Good.
Hit and run
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
The new ad by the DSCC reminds me of the snuff-porn movies I had to watch in driver's education class when I was a teenager.
Good.
Good.
Dispatches
Items from the p3 inbox:- Help Elywn Tinklenberg mount an unprecedented challenge to Minnesota whackjob Michelle Bachmann's re-election (Act Blue)
- Take the 2009 Health Care for America survey. (AFL-CIO)
- Democracy 21 endorses Durbin-Specter bill for public financing of Congressional campaigns. (Democracy 21)
- Tell your OR state senator not to allow your prescription record to be searched to find drug abusers. (ACLU of Oregon)
- Ask Fox News executive vice president John Moody if the O'Reilly show's tactics meet Fox's ethical standards. (FAIR)
Spam 2.0
I'm probably one of the luckier ones. This morning I have only a little over 1100 emails in my spam filter from the last 30 days.
According to this morning's NYTimes, I may be getting off easy:
The big drop in worldwide spam after one of the worst spam farms was closed down last November has all but gone away, as the worldwide volume of junk mail has increased by a little over one percent per day since, most of it too decentralized to stop by raiding a single service provider at a single location:
In the battle between Spam 2.0 and Gullible User 1.0, you know where to put your money.
In fact, we may be going at this business of saving the economy all wrong: Spammers--entrepreneurs, innovators, devotees of the unregulated free market--should be listed on the stock exchanges. Has any other sector of the economy been growing at 1.2% per day in the last six months?
According to this morning's NYTimes, I may be getting off easy:
The average seven-day spam volume during the latter half of March is now at roughly the same levels as October of last year—around 94 percent of all e-mail—according to anti-spam company Postini, a division of Google.
The big drop in worldwide spam after one of the worst spam farms was closed down last November has all but gone away, as the worldwide volume of junk mail has increased by a little over one percent per day since, most of it too decentralized to stop by raiding a single service provider at a single location:
"What the spammers have been using to rebuild is more technically advanced than what got taken out and is itself a more resilient technology," [Adam Swidler, product marketing manager for Postini Services] said. "It’s unlikely we are going to see another event like McColo where taking out an I.S.P. has that kind of dramatic impact on global spam volumes."
Postini is also reporting Tuesday on a new kind of spam called location-based spam. When gullible users click on a link in a spam message, they are directed to a Web page that contains a fake news headline and a purported video describing a nearby crisis, using the user’s I.P. address to identify the nearest major city. When the now curious and gullible user clicks on the video, their computer is infected with a virus.
In the battle between Spam 2.0 and Gullible User 1.0, you know where to put your money.
In fact, we may be going at this business of saving the economy all wrong: Spammers--entrepreneurs, innovators, devotees of the unregulated free market--should be listed on the stock exchanges. Has any other sector of the economy been growing at 1.2% per day in the last six months?
Sunday afternoon toons: Special "latex thingies" edition
Sunday, March 29, 2009
At Daryl Cagle's round-up we're off the AIG obsession, at least for now. This week the toons run the gamut from the economy to the flame-out topic of the day: Twitter,
p3 Picks of the Week: R. J. Matson, Mike Keefe, Larry Wright, Bob Englehart, John Darkow, Steve Sack, and John Cole.
The p3 "Truth About a One-Paper Town" medal goes to Milt Priggee,
p3 World Toon Review: A lot of people around the world wondered this week about the Pope's priorities, as regards little latex thingies for preventing disease, and the toons were there, including: Riber Hansson (Sweden), Mike Lane (US), David Fitzsimmons (US), Taylor Jones (Puerto Rico), Christo Komarnitski (Bulgaria), Guy Badeaux (Canada), Rainer Hachfeld (Germany), Julius Hansen (Denmark), and Hajo (Netherlands).
Ann Telnaes gives the Republicans credit: they may not know art, but they know what they like.
When life imitates art imitating life: Between the recession and the widespread failure of the traditional newspaper business model, editorial and alternative cartoonists have been taking a professional beating. And reporters have been facing cutbacks and furloughs. So it was probably just a matter of time before cartoon reporter Brenda Starr also faced a furlough. How long until Lois, Clark, and Jimmy start trying to draw advertisers to their group blog?
Guest toon: Things that make Salt Lake City cool: The first thing that struck me was the amazingly wide, clean streets and sidewalks: It seemed like a town the CIA might have built to practice in. At The K Chronicles, Keith considers some more upsides to the City of the Saints.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman detects trouble in a niche market.
Sports and cheerful sadism--the golden age of Tom & Jerry: The earliest of the T&Js are easy to spot: Tom still looks like a cat, not a guy in a cat suit; the characters move in all three dimensions, and the backgrounds have these beautiful blue hues. This is "Bowling Alley Cat," the seventh T&J cartoon, produced by Fred Quimby for MGM in 1942.
No p3 Bonus Toon from Jesse Springer this week. But don't forget to browse Dan Froomkin's weekday political toon review.
p3 Picks of the Week: R. J. Matson, Mike Keefe, Larry Wright, Bob Englehart, John Darkow, Steve Sack, and John Cole.
The p3 "Truth About a One-Paper Town" medal goes to Milt Priggee,
p3 World Toon Review: A lot of people around the world wondered this week about the Pope's priorities, as regards little latex thingies for preventing disease, and the toons were there, including: Riber Hansson (Sweden), Mike Lane (US), David Fitzsimmons (US), Taylor Jones (Puerto Rico), Christo Komarnitski (Bulgaria), Guy Badeaux (Canada), Rainer Hachfeld (Germany), Julius Hansen (Denmark), and Hajo (Netherlands).
Ann Telnaes gives the Republicans credit: they may not know art, but they know what they like.
When life imitates art imitating life: Between the recession and the widespread failure of the traditional newspaper business model, editorial and alternative cartoonists have been taking a professional beating. And reporters have been facing cutbacks and furloughs. So it was probably just a matter of time before cartoon reporter Brenda Starr also faced a furlough. How long until Lois, Clark, and Jimmy start trying to draw advertisers to their group blog?
Guest toon: Things that make Salt Lake City cool: The first thing that struck me was the amazingly wide, clean streets and sidewalks: It seemed like a town the CIA might have built to practice in. At The K Chronicles, Keith considers some more upsides to the City of the Saints.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman detects trouble in a niche market.
Sports and cheerful sadism--the golden age of Tom & Jerry: The earliest of the T&Js are easy to spot: Tom still looks like a cat, not a guy in a cat suit; the characters move in all three dimensions, and the backgrounds have these beautiful blue hues. This is "Bowling Alley Cat," the seventh T&J cartoon, produced by Fred Quimby for MGM in 1942.
No p3 Bonus Toon from Jesse Springer this week. But don't forget to browse Dan Froomkin's weekday political toon review.
Pity--they say travel can be broadening
From the NYTimes:
Looks like Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Douglas Feith, William Haynes, Jay Bybee, and David Addington will be spending their tourism dollars at home for time being.
Good. Let them have brunch at Denny's with Henry "The Butcher of Cambodia" Kissinger.
A Spanish court has taken the first steps toward opening a criminal investigation into allegations that six former high-level Bush administration officials violated international law by providing the legal framework to justify the torture of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, an official close to the case said.
Looks like Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, Douglas Feith, William Haynes, Jay Bybee, and David Addington will be spending their tourism dollars at home for time being.
Good. Let them have brunch at Denny's with Henry "The Butcher of Cambodia" Kissinger.
The unforgiving minute
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Organizers are hoping that 1 billion people in 81 countries will participate in Earth Hour Interestingly, the Earth Hour website encourages people to live blog during the event.
Some things just satirize themselves.
Minute's up.
Saturday toons: I don't know if all that's true
But you got me, and baby, I got five of the most uncomfortable minutes in the history of American pop music:
The unforgiving minute
Friday, March 27, 2009
Regarding "Joe the Plumber," I just realized:His name's not really Joe.
He's not really a plumber.
That means the only thing about this guy that's on the level is "the."
Minute's up.
And this is news because . . . ?
Turns out the Governor of California, who is term-limited out of office after 2010, who got his only shot at elected office through a booby-prize election in 2003, who campaigned on whooped-up resentment against the previous governor for raising vehicle registration fees, who then presided over an economic mess so dreadful that the state has begun paying people with IOUs, and who walked away from half the commitments made to his party during his original campaign, won't be running for the U.S. Senate in the next cycle.
Talk about dog-bites-man.
The only thing that's even remotely newsworthy here is the fact that state Republicans have so little to work with that they're still hoping he'll change his mind, even though a February survey matching him head-to-head against Barbara Boxer had him losing 54% to 30%.
Talk about dog-bites-man.
The only thing that's even remotely newsworthy here is the fact that state Republicans have so little to work with that they're still hoping he'll change his mind, even though a February survey matching him head-to-head against Barbara Boxer had him losing 54% to 30%.
Meme Watch: Teleprompter[tm]Gate!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
I originally planned to ignore it, hoping it would go away. But in an era when GOP budget proposals without numbers get laughed out of court within hours, Teleprompter[tm]Gate has shown a surprising amount of staying power.
