Arnold's Media Savvy

Yep that's the Republican Candidate for governor. The lady is a newscaster in Britain, who is distinctly not pleased with this familiarity. More information can be found over at Tom Tomorrow.



Now I will admit it's not the home run that will end Arnolds campaign but it is pretty unsavory. If California Democrats can get their hands on the tape of this and show it moving, well, could mean something.



And to forestall your wonderings--yeah, I've heard that Former President Clinton did this kind of thing too--and it was disgusting when he did it as well.

Good News Everybody

We can all go back to using the words "Fair and Balanced" without threat of reprisal. The Mighty Fox Network was told, by Judge Denny Chin, that their suit was "wholly without merit, both factually and legally."

So those of you who would like to say that Fox News is Fair and Balanced. Feel Free.

It's Friday and I'm Disinterested

I'm sorry--I'll try to have a solid Saturday posting schedule.

Hating Clinton Vs. Hating Bush

The world is often more complicated than it initially appears. There were a lot of Republicans attacking President Clinton during his presidency. And there are a lot of Democrats attacking President Bush now. But are the two situations equivelent? Jonah Goldberg says yes, but I don't see it myself.

For one thing, Clinton Haters, in many cases, were extremely well funded. The Bush hate machine people aren't, in general, paid to attack President Bush.

Secondly, reactions to Clinton by the Clinton Haters were vicreal before he even stepped into office. Witness their willingness to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars tracking down Whitewater only to end up with Monica Lewinsky. There are those on the Left who hated President Bush on sight; but President Bush is regularly attacked on things he's actually done while President (such as attacking Iraq).

Goldbergs article is interesting in how skews the hatred. Conservative hatred for Former President Clinton is charectarized as mildly wanting to investigate Travelgate and Whitewater, while the more vicious attacks on President Clinton were from "Fringe groups" who the press latched on and distorted to make it seem like these attacks were coming from mainstream Conservatives.

In contrast, those who attack President Bush are part and parcel of the Democratic party and any candidate the Democratic party puts forward in the election. They are calling President Bush Hitler and insinuating that he started the Iraq war for base political motives. Democratic activists, apparently, call President Bush a murderer.

One thing working in Goldberg's favor is that the American people do have a short memory. I don't know if it will be enough in this place.

I do need to assure the public that I do not believe President Bush is a murder (nor was President Clinton, in case you are wondering). I don't think that President Bush knew about 9/11 before it happened or any such nonsense. I do believe he's been a failure as a President and I hope that we can replace him next year--but that's all part of the political game.

More Neil Young

I know it must feel like this is slowly becoming a Neil Young fan site--but I can't help myself. His latest album is so great and so relevent it's hard not to let it seep into my writing. If you get the album, you'll notice it also has a DVD along with the album. The DVD has acoustic versions of the songs performed in Ireland along with Neil discussing the songs and telling the story. You are cheating yourself if you don't sit down and watch it.

Anyway RollingStone has an interview with Neil Young in which he talks about the hopeful side of his album. "The energy in the last couple of songs ["Sun Green" and "Be the Rain"] - that's youth rising out of this. It hasn't gotten to the point where things have started moving yet, but this period is the biggest breeding ground for revolution in this country since the mid-Sixties. I don't think there's been a more ripe time for a generation to come along and rebel against all this.

Amen to that.

They ask him about TV later on in the album and he says, "But these reality shows -- who are they kidding? What reality is that, with a camera on you all the time? How stupid are people? "

The Ten Commandments

I like the Ten Commandments. I mean I've lobbied unsuccessfully to get "Thou Shalt Not Tailgate" added as an eleventh commandment, but despite my disappoint at having said petition rejected, I think the Ten Commandments are great. And I think if we all followed them, the world would be a better place.

That said Alabama Chief Justice Ray S. Moore's decision to leave his statue of the Ten Commandments up in the face of a court order requiring him to remove them is a crime. As a justice he should know that his first duty as a judge is to uphold the law; the law as interpreted by the US District Judge Myron H. Thompson requires Moore to remove the statue. Perhaps, based on his interpretation of scripture, he is not religiously permitted to obey. Fine and dandy. Than he should not be sitting in a bench. When you become an officer of the court, you take upon yourself the requirement to uphold the law. Part of that inevitably includes upholding laws you personally find distasteful. But the law has to come first, above your personal concerns, however noble those personal concerns might be.

