It’s like Dr. House, except it’s a lady (from The Sopranos!), and they can swear! And that girl who plays awkward girls a lot plays an awkward nurse!
Manhattan
8:00 (TCM)
Maybe this isn’t quite as classy as last week’s recommendation of Down Periscope, but we try to culture y’all readers.
Late Night
Howie Mandel informs us as to Howie Do It alongside Alanis Morrisette on Conan (musical guest: Death Cab for Cutie), Wimbledon champ Serena Williams and not-as-attractive-as-everybody-seems-to-think Heroes cheerleader Hayden Panettierre are on Letterman, and now Jon Stewart and Colbert take the week off.
Robert S. McNamara, defense secretary under Kennedy and Johnson, passed away this morning at 93. His legacy is a complicated and controversial one, and Errol Morris’ 2003 documentary, The Fog of War, does a magnificent job stirring the pot of discussion. The entire film is available on YouTube (for now), and is a fantastic watch. Part one is available above.
Though it is already old news, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention that over the weekend Republican 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced she is resigning as Governor of Alaska. The Governor’s resignation and the odd timing (Fourth of July weekend) leaves many wondering if she is resigning just ahead of some sort of scandal or if this is all part of a master plan to gear up for 2012. I sort of suspect that she might just want to pull the plug and get out of the public spotlight since she must realize she has become a national punchline, right? However, after resigning in a hastily-assembled (an adjective I hope is never used to describe my resignation from anything) back yard press conference at 4 p.m. on Friday, Palin spent the night posting weird legal threats/manifestos on Twitter and Facebook. Sarah, if you are really trying to get out of the public spotlight then there is an old saying that applies here: “Ur Doing it wrong.”
The coup in Honduras continues today. Ousted and exiled former President Manuel Zelaya tried to fly back into the country over the weekend with media and international leaders in tow but was prevented from landing by military trucks blocking airport runways. The military occupied the airport in Tegucigalpa and clashed with the hundreds of thousands of protesters who turned out to greet the President. The President, who strikes me as disturbingly media-savvy, did live interviews with various Latin American TV and radio outlets while his plane circled the Honduras capital. Though one’s gut instinct is to root for the embattled President-in-exile, it is worth reading this Slate article that points out that the President made horrible decisions for his country and was running roughshod over the constitution there before he was ousted.
Your “this-is-an-outrage” fact of the day: The health-care industry is spending $1.4 million a day lobbying Congress to influence the current debate over the future of our nations health care system.
You “this-is-not-news” story of the day: The head of MI6′s wife put photos of him up on facebook. I don’t think his identity is a secret though, so why do we care?
We’re heading up to Sarah Palin’s house for what should be a quiet barbeque followed by firing bottle rockets towards Russia. Yup, should be a lowwwww key weekend.
Though it is already old news, I would be remiss if I didn’t at least mention that over the weekend