Enough substance to keep it going for over six weeks, in fact.
By all rights, this--or something equivalent--should have put the whole thing down, like a horse with a broken leg, 'way back in February:
It makes me wonder: Could this campaign by the Obama-Fail Forces be an attempt at payback for this? They say elephants never forget . . . .
(H/t to Doctor TV.)
Enough substance to keep it going for over six weeks, in fact.
By all rights, this--or something equivalent--should have put the whole thing down, like a horse with a broken leg, 'way back in February:
It makes me wonder: Could this campaign by the Obama-Fail Forces be an attempt at payback for this? They say elephants never forget . . . .
(H/t to Doctor TV.)
Q: How are Congressional seats like yachts?
A: If you have to ask the price, you can't afford it.
Congressional Quarterly notes another consequence of the tanking economy: the likelihood that big-ticket donors won't be as easy to find in 2010 as they have been in recent cycles. That could mean an increase in candidates who don't have to go begging:
Just what America needs: turning the Congress from a figurative "Millionaire's Club" to a literal one. How close are we to that already? Here's one indicator, from last week:
So we've arrived at a point where millionaire congressmen are reaching for the "poor me" card just because they're barely millioniaires. How the other members must snicker behind their backs in the lunchroom.
There is one bit of offsetting news, though: Self-funded candidates have a pretty poor track record.
But don't take CQ's word for it; just ask unsuccessful self-funder Mike Erickson:
(Come to think of it, Erickson isn't Oregon's only unsuccessful self-funding Republican of late, is he?)
This is one more ugly side effect of the "two Americas" economy the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have left us: More and more, a congressional seat is becoming a luxury purchase item for the wealthy, not an opportunity for competent, experienced candidates.
The article is about Congress, of course, not the White House, but it's somewhat striking that CQ didn't mention the one significant counter-trend: Obama's success in tapping unprecedented numbers of small-dollar contributors. Nor did it mention public financing. Those are the only two currently available alternatives to the rise of the self-funded (and not necessarily competent) candidates.
Congressional Quarterly notes another consequence of the tanking economy: the likelihood that big-ticket donors won't be as easy to find in 2010 as they have been in recent cycles. That could mean an increase in candidates who don't have to go begging:
Republican political consultant Tim Clark has some advice for national campaign strategists: recruit self-funders.
Clark, vice president of JohnsonClark Associates in Sacramento, suggested in a recent interview that if he worked for either party’s national House campaign organization this cycle, he would actively seek out candidates who possess the means to finance their own campaigns.
“Because of the difficult economy and the difficulty that everyone is seeing raising money . . . I think that’s made self-funded candidates all the more important to find,” Clark said. “They come with their own bank account.”
In the previous election cycle, at least 18 House and eight Senate candidates loaned their campaigns more than $1 million in personal funds, according to CQ Moneyline.
Another 60 candidates loaned their campaigns $350,000 or more. In addition, numerous self-funding candidates identified their personal funds as contributions instead of loans to be repaid.
Just what America needs: turning the Congress from a figurative "Millionaire's Club" to a literal one. How close are we to that already? Here's one indicator, from last week:
New York Republican congressional candidate Jim Tedisco declared in a televised debate last night that he is not a millionaire.
"I've lived, I've worked, I've represented upstate New York as a leader for many years," Tedisco said. "I'm not a millionaire, and I'm never gonna be a millionaire. When I get to the floor of Washington, I'll probably be the poorest person there in Congress."
But according to personal financial disclosure forms (PDF), Tedisco isn't exactly a working-class stiff. The sum of the minimum value of the assets Tedisco reported -- including two addresses in Saratoga Springs -- totals at least $1,426,000. The maximum value is over $3 million.
So we've arrived at a point where millionaire congressmen are reaching for the "poor me" card just because they're barely millioniaires. How the other members must snicker behind their backs in the lunchroom.
There is one bit of offsetting news, though: Self-funded candidates have a pretty poor track record.
According to her past research, a majority of self-funded candidates overall lose their elections.
"Most of them are politically inexperienced,” Steen said. “They can run on promises, but they don’t have any credentials to point to." She also said self-funders may hire expensive consultants, but their lack of political knowledge means they may not have the tools to evaluate the advice they’re given.
Brian Smoot, partner at Democratic consulting firm 4C Partners LLC and former political director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, acknowledged that self-funders don’t have a strong electoral record, but said they still hold advantages for the party committees.
"It’s hard to resist sometimes — a good self-funder — because in scarce resources, if they’ve got the ability to fund their own campaign, it just provides more resources for other campaigns," Smoot said.
But don't take CQ's word for it; just ask unsuccessful self-funder Mike Erickson:
[A]nother 2008 self-funder, Republican Mike Erickson of Oregon, is actively considering a 2010 campaign.
Erickson, president of a transportation consulting firm, spent a total of $3.7 million on two unsuccessful campaigns for Oregon’s 5th district-, in 2006 and in 2008.
He contends that the economy will not play into his decision regarding a 2010 campaign, but speculated that it may be a factor for other self-funders.
"A lot of people have to think twice about spending money — personal money — in an election," Erickson said. "Do they have the resources to really commit to a tough, competitive congressional race? Now it’s probably a little tougher decision for some."
(Come to think of it, Erickson isn't Oregon's only unsuccessful self-funding Republican of late, is he?)
This is one more ugly side effect of the "two Americas" economy the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have left us: More and more, a congressional seat is becoming a luxury purchase item for the wealthy, not an opportunity for competent, experienced candidates.
The article is about Congress, of course, not the White House, but it's somewhat striking that CQ didn't mention the one significant counter-trend: Obama's success in tapping unprecedented numbers of small-dollar contributors. Nor did it mention public financing. Those are the only two currently available alternatives to the rise of the self-funded (and not necessarily competent) candidates.
Steve Novick: Portland Drinking Liberally guest tonight
Steve Novick, activist, strategist, and strongly-rumored 2010 gubernatorial candidate will be joining the usual suspects tonight at Madison's Grill, SE 9th and Hawthorne, from 7pm to 10pm. [Map](Portland DL now meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month.)
Don't miss your chance to knock back a beer (or whatever) and chat with one of the sharpest political minds out there. If we're lucky, we might even get him to come clean on the question of the hour.
And, as most of you remember, the man knows how to handle a brew:
And remember: DL encourages everyone to drink, and vote, responsibly.
(Cross-posted at Loaded Orygun.)
Why would Democrats even consider trusting Specter?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
As recently as the beginning of the month, Arlen Specter's name was being floated as a potential 60th vote to head off filibuster on Employee Free Choice Act.
There were even those--and this would be funny if it weren't so pathetic--who imagined the EFCA as the fulcrum that could lever Specter into the Democratic Party sometime between now and his re-election in 2010.
Anyone who believed that was a sap.
The outcome in Specter's latest to-be-or-not-to-be performance was as inevitable as in all his previous theatrical turns: Specter announced today that he will be joining the rest of theCivil War Re-Enactment Society Senate Republicans to filibuster the EFCA and will vote against it if it makes it to the floor.
Arlen Specter is a one-trick pony--before the vote he makes moderate-sounding rumblings, after which the extremist wing of the Republican party threatens him, after which Specter toes the GOP party line when the vote comes down. That's what he does. That's all he does.
Is it that he wants to do the moderate thing but he's too pusillanimous to stand up to the extremists in his party? Or is it that he simply loves to play Hamlet for the cameras before coming home to the extremists?
It doesn't matter. Any legislative strategy that hinges on Specter actually opposing the extremists in his own party is destined to fail.
There were even those--and this would be funny if it weren't so pathetic--who imagined the EFCA as the fulcrum that could lever Specter into the Democratic Party sometime between now and his re-election in 2010.
Anyone who believed that was a sap.
The outcome in Specter's latest to-be-or-not-to-be performance was as inevitable as in all his previous theatrical turns: Specter announced today that he will be joining the rest of the
Arlen Specter is a one-trick pony--before the vote he makes moderate-sounding rumblings, after which the extremist wing of the Republican party threatens him, after which Specter toes the GOP party line when the vote comes down. That's what he does. That's all he does.
Is it that he wants to do the moderate thing but he's too pusillanimous to stand up to the extremists in his party? Or is it that he simply loves to play Hamlet for the cameras before coming home to the extremists?
It doesn't matter. Any legislative strategy that hinges on Specter actually opposing the extremists in his own party is destined to fail.
The unforgiving minute
With Republicans' popularity at near-record lows, is it possible that there's someone out there whose reputation is so toxic, who's so universally disliked, that the GOP leadership is worried that he might drag them down?Yes.
Minute's up.
Recession profiteering
Monday, March 23, 2009
You shoulda seen this comin' atcha like an atom bomb.
And you know who I’m talking about--the smirky little weasel who sings garage-band songs about finding out his credit rating is in the tank. The commercials are everywhere--I don't need to link to their URL, since you probably hear it in your sleep.
