Posts Tagged ‘nostalgia’

Bob Novak’s final column

Posted: August 18, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Bob Novak died today. Commentary from all over shows that he was respected as a reporter (except by the daily show) and Eleanor Clift’s tribute demonstrates that friendship and respect are not exclusive to your political allies. And this quote:

“Always love your country — but never trust your government!

should be included in every civics class taught nationwide.

I have a habit of looking at the last column of a person when he dies. Using the drudge link to Novak it took me to this page at human events dated Feb 4 of this year. What he wrote shows that he knew what he was talking about:

We are in fact, entering a new era of American politics. But then again, we frequently enter new eras of American politics. Barack Obama has immense political capital and popularity. Democrats are gaining politically in every corner of the map, and at every level of government. Obama’s popularity and political skill contribute to this rising Democratic tide.

But ENPR has seen this before, in 1974, 1980, 1994, and 2006. “Paradigm Shifts” are a fact of political life, and only those with short memories believe that the resulting political alignment from these shifts is permanent.

Nobody except for maybe Rush was talking like this in February. He continued:

Obama may enjoy a longer honeymoon than most Presidents, but it already seems to be coming to an end as various polls find a large portion of the public turning against the huge stimulus bill with its massive deficit spending. He will stumble. Republicans will build new political coalitions, and, even if they don’t get back a majority of either chamber in the near future, the pendulum will eventually swing back.

Politics has a tendency to cast down the mighty and lift up the lowly. Politics makes a fool of any commentator or participant who, explaining the significance of a recent political development, uses the words “never” or “from now on.”

Everything about politics–the heroes, the goats, the dynamics, the rules of thumb, the alliances, the enmities–comes and goes.

I’m bet if he had been healthy he would have covered Ken Gladney.

Update: Linked back by The Other McCain. I owe him a beer next time he is in central mass, or a shot of Chivas if he comes to the house.

You know I have Frum’s book The right man and liked it but I really think his is talking nonsense here. I must confess his opinion on Sarah Palin makes me less willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Bill Clinton and Obama and so on and so on…

Posted: August 17, 2009 by datechguy in doctor who, hobbies, opinion/news, personal, Sable Baseball
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A lot of random thoughts this morning so lets go through them Impromptus style:

You know I remember back in 92 when I was still a democrat and Paul Tsongas was running in the primaries against Bill Clinton. Tsongas was one of the most honest pols to ever come down the pike. I saw Clinton for what he was right off and couldn’t believe that people couldn’t see what was in front of their faces. After that primary I became an independent (or as it is called in Massachusetts “unenrolled”).

How many new “unenrolled” people are we going to see over the next year thanks to the actions of this president?

What is really amazing is how this is a communications phenom. The rise and resurgence of the Republicans begining with Reagan and continuing with Sarah Palin can all be traced to the new ability of the right to communicate. Twenty Years ago Came Rush Limbaugh, Then came Fox News, then came the internet, and now Sarah Palin defeated all of the major media using Facebook. All of these things are revolutions in communication, allowing like minded people to see they are not alone. It’s like an Army of Davids or something.

Back when I was blogging for Hiwired I interviewed Glenn Reynolds for our podcast about his Army of Davids book. It came up that the technology also empowered the crazy uncles as much as it did anyone else.

Oh and a quick plug for Zolex PC for virus removal. It’s run by a friend of mine and he does first rate work.

When I look at the MSM and their actions I end of thinking Peter Seitz and his famous quote a year after his ruling that created free agency in baseball:

“They were like the French barons of the 12th century,” he said. “They had accumulated so much power that they wouldn’t share it with anybody.”

BTW one of the things I noticed as a person who was on the net since the mid 90’s is that Rush was really ahead of the curve when it came to the net. I would see something on Drudge, Rush would then talk about it and it would drive further traffic to Drudge. I’ve never seen such an effective symbiotic relationship in media. Drudge should send Rush a thank you card every time he visits his accountant.

Speaking of facebook I still haven’t signed up, I’m going to resist the Facebook, myspace business for as long as it is humanly possible.

Yesterday my wife was on facebook and saw a rather interesting picture of an acquaintance of hers. Seems that this acquaintance and her friend had a picture taken of them at a concert posing next to a giant inflatable penis. The acquaintance’s friend flagged it with her name, and my wife saw it. If my wife can find it then her acquaintance’s boss can too. I guess technology does empower stupidity.