However, there is also the possibility that Justice Moore's personal concerns may not be entirely spiritual. Certainly he might have calculated how these actions might play among his consituents. He did, after all, arrange for a camera crew, employed by Coral Ridge Ministries, to be on hand as the statue was installed (according to the Washington Post). And you can be sure that Justice Moore is not entirely dissatisfied at the national exposure he's received. You might want to watch to see if Moore pops up on a ballot sometime soon.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is not Gray Davis

You heard it hear first. They are two seperate people. For, verily, this is the word that Ann Coulter has brought to the masses who she loves so much. And although she describes the race as a contest between two tax-and-spend liberals, she is still willing to admit that Arnold Schwarzenegger is not Gray Davis.

The problem with this equation is that it turns out the American people like services. I can see how Ms. Coulter and others of her philosophical persuasion might not want to admit that. But most people want good schools, they want road repairs, they want to eat meat safely, they want safe working environments, and they want hundreds of other services that the government has provided. So far, President Bush's strategy has been to suggest that we can have large tax cuts without any change in services. Gray Davis's strategy has been, as near as I can tell, to suggest that we can have increasing services without any change in taxes. Both policies are clearly problematic, particularly in light of the Gries Straight Line unveiled on this site many moons ago.

So California, whatever happens is going to have to cut services and/or increase taxes. We'll have to see which view wins out. Ms. Coulter is doing her part by describing school teachers as parasites; making it easier for Governor Schwarzenegger to fire them all.

Walter Williams Distorts the Issue

I haven't had too much respect for Walter Williams, for quite a while. He's always struck me as a guy who figured out a good gig (i.e. being Rush Limbaugh's Black friend) and isn't going to let anything get in the way of that.

But his latest article sets new standards in distortion. In it, he takes on the serious issue of Job Exportation. First of all he makes fun of the idea, by positing a customs agent asking a business traveler what he has in his bag. The businessman, get this, ha ha ha, the business man says he's carrying jobs with him overseas. So the guard says, "What? Jobs are an abstract concept, you can't put them in a bag." And they both share a good laugh.

But then he gets down to serious distortion. He uses a favorite method of distorters, comparing two things without admitting there's a third thing out there. He implies a comparison between Africa and Europe, and essentially writes off Asia. He also equates foreign investment with foreign employment, and of course the two are not the same.

He also leaves out a reason some European workers are cheaper than American workers; the countries they operate in have cradle to grave medical coverage. Most jobs in America have to come with Medical insurance in order to attract people.

Of course Williams has a solution. Working people should give up the protections they have won, and accept more dangerous working environments. American consumers should be more forgiving of shoddy merchandise. Corporations should get anything they want, particularly exemption from law suits and OSHA requirements. If we do that, than we can bring jobs home.

Greendale

Neil Young's new album came out today. It's called Greendale and, right now, it seems incredible. It's a story of people, American people. Strange bewildering people in the way that only ordinary people can be. Anyway if you like Neil Young it's worth checking out.

And if you don't like Neil Young, what's wrong with you?

Wise Sentiments

Joe Conason is printing bits of his new book at Salon, which I suppose is a win-win situation for them. Yesterday he printed his opening chapter--and it contains several paragraphs that I really agree with.

Unlike Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter, I also don't believe that my political adversaries are uniformly "no good," or un-American, or greedy, or bigoted, or stupid. I shouldn't have to say this, but I know from personal experience that generosity, compassion, and wisdom cross all partisan and ideological boundaries. I married into a family that includes Republican conservatives who happen to be among the finest people I have ever known. My wife's grandfather is an unrepentant right-winger who likes to tweak me with editorials from the New York Post and Internet jokes about dumb Democrats. He is also a true patriot and a gentleman who has treated me with kindness from the first day we met, despite my obnoxious opinions. I would much prefer an atmosphere that encourages friendship rather than hatred among Americans, regardless of ideology and party.