The FTC has finally had to get involved (and on the side of consumers too--one more reason to be glad Republicans don't control the regulatory apparatus anymore), since these guys have joined the ranks of predatory financial operators taking advantage of economic bad times to market a rip-off (some legal, some not) disguised as consumer help.
The gimmick? The annoying TV jingle singers are pimping a service that does indeed provide your credit report for free--if you don't forget to cancel the service before the free 7-day trial period runs out. And if you do forget, your "free" credit report will start costing you $14.95/month.
Here's the deal, via Econ4U:
Unfortunately, the FTC seems to have concluded that the way to combat a series of annoying TV spot featuring twenty-somethings singing amateurish-sounding jingles about consumer credit . . . is with more TV spots featuring twenty-somethings singing amateurish-sounding jingles about consumer credit. I'm sure they mean well, but this does not inspire confidence:
(Oh yeah--and that guy singing the jingle in the offending ads is a Canadian comedian. Do with that last factoid what you will.)
And you know who I’m talking about--the smirky little weasel who sings garage-band songs about finding out his credit rating is in the tank. The commercials are everywhere--I don't need to link to their URL, since you probably hear it in your sleep.
The FTC has finally had to get involved (and on the side of consumers too--one more reason to be glad Republicans don't control the regulatory apparatus anymore), since these guys have joined the ranks of predatory financial operators taking advantage of economic bad times to market a rip-off (some legal, some not) disguised as consumer help.
The gimmick? The annoying TV jingle singers are pimping a service that does indeed provide your credit report for free--if you don't forget to cancel the service before the free 7-day trial period runs out. And if you do forget, your "free" credit report will start costing you $14.95/month.
Here's the deal, via Econ4U:
These sites actually end up charging their customers for credit monitoring subscriptions, and they don’t even offer anything you can’t already get for free.
As the FTC says, "Despite the musical claims of some TV commercials, the only authorized source to get your free annual credit report under federal law is AnnualCreditReport.com."
Federal law requires each of the big three credit bureaus to give you a free credit report every year. That means you can get three credit reports annually, all without paying a dime.
Unfortunately, the FTC seems to have concluded that the way to combat a series of annoying TV spot featuring twenty-somethings singing amateurish-sounding jingles about consumer credit . . . is with more TV spots featuring twenty-somethings singing amateurish-sounding jingles about consumer credit. I'm sure they mean well, but this does not inspire confidence:
(Oh yeah--and that guy singing the jingle in the offending ads is a Canadian comedian. Do with that last factoid what you will.)
Life's mysteries
I've had fun in the past speculating about the existence of secret Republican pod farms, but seriously--where does the GOP find these characters?
It's uncanny.
(H/t to Oliver Willis.)
It's uncanny.
(H/t to Oliver Willis.)
Oscar Wilde 2.0
Sunday, March 22, 2009
As Wilde famously said, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
Looks like that Wildeism has been dragged unceremoniously into the twenty-first century:
There are two stories out there this week about bloggers getting blocked from someone else's Twitter feed: TBogg was blocked from Michelle Malkin's feed, and Adam Serwer at The American Prospect was blocked from ABC's Jake Tapper's feed.
I can't get it out of my head: These are less-than-140 word bursts, invariable off the top of the author's head--and they typed them with their thumbs! And it's news that someone was cut off from a steady diet of this?
As John at Americablog observed:
Because apparently the only thing worse than being tweeted at is not being tweeted at.
Finally: A medium has come along to make blogging seem respectable--even stodgy. How long until Twitter is replaced by something even sillier--like subscribing to the real-time charting of one another's blood pressure or rectal temperature? (I shudder to think of what it will be called instead of "tweeting.")
Looks like that Wildeism has been dragged unceremoniously into the twenty-first century:
There are two stories out there this week about bloggers getting blocked from someone else's Twitter feed: TBogg was blocked from Michelle Malkin's feed, and Adam Serwer at The American Prospect was blocked from ABC's Jake Tapper's feed.
I can't get it out of my head: These are less-than-140 word bursts, invariable off the top of the author's head--and they typed them with their thumbs! And it's news that someone was cut off from a steady diet of this?
As John at Americablog observed:
Coulda been worse. They could have not cared about being banned.
Because apparently the only thing worse than being tweeted at is not being tweeted at.
Finally: A medium has come along to make blogging seem respectable--even stodgy. How long until Twitter is replaced by something even sillier--like subscribing to the real-time charting of one another's blood pressure or rectal temperature? (I shudder to think of what it will be called instead of "tweeting.")
Sunday afternoon toons: Special "boxers or briefs?" edition
There are a few toons out there today about something other than AIG bonuses.
But not many.
For the record, what I find repulsive about the prospect of those former Masters of the Universe getting bonuses for running their corporations, dozens of dependent industries, thousands of associated companies, and most of the world economy into the ground is not so much the money--it obviously means a lot to the bankers, but it's trivial compared to what's already been lost, and to losses yet to come. What disgusts me about the bonuses is their perfect appropriateness as a symbol of the corruption and dysfunction of the industry and of regulatory oversight.
Dysfunction and corruption on a small scale make for an evening of good theater. Give them billions to fool around with, though, and you've got a major problem.
Let's start with Daryl Cagle's round-up where, just to expedite matters, we'll just pull all the bonus-themed toons here into one angry mob: Daryl Cagle, Nate Beeler, Mike Lane, Larry Wright, David Fitzsimmons, Steve Sack, and--my favorite of the lot--R. J. Matson.
And now, for those of you who are wondering if anything else went on in the last few days, the p3 Picks of the Week: Cameron Cardow, Patrick Chapette, Mike Keefe, Eric Allie, Jimmie Margulies, Milt Priggee, R. J. Matson, Steve Benson, Rob Rogers, and (yet again), Jimmie Margulies,
The p3 Envelope with the Answer goes to Michael Ramirez.
p3 World Toon Review: Stephane Peray (Thailand), Ingrid Rice (Canada), Alexander Zudin (Russia), Herbjørn Skogstad (Norway),
A truism among teachers is that "we don't grade on sweat." Ann Telnaes demonstrates the wisdom of this rule.
Speculation still sometimes pays off: A copy of issue #1 of Action Comics, in which Superman made his 1938 debut, sold at auction this month for $300K and change. The seller originally bought it for one dollar. (Hat tip to Oliver Willis, who also reminds us that the Man of Steel wasn't the only thing Joe Shuster drew to make rent.)
Batocchio, impresario of the Right Wing Cartoon Watch (which the p3 Sunday toon review has been proud to feature), is packing in the RWCW for the indefinite future. The reason--copyright pressures.
And now you know why the p3 Sunday toons have links, but not images--with a few rare exceptions, most conspicuously Jesse Springer's work, since he's granted permission for its use here. The problem is that one of the basic principles of the fair use exception in copyright law--that you don't reproduce the entire work--makes sense with text but not images. For a while, I tried to finesse that problem by including only details from the toons I was linking to. That may or may not have made the posts more attractive to readers, but it was a royal pain to edit and in the end, as Batocchio's story suggests, I probably was on no firmer legal ground than if I'd just used the whole image.
I also regularly use YouTube videos, and some of that material is public domain, but a lot of it probably isn't. I'm probably no closer to compliance with fair use law by doing so; I'm just shuffling the problem off onto YouTube if any copyright holders object.
Meanwhile, p3 looks forward to the day when Batocchio works out a way to bring the RWCW back.
(By the way, the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin usually includes a political toon round-up at his blog most weekdays. Links, no images--which seems to have emerged as the new boxer/briefs question. Thanks, Batocchio.)
Guest toon: At the K Chronicles, Keith reviews his career choices in the context of a dicey economy.
Meanwhile, Portland homeboy Jack Ohman offers some advice on the very same topic.
Because last summer's debacle apparently didn't discourage them, the New Yorker made another stab at topical political humor on their cover last week.
If your home has that "too rich" appearance: Tex Avery was fond of the documentary-style cartoon, in which a narrator walks you through a string of loosely-related sight gags, each one quick enough that you're on to something else before it has a chance to wear thin. A popular meme as consumer-oriented industry geared up again following WWII was imagining "the future," as in "the car of tomorrow," "the farm of tomorrow," "the TV of tomorrow"--all of which Avery spoofed at one time or another--and today's pick from 1949 at MGM, "The House of Tomorrow." Putting aside his obvious mother-in-law issues (in fact, issues with just about everyone but the family dog), was Avery 60 years ahead of the curve on the McMansion-based housing bubble (and taxes)?
p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer points out that the Oregon downpour we're now facing isn't the one we usually complain about in the spring, although there's no sign of a let-up:
But not many.
For the record, what I find repulsive about the prospect of those former Masters of the Universe getting bonuses for running their corporations, dozens of dependent industries, thousands of associated companies, and most of the world economy into the ground is not so much the money--it obviously means a lot to the bankers, but it's trivial compared to what's already been lost, and to losses yet to come. What disgusts me about the bonuses is their perfect appropriateness as a symbol of the corruption and dysfunction of the industry and of regulatory oversight.