On that note my son just purchased an Apple laptop for college, it contains a built in web cam and he talks quite a bit with his friends on it. Let’s hope I don’t see him next to a giant sexual organ on the web anytime soon.

Speaking of Penis’ on the web in the 90’s we had the first president who was elected despite having admitted marijuana use in his younger days. Today we have the first president who admitted Cocaine use in his youth. Considering the number of paid web porn sites how many years do you think it will be before we have the first president or candidate who had a subscription to Hustler online or Abby Winters or something. After all these are all paid by credit cards and the records are kept somewhere. And once it is revealed we will find out exactly what kind of porn the president liked. Talk about too much information.

The web never forgets.

One final note on the subject. The final count for that day comparing the Sarah Palin post and the porn Parody post was a 22 x advantage for the Palin post in traffic. Of course if there was actual porn IN the post it might have been closer.

On a 180 degree turn the Madonna della Cava celebration was a big success, the heat was nasty but there was a large attendance, mass was packed, the food went over very well and even the band went home totally stuffed. Next year we hope to be even bigger.

We sold CD’s of the previous year’s procession and they sold briskly. I’m hoping that we will have some Marian Books such as St. Louis De Montfert’s True Devotion to Mary and The Secret of Mary available as well.

After all the primary purpose of Mary is to keep people from burning by leading them to her son. All the good food and good times in the world won’t do it without the prayer to back it up.

Turns out the brother of the organizer of the procession is my friend Vinny who works in Washington on ethics issues. I mentioned Rahm’s tax free home to him. Since it is legal I don’t seem much other than embarrassment coming from the story, assuming it ever gets reported.

It is more likely to come out then the Mohammad cartoons will show up in that Yale Book

Image copywright Jyllands-Posten

Images copyright the respective artists

Could you imagine the outcry if it they were refusing to print a picture of Piss Christ?

I guess that blows my chances of ever getting a grant from Saudi Arabia.

Oh and I’ve stopped putting up the Carter Arthur Watch. I think this administration has reached the point where comparing Obama to Carter is an insult to Carter. That’s pretty bad.

One more Carter thing. I noted in my review of Spys in the Vatican that Zbigniew Brzezinski didn’t bother with realism when it came to Poland and the soviets and was willing to displease the state department to protect Solidarity. I wonder if that was an aberration for him or did he change over the years?

I haven’t been watching or liveblogging Morning Joe either. They are still the fairest people on MSNBC (not a high standard to reach) but I just can’t put up with the anti-palin stuff anymore. I’ll still catch it on occasion but it’s no longer must see TV.

And I’d still be very pleased to have any kid raised by Mika as a daughter in law and not just because they might produce grandchildren as handsome as her.

One last Morning Joe note. Christine Hefner (a handsome woman too) was a panelist on the show for a while last week. It would be a fun project to figure out exactly when having the former head of playboy on a regular discussion panel was no longer a big deal.

You know I don’t think there is a better fast food item than Wendy’s Spicy Chicken Sandwich I’ve never tasted a fast food product that compare to it. It is spiced absolutely perfectly.

And there is only a few weeks until the first of the New Tom Baker Doctor Who Audios are available.

I don’t see them on the Mike’s comics site yet but I’d like to give them first crack at my dough.

Speaking of Doctor Who audios India Fisher’s run as the Doctor’s Companion Charley Pollard that started with #16 Storm Warning in 2001 will end this year with #126 Blue Forgotten Planet scheduled for late next month.

That run of 9 consecutive years is far longer than any companion in history. It should be noted that the final two years were with the 6th doctor rather than the 8th who she started out with.

Well that’s way long enough for a single post so I’ll close with a plug for Rich’s comic blog. He went on Hiatus for a week to go to a convention suspending his Doctor Who/Forever Knight strip Forever Janette and his Ancient Roman comedy strip based on Fvlminata House of Paulus for a week. Instead of writing a blurb about the trip he put up a comic to tell the story. I wish I had that much talent.

“They’re our troops now”

Posted: August 16, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Byron York illustrates why he was such a loss to National Review and such a great pickup for the Washington Observer.