Unfortunately, I don't think there's much chance of that happy outcome until liberals learn to hit back hard. The classic American hero is the underdog who wins respect by fighting back against a bully. Sometimes the bully just limps away to nurse his wounds. Sometimes the bully wises up and mends his ways. Occasionally, the underdog and the bully become best friends.

But the underdog who dares to fight back is always better off.

Wise words. I heartedly agree with that sentiment.

Cleaning House

Yesterday I posted on Rhapsody, and compared it to Napster. It occured to me this morning that I might have given the wrong impression on Napster or on what is euphamistically called "File Sharing." I am against most of it. The sharing of rarities by fans of the band is ok in my mind. In 99% of the cases those songs aren't available by more legitimate means, so why shouldn't fans share them?

The problem comes when you download an album that is readily available. See everytime you plunk down your money on a record store counter, you are voting for the music that you like. If you like Bjorks blissfully bizarre soundscapes, and you buy her album, you are voting for her to be able to produce another album. Record companies are only going to put out albums that they consider commercially viable. Artists are only going into the studio if they think they can make money off their efforts (it turns out all those fancy nobs and buttons hooked up to the microphones cost a heck of a lot of money).

If you download the music you like, you are abstaining from voting. That might be fine for now--but when other people cast their votes and groups you love can't get back in the studio, well, don't come crying to me. Well, actually feel free to, what do I care?

Rhapsody

The company that makes Real Radio has a new service called Rhapsody, which I enjoy, but which I wish they would work harder to put more obscurities on it. That was the difference between Napster (and it's iterations) and the Corporate Solution, which is Rhapsody. With Napster if even one person loved, say, Dream Academy's second album, the brilliantly dreamy "Remembrance Days," it showed up. With Rhapsody, the decision not to encode "Remembrance Days" is made by some guy wearing a tie.

Not that I'm against Rhapsody or guys with ties--both are great.

Anyway they have these mini reviews at the bottom of the screen. I'm listening to Neil Young's "After the Gold Rush" and I read the review at the bottom, which I will quote verbatim.

"Everybody always talks about how Neil's first, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, is Hard Rock and After The Gold Rush is some kind coup because he plays acoustic guitar on it. Huh? It's Neil. He could be playing a toilet seat and it would rock --hard. It would rock harder than the hardest Hard Rock can rock hard. That's what this record does."

I don't know how you can be any more clear than that.

For the doubters

I know there are some among us who doubt that I am all that great. For those doubters, I present this letter I just recieved, from the nephew of departing president Charles Taylor of liberia. In it, he states, "My proposal to you will be very surprising, as we have not had any Personal contact before. However, I sincerely seek your confidence in this transaction,which I propose to you as a person of transparency, honesty and high calibre."

You see--> Transperency, honesty, and (last but not least) High Calbre. I'm the greatest.

Apparently this dude needs me to send him my bank account number so he can transfer money out of the country for his uncle. I'm debating it.

More on Drugs

Talked about drugs a bit last week, and now I'm at it again. Responding to a great article by Debra Saunders, a conservative columnist who is relating the increased scrutiny our drug laws are recieving. Attorney General John Ashcroft is determined to continue fighting the drug war with all his might. Some in the courts, particularly Justice Anthony Kennedy, are saying that the mandatory minimums impair a judge's ability to impart justice. There's no leeway for thsoe cases when Mercy might be worthwhile.

She also comments on the racial aspects of mandetory minimums, a brave move. She states, "I called the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which supports California's "three-strikes" law, for a contrary view. I didn't get it: Legal director Kent Scheidegger said Kennedy is "right, there are some things that should be re-examined," such as the disparity that mandates a five-year minimum sentence for 500 grams of cocaine, but also for 5 grams (100 times less) of crack.

In 1998, 85 percent of crack arrests involved African Americans, while 31 percent of powder cocaine arrests involved black defendants."

I generally agree that we need to reexamine our drug laws--if not the entire war on drugs. Like most ill-concieved "wars," including Vietnam, we don't seem to have a clear idea on how to win.

New Quote!!!

As is traditional I am changing the quote at the top of the page. Also updated the Quotes Page.