Dysfunction and corruption on a small scale make for an evening of good theater. Give them billions to fool around with, though, and you've got a major problem.
Let's start with Daryl Cagle's round-up where, just to expedite matters, we'll just pull all the bonus-themed toons here into one angry mob: Daryl Cagle, Nate Beeler, Mike Lane, Larry Wright, David Fitzsimmons, Steve Sack, and--my favorite of the lot--R. J. Matson.
And now, for those of you who are wondering if anything else went on in the last few days, the p3 Picks of the Week: Cameron Cardow, Patrick Chapette, Mike Keefe, Eric Allie, Jimmie Margulies, Milt Priggee, R. J. Matson, Steve Benson, Rob Rogers, and (yet again), Jimmie Margulies,
The p3 Envelope with the Answer goes to Michael Ramirez.
p3 World Toon Review: Stephane Peray (Thailand), Ingrid Rice (Canada), Alexander Zudin (Russia), Herbjørn Skogstad (Norway),
A truism among teachers is that "we don't grade on sweat." Ann Telnaes demonstrates the wisdom of this rule.
Speculation still sometimes pays off: A copy of issue #1 of Action Comics, in which Superman made his 1938 debut, sold at auction this month for $300K and change. The seller originally bought it for one dollar. (Hat tip to Oliver Willis, who also reminds us that the Man of Steel wasn't the only thing Joe Shuster drew to make rent.)
Batocchio, impresario of the Right Wing Cartoon Watch (which the p3 Sunday toon review has been proud to feature), is packing in the RWCW for the indefinite future. The reason--copyright pressures.
Creators Syndicate, which represents several of our regularly featured cartoonists, has raised a copyright objection to us posting their work here. We suggested a few accommodations, but they were all rejected (if fairly politely). This isn't a big site, and we’re not making money at it, but we do respect their intellectual property rights. It’s hard to "excerpt" an editorial cartoon, making "fair use" difficult, and the main reason we posted the cartoons in the first place rather than linking them was for readability since we were discussing them. I’ve said it before, but I appreciate both Mike Lester and Glenn Foden writing and being good sports about the series. Nor would I begrudge any cartoonist for objecting to being included (although our snotty attitudes were not the issue here).
If and when RWCW returns, we'll either not be using Creators Syndicate cartoonists, or will simply link their work versus posting the actual cartoons here. Many other cartoon roundups use a link format. I don't think that would be as fun or readable for our purposes, but, uh, some might argue the series never really excelled at those elements anyhow.
I'm afraid Creators Syndicate objected to past posts in the series and not just posts going forward. That's not surprising, but is deeply unfortunate. Since fixing past entries (by substituting links) would be a massive undertaking, for now, we’re simply blocking all of the pictures, although the posts remain. I doubt many people are traipsing through the archives, but if you’re looking for a specific cartoon we featured, I can probably hunt down the official version and e-mail you the link.
And now you know why the p3 Sunday toons have links, but not images--with a few rare exceptions, most conspicuously Jesse Springer's work, since he's granted permission for its use here. The problem is that one of the basic principles of the fair use exception in copyright law--that you don't reproduce the entire work--makes sense with text but not images. For a while, I tried to finesse that problem by including only details from the toons I was linking to. That may or may not have made the posts more attractive to readers, but it was a royal pain to edit and in the end, as Batocchio's story suggests, I probably was on no firmer legal ground than if I'd just used the whole image.
I also regularly use YouTube videos, and some of that material is public domain, but a lot of it probably isn't. I'm probably no closer to compliance with fair use law by doing so; I'm just shuffling the problem off onto YouTube if any copyright holders object.
Meanwhile, p3 looks forward to the day when Batocchio works out a way to bring the RWCW back.
(By the way, the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin usually includes a political toon round-up at his blog most weekdays. Links, no images--which seems to have emerged as the new boxer/briefs question. Thanks, Batocchio.)
Guest toon: At the K Chronicles, Keith reviews his career choices in the context of a dicey economy.
Meanwhile, Portland homeboy Jack Ohman offers some advice on the very same topic.
Because last summer's debacle apparently didn't discourage them, the New Yorker made another stab at topical political humor on their cover last week.
If your home has that "too rich" appearance: Tex Avery was fond of the documentary-style cartoon, in which a narrator walks you through a string of loosely-related sight gags, each one quick enough that you're on to something else before it has a chance to wear thin. A popular meme as consumer-oriented industry geared up again following WWII was imagining "the future," as in "the car of tomorrow," "the farm of tomorrow," "the TV of tomorrow"--all of which Avery spoofed at one time or another--and today's pick from 1949 at MGM, "The House of Tomorrow." Putting aside his obvious mother-in-law issues (in fact, issues with just about everyone but the family dog), was Avery 60 years ahead of the curve on the McMansion-based housing bubble (and taxes)?
p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer points out that the Oregon downpour we're now facing isn't the one we usually complain about in the spring, although there's no sign of a let-up:
Cross purposes
Saturday, March 21, 2009
From an undisclosed location somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, Doctor Beyond writes:
I wonder about that myself.
I have a hard time believing that the change-to-yes votes came out of political self-preservation, like what would fly well in their district (and certainly not out of what would be best for their district)--first because the House GOP caucus hasn't cared about that so far, and second because whatever points this might score with Joe Sixpack back home will soon be forgotten by JS, but the Club For Growth will never, ever forgive or forget.
The most likely explanatory picture that comes to mind is Nomad (reproduced here, I'm a little embarrassed to say, mostly from memory):
You can only operate for so long while trying to carry out two blocks of contradictory, absolutist of programming.
Or, think of it another way: F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your head and still function is the mark of a first-rate intelligence. And these guys are not first-rate intelligences, so . . . do the math.
Faultlessly logical, Captain.
About the new tax-on-bonuses vote:
Although a number of Republicans first cast "no" votes, the political appeal of the legislation apparently won the day. In the closing moments of the roll call there was a heavy GOP migration from the "no" column to the "yes" side before the final vote was called.
The vote to tax back most of the bonuses was 328-93. Voting "yes" were 243 Democrats and 85 Republicans. It was opposed by six Democrats and 87 Republicans.
Was the first no vote an autonomic response, and then some self-preservation part of the Republican lizard brain finally kicked in and made them change their vote? Or did they just figure that the Republican whip couldn't get to them before voting closed?
I wonder about that myself.
I have a hard time believing that the change-to-yes votes came out of political self-preservation, like what would fly well in their district (and certainly not out of what would be best for their district)--first because the House GOP caucus hasn't cared about that so far, and second because whatever points this might score with Joe Sixpack back home will soon be forgotten by JS, but the Club For Growth will never, ever forgive or forget.
The most likely explanatory picture that comes to mind is Nomad (reproduced here, I'm a little embarrassed to say, mostly from memory):
Kirk: But your prime function. . . is to seek out! . . . and sterilize! . . . that which is imperfect!
Nomad: Correct.
Kirk: And there can be no! . . . exceptions!
Nomad: No exceptions.
Kirk: And I am the creator?
Nomad: You are the creator.
Kirk: You're wrong! Jackson Roykirk, your! . . . creator! . . . is dead. You have mistaken! . . . me! . . . for him. You are! . . . in error.
You did not discover your mistake--you have made! . . . two! . . . errors!
And you have not corrected by sterilization! You have made three! . . . errors! Excercise your prime function!
Nomad: Error! Error! Must sterilize! [Kirk beams Nomad off the ship seconds before it explodes.]
Spock: Faultlessly logical, Captain.
You can only operate for so long while trying to carry out two blocks of contradictory, absolutist of programming.
Or, think of it another way: F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said that the ability to hold two contradictory ideas in your head and still function is the mark of a first-rate intelligence. And these guys are not first-rate intelligences, so . . . do the math.
Faultlessly logical, Captain.
Dispatches
Items from the p3 inbox:- Tell HHS to support patients' rights and overturn the Bush "Conscience Rule." (Compassion & Choices)
- Tell the HHS to Rescind the Health Care Denial Rule. (ACLU)
- Metro approved $14 million for bicycle paths, sidewalks, and trails. (Bicycle Transportation Alliance)
- The Oregon House has approved online voter registration. (OR House Dem Majority Office)
- Sign a petition to CNBC: Hold Wall Street accountable. (FAIR)
Saturday tunes: "Change your shirt, 'cause tonight we got style"
Thursday night, Jon Stewart--rested up from 22 minutes of head-butting Jim Cramer a few nights earlier--had Bruce Springsteen on as his guest.