What’s truly striking in Greenberg’s poll is the degree to which the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have fallen off the progressive radar. I attended the first YearlyKos convention, in 2006, and have kept up with later ones, and it’s safe to say that while people who attended those gatherings couldn’t stand George W. Bush in general, their feelings were particularly intense when it came to opposing the war in Iraq. It animated their activism; they hated the war, and they hated Bush for starting it. They weren’t that fond of the fighting in Afghanistan, either.

Now, with Obama in the White House, all that has changed. Greenberg presented respondents with a list of policy priorities and asked, “Please indicate which two you think progressive activists should be focusing their attention and efforts on the most.” The winner was passing comprehensive health care reform, with 60 percent, and number two was passing “green energy policies that address environmental concerns,” with 22 percent. Tied for eighth place, named by just eight percent of respondents, was “working to end our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Remember when every pundit in the world said the war was what broke George W. Bush? Remember when the fact the Obama was going to stop it was the main reason for electing him?

Many observers have remarked that Obama’s decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan, and also to escalate the campaign of targeted assassinations using drone aircraft, both in Afghanistan and Pakistan, will cause him trouble on the political left. Indeed, some members of Congress have suggested that the president has just a year to show significant results in Afghanistan before lawmakers begin to pressure him to pull back. But if the Netroots Nation results are any indication, Obama may have more room than previously thought on the war. Not too long ago, with a different president in the White House, the left was obsessed with America’s wars. Now, they’re not even watching.

I think the left didn’t mind losing the war as long as it could be blamed on a Republican administration. Now suddenly as we are on the offensive in Afghanistan and casualties are up the left doesn’t notice or care.

I’m reminded of the old story during Clinton inauguration when someone on the left commented disapprovingly on the military display of Fighter Jets passing above. A person from the administration answered with a smile that they were “our jets now”.

I guess the military is the “netroots” military now.

Funny we on the right always thought it was our American military, and we still do.

Via Glenn.

Update: Powerline and Newsbusters notice.

Not quite a rule 5 post but it explains something.

Posted: August 14, 2009 by datechguy in oddities
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Glenn’s abortive porn link from yesterday reminded me of two stories I recently read.

The first one is from the LA times concerning hard times in the porn industry.

The adult entertainment business, which was previously in the vanguard of home video, satellite and cable television and digital distribution, now finds itself leading the rest of the entertainment industry in losses from them.

“The death of the DVD business has been more accelerated in the adult business than mainstream,” said Bill Asher, co-chairman of adult industry giant Vivid Entertainment, who estimates that his company’s revenue is down more than 20% this year.

“We always said that once the Internet took off, we’d be OK,” he added. “It never crossed our minds that we’d be competing with people who just give it away for free.”

Apparently there is however one genre that IS making money according to Variety:

Over the last year, Hustler Video Group has without much fanfare trotted out a parade of titles derived from classic TV shows, including the recently released parody “This Ain’t Star Trek XXX.” All the meticulous little details are there, with the exception of moments (spoiler alert!) like the one where Kirk, Spock and Uhura engage in three-way stress-relieving exercise on the bridge, which for whatever reason wasn’t included in J.J. Abrams’ franchise reboot.

The idea of a porn parody of stuff isn’t quite new but the results in sales are:

Nevertheless, Thill says the TV-inspired titles are outselling more conventional counterparts. “It’s actually kind of revitalized the DVD market in the adult world,” he said — a genre deflated, like everything else, by the ready access of free material on the Web

The reporter for Variety couldn’t be more confused by the result if he was describing the failure of an anti troops movie. However I think I understand the appeal.

I was a teenager when I watched those shows and a lot of the comedy came from sexual tension, Gilligan’s Island joked about it, Three Company thrived on it, and Happy days celebrated it. Guys didn’t want to be the Fonz because he was cool, they wanted to be the Fonz because he scored at will. That’s where the cool came from. I can’t speak for the girls but I’ll wager David Cassidy and Scott Baio weren’t on those Tiger Beat covers for their musical talent.

If you don’t get it, check out the audience reaction to this blooper reel from the show:

Now take a look at this still from the parody This Ain’t Happy Days:

notparody

Every person in that audience who laughed at that blooper reel had that still in their mind decades before it was produced. Those people are now the target audience and apparently they are buying. And it’s not just the porn.

“More adults, ages 18 to 49, watch the Cartoon Network than watch CNN.” Allow me to unleash my inner Brent Bozell for a moment, and ask: Isn’t this a sign of intellectual maturity?

Guys never really stop being boys inside. That’s just the way it is.

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