Monday, July 13, 2009
Over the weekend it was revealed that the CIA has been running secret anti-terrorism programs that were kept from Congress at the order of Vice President Cheney. This morning, we find out that the program had to do with secretly capturing or killing Al Qaeda operatives. Is anyone in the world surprised that Dick Cheney was running a secret CIA assassination program? Like… anyone? I would be upset if Dick Cheney saw Munich and DIDN’T say, “Well gee, that looks like a good idea.”
Confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor begin today. The Washington Post unwittingly details how Supreme Court confirmation hearings are kabuki theater. No one doubts that she is going to be nominated, but every group involved has their own specific goals and statements to make. Of course, the Post article treats this all as deadly serious. For example, “Conservatives are hoping to use the Sotomayor hearings as a way to motivate their base if they can successfully portray her as an activist judge whose “empathy” for certain groups guides her rulings more than court precedent or the written law.” WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN!?!?
Have you had enough of Sacha Baron Cohen’s junk? Apparently you are not alone. Bruno was the top movie in the country this weekend with a stellar opening day of $14.4 million. However, Saturday revenue for the film dropped 39%, one of the largest second-day drops ever. This is bad news for the film and indicates that audiences bought tickets expecting another Borat and instead got another Ali G Indahouse.
Making the case for newspapers as a source of things you didn’t know you wanted to know, the New York Times uses the upcoming British Open to profile the business of golf sponsorships. Specifically, the article focuses on how golfers’ clothes are picked out months, even years, in advance.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
The Israeli invasion of Gaza continues unabated, and the debate continues to rage internationally about civilian casualties. Yesterday. Israeli forces shelled a UN-run school filled with civilians, killing 40. It seems likely that the Israeli soldiers were returning fire at a few Hamas gunman who fired mortars from the school, but the incident underscores the fact that Israel is doing next to nothing to minimize civilian casualties.
Tom Friedman proves, yet again, that he writes for the New York Times and I don’t with a great column that put the Gaza conflict in the context of the greater Middle East. Raise a point from the article over lunch or in case your boss mentions the conflict to you and you will sound smart. Don’t feel bad about ripping off Times columnists, I do it all the time.
Senate Democrats, ever the masters of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, are raising a stink over President-elect Obama’s choice of former Clinton Chief-of-staff Leon E. Panetta for CIA director . Obviously, the Obama team goofed by not consulting with the Senate Intelligence Committee, but it seems to me that there is no real basis for criticism of his pick. As Matt Yglesias twittered a few minutes ago, “The case for putting a CIA veteran in charge of the CIA would be more compelling were the CIA’s record not so unimpressive.” If this goes beyond a few nasty media quotes and the dems really try to derail the appointment, that would be stupid.
January means the Consumer Electronics show and Macworld. Despite the recession, many of the gadgets on display at CES are just as cool as previous years. While Apple announced some interesting new innovations (a new macbook pro and DRM-free music), CEO Steve Jobs had to bow out of the convention for health reasons. Applewaters and fanboys are trying to decide if the keynote was boring because there were no really mindblowing innovations or products or just because of Job’s absence. Also, this has raised the question that if Jobs even leaves the company or takes a less prominant role, will Apple be able to continue its market and media domination?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
A lame duck congress is when Congress gavels back into session after the November elections but before the new Congress is sworn in in January. The majority of the Congress and Senate live pretty far from Washington and like to go home for the holidays, so they don’t tend to call these sessions unless there is something pretty important going on. Like, say, the collapse of the US Economy.
Democratic Congressional leaders way that they want to pass emergency legislation to aid the imperiled auto industry during the lame-duck session that begins next week. President Bush, predictably, has said that he doesn’t favor tapping the $700 billion bail out fund to help automakers. Don’t these factory workers understand that there are employees at Goldman Sachs who need to sell their second houses in the Hamptons? Thank god we have a President who looks out for the little guy.
GM plant employees are not the only one’s looking at the prospect of unemployment checks. The nation’s top two intelligence officers are not to happy about the indication that they are going to shown the door by President-elect Obama. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and CIA Director Michael V. Hayden today clearly leaked to the Washington Post that they want to remain in their current posts and that they feel early departures could be seen as politicizing their offices and keeping them could help stabilize the intelligence community. These are good points, but Hayden was in charge of the White House’s warrentless wiretapping program and both of them have publicly defended torture. Guys, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Unemployed autoworkers and senior intelligence officers will both but unable to afford prescription drugs. Monthly premiums for Medicare’s prescription drug coverage will increase on average 43% next year. So, uhh, don’t get sick.
You know who has had it for too easy for too long? Whales. You know, the big lazy fuckers just swimming around out there, getting in the way of our submarines, eating our krill. Thank God the Supreme Court is here to put them in their place.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Most of the papers lead with a bombing near the United Nations office in Algeria. Reports so far place the death toll between 30-60. Credit has been claimed by an Al Queda affiliate in North Africa. This could be the largest attack since the Algerian War. Other terrorist attacks in Lebanon and Iraq seem to reinforce the 11th as a day with significance for the terrorist community.
A story that has been brewing for a few days is the results of a Supreme Court decision reducing the mandatory minimum sentence on crack-cocaine. Now, up to 2500 inmates are eligible for immediate release and almost 20,000 for a sentence reduction. If you think it isn’t fair, remember that under the previous law dealing 5 grams of crack would get you the same sentence as dealing 500 grams of cocaine.
News from Russia is that President, dreamboat, and fishing enthusiast Vladimir Putin has been offered the position of Prime Minister. Putin is currently President, but his term expires in 6 months. Russia’s government is designed to give the President nearly unchecked power, and the Prime Minister position has largely been decorative. Given that an ally of Putin was elected as the new President, this could be a way to have Putin remain the de facto leader of Russia indefinitely. In other news, Russia is going to pull out one of the most important arms control treaties dating back to the Cold War (First Mad Men, now a Dictatorial Russia rearming, 50′s style really is coming back!).
Also the CIA is above the law and can do whatever they want.
Lest you think all is terrible in the world, I wanted to include a few things to brighten your day. First, for those doing a lot of traveling this holiday season I have good news and bad news. The good news is there is real, often very tasty food now being offered on airlines. The bad news is the price tag. A hilarious story about the Entertainment Software Association (the lobbying group for video game producers) shows that people in Washington are not much better than your average high school cheerleader. “The ESA was soooo going to bring H&K to the prom, but then, they ended up bringing someone else so H&K totally started telling everyone that, like, ESA was totally gross and that all the girls in school thought so.”