The interview ended up with this exchange:
Stewart: I do what I do because of Bruce Springsteen, and I'll tell you why: You introduced me to the concept of "the other side." You introduced me to the concept of "you go through the tunnel, and you take a chance, and you can work to get away from your circumstance, and by working to get away from your circumstance you can make something better of yourself." But there's no guarantee. What I loved about what you do and your music is it's complex. It's that you can work to change what you do, but when you get to the other side you may be in Iraq and you may be gunned down in the street. But you know what? The joy of it is chasing that dream, and that was my inspiration for leaving New Jersey and going to New York, and . . . [crosstalk] . . . I just wanted to thank you personally from the bottom of my heart for giving me something to put into the dashboard as I drove the U-Haul van through the Holland Tunnel.
Springsteen: Well, all I can say is, "You have done well, Grasshopper."
There's no doubt--none--that they were talking about this song:
Props to Mark, who--some thirty-plus years ago--sat me down and made me listen to this song.
Once more, we escape winter by the skin of our teeth
Friday, March 20, 2009
Spring officially arrived a few minutes ago, at 4:44am PDT. This gratifying event was first reported by Mrs. Dorothy Stetson of Freeport, Long Island, who promptly telephoned the Mayor.
The Society for Affirming the End of the World at once went into a special session and postponed the arrival of that event for TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.
All honor to Mrs. Stetson for her public spirit.
The Society for Affirming the End of the World at once went into a special session and postponed the arrival of that event for TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.
All honor to Mrs. Stetson for her public spirit.
The unforgiving minute
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Somewhere, tonight, CNBC's Jim Cramer is watching Jon Stewart sit there, being absolutely smitten with Bruce Springsteen, and wondering who he could have screwed to get a soft-ball treatment like that.Minute's up.
The unforgiving minute
For those who are keeping track--and for those who aren't--today marks the sixth anniversary of the launch of Bush's Iraq War.There are now children in the first grade who have never lived in a time when we weren't invading or occupying Iraq.
Minute's up.
Stacking dollar bills to the moon, and other pointless exercises
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
TPM has posted a slide show on Republican hypocrisy concerning "earmarks." For each of a string of already-contemptible characters like Inohfe, Vitters, and Kyl, it juxtaposes a quote bewailing the presence of "pork" and "earmarks" in the recently-passed Obama spending bill with a sampling of various budget items that member slipped into the total package to benefit their state or district.
The show left me with two impressions.
First, although it's never hard to catch a politician in this sort of double-talk game, congressional Republicans just seem to make themselves much easier targets these days. In large part that's because they are ideologically compelled to attack all government spending (by Democrats) whether they believe a word they're saying or not. There's really not much sport, or art, to catching them at it.
Second, if the point was to fuel the "silly-sounding projects must therefore be undeserving projects" meme, it didn't really work for me. Didn't we go through this last month when the Republicans were playing the same "gotcha" game against the Democrats?
Most of the projects mentioned by TPM seemed to sit in the narrow range of the spectrum separating "could be pointless, but I really can't tell" (e.g., $807,500 for wind hazard detection equipment in Nevada) from "could be worthwhile, but I really can't tell" (e.g., $400,000 for the City of Oceanside Community Safety Partnership or $95,000 for an expectant mother education--the latter, ironically, proposed by Vitter).
Plucked out of context, a lot of this sounds a pretty outrageous--$95,000 for a traffic light in Oklahoma?
(Actually, assuming that includes installation, it's probably not a bad deal; at worst, it's an indication of how little $95K buys anymore. And let's not even get into the whole business of how one traffic light in Oklahoma is apparently the rough equivalent of support for expectant mother education in Louisiana. The phrase "race to the bottom" does leap to mind, though--doesn't it? Odd that TPM's slide show apparently didn't notice that.)
But in context, this stuff is a teensy, tiny fraction of the federal money that will be changing hands (and already has in the last six months). In fact, it would scarcely cause a blip on the budgetary radar trace if we were to bump up that $500,000 for water treatment improvements in the City of Surprise, AZ--could be worthwhile, but I can't really tell--by throwing in another $50,000 or so to pay for new signage and letterhead so that the town can have a less silly-sounding name.
Partly, this is just a new riff on Everett Dirksen's old observation: "A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." The amounts at stake here daunt and finally defeat the average person's understanding. When we're reduced to explanations that involve placing dollar bills end-to-end and counting how many times it would circle globe at the equator--as if that were a commonplace-enough experience to quickly give us all a useful frame of reference--we're already in deep trouble. People who toss these figures around for a living, whether or not they really understand them themselves, are always going to have a rhetorical advantage over the rest of us, while we're left trying to grab hold of something, anything, we can relate to--like a traffic light.
Try this: Don't tell me the new traffic light will cost $95,000 (out of $410 billion). Tell me how many person/hours of work that $95K will create in Oklahoma, and at what wage. Or how much parenting education it can provide for expectant mothers in Louisiana .
Phony, innumeracy-driven outrage is cheap.
The unforgiving minute
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
There are those--and I've been among them, I confess--who have said of post-Reagan conservatives that, no matter what the problem, they believe there is exactly one solution: tax cuts.Turns out they have a second one-size-fits-all solution to everything.
I stand corrected.
Minute's up.
When Republicans attack!
[This one's sort of a bandwidth pig, and for that I apologize. UPDATE: Video links fixed, too. -bn]
At some point recently, GOP strategists must have taken a breather from publicly airing their internecine disagreements with the verve of 1990s Democrats, to take a peek in their political armory . . . and found it all but empty. A few unused packs of the race card were piled on a dusty shelf to one side, and the remaining crates of Vote "No" On Everything had been dragged near the door for ready access. But other than that, not so much as a puppy biscuit in sight.
What to do? I suppose, with the benefit of hindsight, what happened next was almost inevitable: If they're taking their political philosophy from Rush Limbaugh, it was only a matter of time until they started taking their media strategy from Bill O'Reilly. (H/t to Doctor TV.)
This could be described as the "I know you are, but what am I?" schoolyard tactic raised to the level of national media politics--not really an exercise in subtlety and finesse.
Clearly, there's a difference between trackers, who passively record a political figure's public behavior, and agents provocateurs like these, who hope to create something newsworthy--or better, viral-video worthy--out of nothing. George Allen's self-inflicted "Macaca moment" in 2006 was captured by a tracker; the only sense in which the Virginia-born videographer to whom the slur was directed could be said to have "provoked" Allen's remark was by having been born with a "provocative" skin color.
But the political lethality of that moment must make GOP strategists drool at a time when the best response they can come up with to Obama's budget is to announce they have no alternative to offer.
If you want provocation from the left, of course, you could do no better than reviewing the work of Michael Moore. In my favorite scene from "Fahrenheit 9/11," he positions himself and a camera crew on a street corner near the Capitol Building and invites members of Congress--none of whom had children serving in the then-fashionable Iraq War--to have their sons or daughters enlist. They avoided him like he was a leper.
Oddly, the right hates it when Moore does stuff like that--he makes them so self-destructively angry that they even created an unwatched and unwatchable feature film attempting unsuccessfully to satirize him. But when one of their own does it--well, that's another matter. Let's go to the tape:
Now, fortunately, we don't have to wonder what to do when O'Reilly's producers come after us in a parking lot with a camera. Keith Olbermann identified the definitive defense to that a couple of years ago: Forget about winning; forget about reasoning. Those concepts simply don't apply here. This isn't an attempt to win the battle of ideas; it's an attempt to get usable footage. Just follow a few simple steps to make sure that you don't give him a moment of tape that he can air:
I should add that, for the truly brave, there is a little-used strategy that can turn these video stalkers away:
So yes, there is that possible tactic: being informed and telling the truth. But that, like nitroglycerin, is tricky stuff probably best left to madmen and terrorists.
I put it to you, readers: What are the universal interview-killing words or phrases that will guarantee that the footage from these GOP ambush videos will be unusable, no matter how cleverly it's edited down?
The guidelines are simple: Each one needs to be short, easily remembered in the heat of the moment, instantly recognizable by viewers, and--from the GOP's point of view--politically and rhetorically toxic.
Suggestions welcome.
At some point recently, GOP strategists must have taken a breather from publicly airing their internecine disagreements with the verve of 1990s Democrats, to take a peek in their political armory . . . and found it all but empty. A few unused packs of the race card were piled on a dusty shelf to one side, and the remaining crates of Vote "No" On Everything had been dragged near the door for ready access. But other than that, not so much as a puppy biscuit in sight.
What to do? I suppose, with the benefit of hindsight, what happened next was almost inevitable: If they're taking their political philosophy from Rush Limbaugh, it was only a matter of time until they started taking their media strategy from Bill O'Reilly. (H/t to Doctor TV.)
This could be described as the "I know you are, but what am I?" schoolyard tactic raised to the level of national media politics--not really an exercise in subtlety and finesse.
The National Republican Congressional Committee is sending out video "trackers" to ask provocative questions of Democratic members of Congress. The trackers, who are congressional committee staffers, were earlier reported by Congress Daily, a specialty publication distributed largely on Capitol Hill.
NRCC spokesman Paul Lindsay told McClatchy that Democratic complaints were "whining," adding that "The modern-day world of campaign politics demands that we track our opponents' steps and missteps. We have nothing to hide when it comes to asking tough questions, but it appears that Democrats do when it comes to answering them."
