their set list from the their 1980s best of albumn. Their solid performance definitely earns them a strong recommendation that you see them at Pimlico for the Virgin Festival on August 4th.
Roger Waters - First time I've seen him perform, and it was excellent. His superb performance of Us and Them seemed to be especially attuned to the current zeitgeist. For the less intelligent in the crowd, he beat them over the head by mixing the final juxtaposiiton of the song and war images with that of President Bush in a flight suit and the Mission Accomplished banner in the background.
Smashing Pumpkins - Gave a strong performance out of the gate with a lot of guitar gnashing before going into a new song from their next albumn (Zeigeist, out on Tuesday). Great performances of crowd pleasers Bullet with Butterfly Wings and Today. Based on this performance, I highly recommend you buy tix to their Tuesday show at the 930 Club, and see their August 5th performance at Pimlico during The Virgin Festival, on August 5th.
Bon Jovi - Obviously, the hometown favorite, after all the Meadowlands is actually in New Jersey. Added thousands of new faces that he's rocked at the concert. Ok, he spent his alotted time mostly playing from Slippery When Wet, and seriously rocked the stadium with Dead or Alive , which was one of the highlights of the night. The rumors of a surprise Bruce Springsteen appearance to paly with Bon Jovi proved unfounded. Unfortunately.
Kelly Clarkson - Put on a solid perfomance and really moved the crowd with Since You've Been Gone. Her newer music didn't sound as good.
Akon - Definitely won new fans with his great performance.
Dave Mattews Band - Not as strong as other performances I've seen. Mostly focused on early favorites that seemed to especially please the folks who came up from Virginiga. a surprisingly high number of the much younger fans could sing along to the early favorites too.
Missed John Mayer and Alicia Keys, both to my chagrin. Also missed Melissa Ethridge - a good artist, i just felt like eating instead.
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
The Problem With Romney
Isn't that he is a born-again converst to social conservativism. The problem isne't even that he is a Mormon. The problem is that he is an inhumane subhuman who intentionally made his Irish setter ride for 12 hours in a carrier on top of the car. He didn't stop to walk the dog for exercise or bathroom purposes and instead let it soil its cage. That is an inhumane act in terms of interaction with dogs. This by itself is a fatal character flaw which should disqualify him from ever occupying the White House.
And not only is what he did inhumane, it is against the law in Massachusetts, where he lived at the time.
For more on this disturbing story, please visit:
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1638065,00.html
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_06/011591.php
And not only is what he did inhumane, it is against the law in Massachusetts, where he lived at the time.
For more on this disturbing story, please visit:
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1638065,00.html
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_06/011591.php
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