The NRCC doesn't require its questioners to identify themselves as partisans on grounds that anyone has a right to approach a member of Congress and ask a question. It wouldn't say how many lawmakers have been questioned: A GOP statement said that, "Videos are posted on a case-by-case basis."
Republicans say they're simply trying to hold Democratic lawmakers accountable. Since the Internet became an important part of campaigns, it's not been unusual for candidates of any party to be tracked by their opponents.
"We've had trackers following us around before, but they were there to observe," said Andrew Stoddard, communications director for Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., who recently was ambushed by a GOP interviewer.
"What they're doing now," Stoddard said, "takes things to a whole new level." […]
"Nobody understands more clearly than Republicans how much an unscripted moment can hurt you," said Stephen Farnsworth, the author of "Spinner in Chief," a study of how presidents sell their policies to the public.
Clearly, there's a difference between trackers, who passively record a political figure's public behavior, and agents provocateurs like these, who hope to create something newsworthy--or better, viral-video worthy--out of nothing. George Allen's self-inflicted "Macaca moment" in 2006 was captured by a tracker; the only sense in which the Virginia-born videographer to whom the slur was directed could be said to have "provoked" Allen's remark was by having been born with a "provocative" skin color.
But the political lethality of that moment must make GOP strategists drool at a time when the best response they can come up with to Obama's budget is to announce they have no alternative to offer.
If you want provocation from the left, of course, you could do no better than reviewing the work of Michael Moore. In my favorite scene from "Fahrenheit 9/11," he positions himself and a camera crew on a street corner near the Capitol Building and invites members of Congress--none of whom had children serving in the then-fashionable Iraq War--to have their sons or daughters enlist. They avoided him like he was a leper.
Oddly, the right hates it when Moore does stuff like that--he makes them so self-destructively angry that they even created an unwatched and unwatchable feature film attempting unsuccessfully to satirize him. But when one of their own does it--well, that's another matter. Let's go to the tape:
Now, fortunately, we don't have to wonder what to do when O'Reilly's producers come after us in a parking lot with a camera. Keith Olbermann identified the definitive defense to that a couple of years ago: Forget about winning; forget about reasoning. Those concepts simply don't apply here. This isn't an attempt to win the battle of ideas; it's an attempt to get usable footage. Just follow a few simple steps to make sure that you don't give him a moment of tape that he can air:
I should add that, for the truly brave, there is a little-used strategy that can turn these video stalkers away:
Some experts doubt that Republicans will gain much political mileage from running these crudely-made video ambushes on YouTube; some suggested that the tactic could backfire if the party picks the wrong target.
Rep. Joseph Courtney, D-Conn., known as one of the more conscientious members of the House of Representatives, was one such GOP target, for example. When the interviewer asked Courtney if he'd read the stimulus bill, he answered quickly: "Yes I have, actually. It's good for Connecticut."
So yes, there is that possible tactic: being informed and telling the truth. But that, like nitroglycerin, is tricky stuff probably best left to madmen and terrorists.
I put it to you, readers: What are the universal interview-killing words or phrases that will guarantee that the footage from these GOP ambush videos will be unusable, no matter how cleverly it's edited down?
The guidelines are simple: Each one needs to be short, easily remembered in the heat of the moment, instantly recognizable by viewers, and--from the GOP's point of view--politically and rhetorically toxic.
Suggestions welcome.
Sunday morning toons: Special "Too Big to Fail" edition
Funny--the dinosaurs were awfully big, but they still weren't "too big to fail." (And the same thing could be said for my laptop hard drive last week, unfortunately.) That's the thought for today as we get caught up with the tooniverse.
The news from Daryl Cagle's toon round-up is mostly gloomy, I'm afraid, although there's good news on the evolutionary front: Dinosaurs are disappearing and humans have rediscovered science.
p3 Picks of the Week: Daryl Cagle, Mike Keefe, Jeff Parker, Monty Wolverton, Jimmy Margulies, Dana Summers and Michael Ramirez.
p3 Observance of the End of the Dark Ages as depicted by Pat Bagley and Bob Englehart.
p3 macroeconomic tip: When people start referring to something as "too big to fail," it probably should have a long time ago. Props to R. J. Matson and Mike Lane.
p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chapatte (Switzerland), and Stephane Peray (Thailand).
Ann Telnaes discovers the American economic entity that really is "too big to fail."
Guest toon: Tom Tomorrow unveils the GOP's 11-point plan for success. Points #2, #5, and #8 are special p3 favorites. Conservative ideology seems to be like a security blanket--it may be getting pretty worn-out and funky-smelling, but take it away and you're going to have to listen to the child cry all night.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman all about the up-side of the post-Bush economy.
Speaking of "too big to fail," here's the classic segment from Disney's 1940 "Fantasia" depicting the genesis of life on earth and the rise and extinction of the dinosaurs, as set to Stravinski's "Rites of Spring."
Part 1:
Part 2:
(Some of you may remember the 1977 animated feature "Allegro non Troppo," directed by Bruno Bozzetto, a parody of--some say answer to--"Fantasia" which featured a somewhat different account of the procession of life on the planet, set to Ravel's "Bolero.")
p3 Bonus Toon: And turning to the "too big to fail" meme one last time for the week, Jesse Springer's latest toon is a good reminder that the dinosaurs might have eventually lost the evolutionary race because they got out-adapted (click to enlarge).
The news from Daryl Cagle's toon round-up is mostly gloomy, I'm afraid, although there's good news on the evolutionary front: Dinosaurs are disappearing and humans have rediscovered science.
p3 Picks of the Week: Daryl Cagle, Mike Keefe, Jeff Parker, Monty Wolverton, Jimmy Margulies, Dana Summers and Michael Ramirez.
p3 Observance of the End of the Dark Ages as depicted by Pat Bagley and Bob Englehart.
p3 macroeconomic tip: When people start referring to something as "too big to fail," it probably should have a long time ago. Props to R. J. Matson and Mike Lane.
p3 World Toon Review: Patrick Chapatte (Switzerland), and Stephane Peray (Thailand).
Ann Telnaes discovers the American economic entity that really is "too big to fail."
Guest toon: Tom Tomorrow unveils the GOP's 11-point plan for success. Points #2, #5, and #8 are special p3 favorites. Conservative ideology seems to be like a security blanket--it may be getting pretty worn-out and funky-smelling, but take it away and you're going to have to listen to the child cry all night.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman all about the up-side of the post-Bush economy.
Speaking of "too big to fail," here's the classic segment from Disney's 1940 "Fantasia" depicting the genesis of life on earth and the rise and extinction of the dinosaurs, as set to Stravinski's "Rites of Spring."
Part 1:
Part 2:
(Some of you may remember the 1977 animated feature "Allegro non Troppo," directed by Bruno Bozzetto, a parody of--some say answer to--"Fantasia" which featured a somewhat different account of the procession of life on the planet, set to Ravel's "Bolero.")
p3 Bonus Toon: And turning to the "too big to fail" meme one last time for the week, Jesse Springer's latest toon is a good reminder that the dinosaurs might have eventually lost the evolutionary race because they got out-adapted (click to enlarge).
Congratulations to Jon Stewart . . . but:
Friday, March 13, 2009
Why is a satirist having to do the heavy lifting on this, instead of the "news" media themselves?
It's been linked to and embedded a zillion places over the net today, but in the extraordinarily unlikely event that you haven't seen Stewart take CNBC's Jim Cramer to the woodshed from last night, get some popcorn and go here.
(Hard drive rebuild should be completed this afternoon or tomorrow morning, after which I should be posting at the usual rate again. Did I miss anything else while I was gone?)
It's been linked to and embedded a zillion places over the net today, but in the extraordinarily unlikely event that you haven't seen Stewart take CNBC's Jim Cramer to the woodshed from last night, get some popcorn and go here.
(Hard drive rebuild should be completed this afternoon or tomorrow morning, after which I should be posting at the usual rate again. Did I miss anything else while I was gone?)
It's a Drinking Liberally two-fer this week
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Portland-area DLers get two chances this week to meet and greet and (if you've got an iPhone) tweet.
Now you've got two opportunities, two locations, to enjoy political chat over drinks!
And remember: DL encourages everyone to drink, and vote, responsibly.
(Cross-posted at Loaded Orygun.)
- DL Portland Metro-West meets tonight at Friends Café & Pub, on the corner of 154th Terrace and Millikan Way, in Beaverton (about 4 blocks south from the Beaverton Creek MAX stop), from 8pm to 11pm. (DL PDX M-W meets on the second Wednesday of the month.)
- And DL Portland (downtown) meets tomorrow night at Madison's Grill, SE 9th and Hawthorne, from 7pm to 10pm. (Portland DL meets on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month.)
Now you've got two opportunities, two locations, to enjoy political chat over drinks!
And remember: DL encourages everyone to drink, and vote, responsibly.
(Cross-posted at Loaded Orygun.)
Sunday morning toons: Special "Sweaty, Swollen Man in the Black, Half-Buttoned Shirt" edition
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Bob Geiger remains missing in action.
But Daryl Cagle's toon round-up is open for business and friends, it's really not even close. Sure, there's the economy collapsing, unemployment heading steadily up, people losing their houses at a record clip--and those are all important. I mean, you know, I suppose. But there was really only one story this week: It's the man Letterman compared to an Eastern European gangster, and a NYTimes blogger calls "the sweaty, swollen man in the black, half-buttoned shirt," resembling "a bouncer at a strip club who spent all his tips on one bad outfit".
Don't be coy; you know exactly who we're talking about here: For America's political cartoonists, Rush Limbaugh is this week's "It" Girl. p3 Special Mention goes to John Cole, Adam Zyglis, Steve Sack, David Fitzsimmons, and John Darkow for their work in capturing the Essential Rush.
And for those of you who've had your fill of the Dish of the Day, the management is please to recommend the p3 Picks of the Week, certified 100% Rush-free: Pat Bagley, R. J. Matson, Mike Lane, Michael Ramirez, Jerry Holbert, and Dana Summers.
The theme for this week's p3 World Toon Review is Arresting Image, But Most Americans Won't Get the Reference: Ranier Hachfeld (Germany), Jianping Fan (China), Riber Hansson (Sweden), and Sergei Tunin (Russia).
Ann Telnaes reviews the Republican line-up. It isn't pretty.
Over at The American Prospect's blog, they took a few moments off this week from debating the nuances of Middle East policy and missile defense to defend comic book fandom. Here's a handy rule of thumb: When it's only the second paragraph, and you're already starting sentences with "Not to question what is, I am certain, the vibrant and thrilling sex lives of film critics, but […]," things have clearly left the realm of sober policy analysis.
After the last reporter files the last news story: The future of newspapers, the future of news, and the future of toons, all as foreseen by Tom Tomorrow. (The future of haircuts doesn't look very hopeful, either.)
Here's a bit of news you probably didn't see coming: The Washington Post likes "Doonesbury" better when it's poking fun at someone other then them.
Thank you for smoking: This weekend, I finally got around to seeing "Thank You for Smoking," the dark and funny story of a tobacco industry lobbyist's triumph, fall from grace, and--if you were waiting for the word "redemption" here, you haven't met the character yet. A running bit follows his efforts to create better product placement in movies, including a deal with a Hollywood uber-agent to show Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones smoking in bed after having wild zero-G sex on a space station in a forthcoming sci-fi movie. The price for Pitt to smoke would be $10 million, explains the agent, and the cost of both Pitt and Zeta-Jones smoking would be $25 million. The lobbyist is puzzled--why does it cost more for both of them? The extra $5 million, explains the agent, is for the synergy.
I imagine it didn't cost $25 million for this bit of product placement, but then, everything was cheaper in 1960:
Let the record show, by the way, that this ad never really made me want to smoke cigarettes as a child, although it probably encouraged my dislike of lawn mowing. And if you need a palate-cleanser to get rid of that image of Barney Rubble waving a cigarette around like Bette Davis, here's something a little more wholesome:
Hanna-Barbera were all about the synergy, baby. (Props to my old pal Keith for tipping me off about Pixie, Dixie, and Mr. Jinx. Yeah, yeah, yeah!)
p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer contemplates the future (click to enlarge):
But Daryl Cagle's toon round-up is open for business and friends, it's really not even close. Sure, there's the economy collapsing, unemployment heading steadily up, people losing their houses at a record clip--and those are all important. I mean, you know, I suppose. But there was really only one story this week: It's the man Letterman compared to an Eastern European gangster, and a NYTimes blogger calls "the sweaty, swollen man in the black, half-buttoned shirt," resembling "a bouncer at a strip club who spent all his tips on one bad outfit".
Don't be coy; you know exactly who we're talking about here: For America's political cartoonists, Rush Limbaugh is this week's "It" Girl. p3 Special Mention goes to John Cole, Adam Zyglis, Steve Sack, David Fitzsimmons, and John Darkow for their work in capturing the Essential Rush.
And for those of you who've had your fill of the Dish of the Day, the management is please to recommend the p3 Picks of the Week, certified 100% Rush-free: Pat Bagley, R. J. Matson, Mike Lane, Michael Ramirez, Jerry Holbert, and Dana Summers.
The theme for this week's p3 World Toon Review is Arresting Image, But Most Americans Won't Get the Reference: Ranier Hachfeld (Germany), Jianping Fan (China), Riber Hansson (Sweden), and Sergei Tunin (Russia).
Ann Telnaes reviews the Republican line-up. It isn't pretty.
Over at The American Prospect's blog, they took a few moments off this week from debating the nuances of Middle East policy and missile defense to defend comic book fandom. Here's a handy rule of thumb: When it's only the second paragraph, and you're already starting sentences with "Not to question what is, I am certain, the vibrant and thrilling sex lives of film critics, but […]," things have clearly left the realm of sober policy analysis.
After the last reporter files the last news story: The future of newspapers, the future of news, and the future of toons, all as foreseen by Tom Tomorrow. (The future of haircuts doesn't look very hopeful, either.)
Here's a bit of news you probably didn't see coming: The Washington Post likes "Doonesbury" better when it's poking fun at someone other then them.
Thank you for smoking: This weekend, I finally got around to seeing "Thank You for Smoking," the dark and funny story of a tobacco industry lobbyist's triumph, fall from grace, and--if you were waiting for the word "redemption" here, you haven't met the character yet. A running bit follows his efforts to create better product placement in movies, including a deal with a Hollywood uber-agent to show Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones smoking in bed after having wild zero-G sex on a space station in a forthcoming sci-fi movie. The price for Pitt to smoke would be $10 million, explains the agent, and the cost of both Pitt and Zeta-Jones smoking would be $25 million. The lobbyist is puzzled--why does it cost more for both of them? The extra $5 million, explains the agent, is for the synergy.
I imagine it didn't cost $25 million for this bit of product placement, but then, everything was cheaper in 1960:
Let the record show, by the way, that this ad never really made me want to smoke cigarettes as a child, although it probably encouraged my dislike of lawn mowing. And if you need a palate-cleanser to get rid of that image of Barney Rubble waving a cigarette around like Bette Davis, here's something a little more wholesome:
Hanna-Barbera were all about the synergy, baby. (Props to my old pal Keith for tipping me off about Pixie, Dixie, and Mr. Jinx. Yeah, yeah, yeah!)
p3 Bonus Toon: Jesse Springer contemplates the future (click to enlarge):
Saturday tunes: I’m no schoolboy, but I know what I like
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Here's the Stones performing "Brown Sugar," sometime around 1970. From the look of it, the rest of the band is faking it on-camera to the studio tracks while Mick does the vocals live.
This was filmed during Mick's "rooster-on-acid" performance phase, which musicologists agree began around 1963 and shows no sign of ending forty-six years later.
This was filmed during Mick's "rooster-on-acid" performance phase, which musicologists agree began around 1963 and shows no sign of ending forty-six years later.
The unforgiving minute
Friday, March 6, 2009
Then: The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.19th Century French
satirist Anatole France
Now:
[W]e are a blessed people when our poor have cell phones.21st Century blogger
Kathryn Jean Lopez
The difference, of course, was that France was being ironic, whereas Lopez is simply being clueless.
It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.Immortal rock icon
David St. Hubbins
Minute's up.
The unforgiving minute
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
This just in:The Reader's Digest Association, saddled with over $2 billion in debt, is exploring its options to file for Chapter 11 restructuring.
The good news: By careful editing, the RDA's attorneys expect to be able to reduce the length of the filing documents by over 30%, while retaining most of the sense and drama of the original.
Minute's up.
Conservative is to Republican Party as Parasite is to Host
This is truly amazing.
The Bush administration was famous for enforcing loyalty among its people (while Junior was hanging out at the Bush 41 White House between jobs, his job was loyalty enforcer; ask former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu). The sight of someone going off the reservation on Friday, usually by telling the truth about inner administration goings-on, only to have them groveling back to apologize by Monday, was pretty common.
And as unpleasant as it was to watch, it's still arguably legitimate for a sitting president to zealously enforce his code of personal loyalty among his people--it's sick, but even carried to Bush's extremes at least it makes a kind of sick sense. It's not the sort of environment I (or most sane people, I'd think) would want to work in, but certainly everyone involved knew the rules going in.
But when the elected (sort of) head of the party has to apologize to a radio host for calling him out--on charges that no one really disputes--that's something else altogether.
I had emailed longtime p3 correspondent Doctor TV yesterday about the ongoing spat between RNC head Michael Steele and radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh, shortly after Limbaugh called for the former's head (or other body parts) at CPAC. If Steele actually apologizes, I wrote, I'll be dumbfounded.
Exactly 10 minutes later, Doctor TV wrote me back with the words, "Prepare to be dumbfounded."
Twenty-four hours later, my jaw is still sagging on that one. I realize that Steele became head of the RNC much the way Claw-Claw-Claudius became emperor of Rome (i.e., less because of acknowledged talent than because all the more likely candidates were dead, by their own hand or someone else's). But wasn't there one person around Steele smart enough to remind him that Limbaugh, for whatever commercial clout he still has, does not sign Steele's paychecks?
Whatever else it proves, this sorry incident demonstrates that "Republican" and "conservative" were never equivalent terms--at least not in the sense of "movement conservative." It's more like: "Conservative" is to "Republican Party" as "Parasite" is to "Host."
I’m reminded of that great story told by Richard ("Nixonland") Perlstein:
Of course, this handed the Democratic leadership another free shot that they're happily taking advantage of (although not everyone on the left agrees with the wisdom of making Rush the face of the GOP). Still, when 95% of the participants at CPAC are against something that 67% of Americans support--and that something is Obama's job performance so far--it's hard not to conclude that the Republican party went to bed with conservatives and woke up with fleas.
There are rumors that some highly-placed Republicans have attacked Steele for caving to Limbaugh but, significantly, none of them wants their name printed.
At this point, if the federal election laws and Congressional rules that lock our two-party system in place disappeared tonight, the national Republican Party as it now stands would probably be gone by lunch tomorrow. It wouldn't even be a regional party dug in throughout the old Confederacy. At best it would be scattered remnants working out a deal to share office space with the LaRouche party or the Constitution Party.
Thanks to its partnership with radical right, the GOP is well on its way to becoming just a notional legal entity that the movement conservatives have co-opted for their political convenience--if it's not already there.
How quickly we arrived at this point from Rove's "permanent Republican majority," and what a sad spectacle it has become.
The Bush administration was famous for enforcing loyalty among its people (while Junior was hanging out at the Bush 41 White House between jobs, his job was loyalty enforcer; ask former White House Chief of Staff John Sununu). The sight of someone going off the reservation on Friday, usually by telling the truth about inner administration goings-on, only to have them groveling back to apologize by Monday, was pretty common.
And as unpleasant as it was to watch, it's still arguably legitimate for a sitting president to zealously enforce his code of personal loyalty among his people--it's sick, but even carried to Bush's extremes at least it makes a kind of sick sense. It's not the sort of environment I (or most sane people, I'd think) would want to work in, but certainly everyone involved knew the rules going in.
But when the elected (sort of) head of the party has to apologize to a radio host for calling him out--on charges that no one really disputes--that's something else altogether.
I had emailed longtime p3 correspondent Doctor TV yesterday about the ongoing spat between RNC head Michael Steele and radio blowhard Rush Limbaugh, shortly after Limbaugh called for the former's head (or other body parts) at CPAC. If Steele actually apologizes, I wrote, I'll be dumbfounded.
Exactly 10 minutes later, Doctor TV wrote me back with the words, "Prepare to be dumbfounded."
Twenty-four hours later, my jaw is still sagging on that one. I realize that Steele became head of the RNC much the way Claw-Claw-Claudius became emperor of Rome (i.e., less because of acknowledged talent than because all the more likely candidates were dead, by their own hand or someone else's). But wasn't there one person around Steele smart enough to remind him that Limbaugh, for whatever commercial clout he still has, does not sign Steele's paychecks?
Whatever else it proves, this sorry incident demonstrates that "Republican" and "conservative" were never equivalent terms--at least not in the sense of "movement conservative." It's more like: "Conservative" is to "Republican Party" as "Parasite" is to "Host."
I’m reminded of that great story told by Richard ("Nixonland") Perlstein:
Republicans are different from conservatives: that was one of the first lessons I learned when I started interviewing YAFers. I learned it making small talk with conservative publisher Jameson Campaigne, in Ottawa, Illinois, when I asked him if he golfed. He said something like: "Are you kidding? I'm a conservative, not a Republican."
Of course, this handed the Democratic leadership another free shot that they're happily taking advantage of (although not everyone on the left agrees with the wisdom of making Rush the face of the GOP). Still, when 95% of the participants at CPAC are against something that 67% of Americans support--and that something is Obama's job performance so far--it's hard not to conclude that the Republican party went to bed with conservatives and woke up with fleas.
There are rumors that some highly-placed Republicans have attacked Steele for caving to Limbaugh but, significantly, none of them wants their name printed.
At this point, if the federal election laws and Congressional rules that lock our two-party system in place disappeared tonight, the national Republican Party as it now stands would probably be gone by lunch tomorrow. It wouldn't even be a regional party dug in throughout the old Confederacy. At best it would be scattered remnants working out a deal to share office space with the LaRouche party or the Constitution Party.
Thanks to its partnership with radical right, the GOP is well on its way to becoming just a notional legal entity that the movement conservatives have co-opted for their political convenience--if it's not already there.
How quickly we arrived at this point from Rove's "permanent Republican majority," and what a sad spectacle it has become.
Sunday morning toons: Special "Think Pink!" Edition
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Bob Geiger is still on leave from his blog.
So let's kick things off with Daryl Cagle's round-up:
p3 Picks of the Week: R. J. Matson, Cameron Cardow, Jeff Parker, Jimmy Margulies, Michael Ramirez, Steve Sack, and Joe Heller.
The p3 Naked Truth Medal goes to Pat Bagley.
Following up on last week's story about the NYPost political cartoon that provoked a rare editorial (semi-)apology from the Rupert Murdoch machine: Mike Lane returns the favor.
Congratulations to the Salt Lake Tribune's Pat Bagley, winner of this year's Herblock Award.
p3 World Toon Review: Stephane Peray (Thailand), Christo Komarnitski (Bulgaria), Victor Ndula (Kenya), and Peter Broelman.
Ann Telnaes examines the two Hillarys. Oddly, this doesn't seem to be attracting the same outraged attention as the Cubs fan/Yankee fan kerfluffle a few years ago.
Guest toon: Tom Tomorrow explores the advantages of leaving the basement.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman notes who won't be the next idol.
Lance Mannion notes that the animated titles were the best part of any Pink Panther movie--even nearly upstaging Sellers' madcap performances (in the early Panther movies; the rest, as LM also points out, seemed to be a tad on the phoned-in side, and I haven't had the heart to see the Steve Martin remakes). The animated titles owed much of their success to their striking and imaginative look, but also (although LM doesn't mention it) to the unforgettable Henry Mancini theme.
The success of the character, matched with the Mancini score, launched a series of animated shorts (later collected on Saturday morning TV). The first of these is my favorite, the 1964 Academy Award-winning "The Pink Phink," created by refugees from the old Warner Bros. operation, including director Friz Freleng and musical director William Lava handling the Mancini theme. (The animated opening for "The Return of the Pink Panther" in 1975 which Lance features, was done by another member of the Looney Tunes diaspora, Ken Harris, without screen credit.)
p3 Bonus Toon:The Oregon budget process is never simple, especially not this year. But Jesse Springer thinks maybe it could be simpler than we're making it. If only we could put our finger on what's missing . . .
So let's kick things off with Daryl Cagle's round-up:
p3 Picks of the Week: R. J. Matson, Cameron Cardow, Jeff Parker, Jimmy Margulies, Michael Ramirez, Steve Sack, and Joe Heller.
The p3 Naked Truth Medal goes to Pat Bagley.
Following up on last week's story about the NYPost political cartoon that provoked a rare editorial (semi-)apology from the Rupert Murdoch machine: Mike Lane returns the favor.
Congratulations to the Salt Lake Tribune's Pat Bagley, winner of this year's Herblock Award.
p3 World Toon Review: Stephane Peray (Thailand), Christo Komarnitski (Bulgaria), Victor Ndula (Kenya), and Peter Broelman.
Ann Telnaes examines the two Hillarys. Oddly, this doesn't seem to be attracting the same outraged attention as the Cubs fan/Yankee fan kerfluffle a few years ago.
Guest toon: Tom Tomorrow explores the advantages of leaving the basement.
Portland homeboy Jack Ohman notes who won't be the next idol.
Lance Mannion notes that the animated titles were the best part of any Pink Panther movie--even nearly upstaging Sellers' madcap performances (in the early Panther movies; the rest, as LM also points out, seemed to be a tad on the phoned-in side, and I haven't had the heart to see the Steve Martin remakes). The animated titles owed much of their success to their striking and imaginative look, but also (although LM doesn't mention it) to the unforgettable Henry Mancini theme.
The success of the character, matched with the Mancini score, launched a series of animated shorts (later collected on Saturday morning TV). The first of these is my favorite, the 1964 Academy Award-winning "The Pink Phink," created by refugees from the old Warner Bros. operation, including director Friz Freleng and musical director William Lava handling the Mancini theme. (The animated opening for "The Return of the Pink Panther" in 1975 which Lance features, was done by another member of the Looney Tunes diaspora, Ken Harris, without screen credit.)
p3 Bonus Toon:The Oregon budget process is never simple, especially not this year. But Jesse Springer thinks maybe it could be simpler than we're making it. If only we could put our finger on what's missing . . .
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