SEPTEMBER 27, 2008
On the whole, I was surprised by how many solid punches McCain was able to throw during last night's debate. By some standard, I might even be inclined to concede the night to McCain, if only on points. Obama missed a few golden opportunities, and probably allowed McCain to guide the narrative more than he should have.
That being said, Obama did achieve the goal of convincing those voters who are still doubtful about him that he, most certainly, is Oval Office material. Cool as a cucumber.
McCain, by contrast, came off like your know-it-all uncle who routinely whups his cronies at the Moose Lodge (see the Republican primary debates) but resents even having to share the stage with the razor-sharp college boy who's going to eliminate his job and bang his granddaughter. He never made eye contact with Obama, and when Obama made his blistering "You're Wrong" attack directly at McCain, the older man just stared into middle space and fumed. Bam!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
Some perspective.
The proposed Wall Street bailout would be in the neighborhood of $1,000,000,000,000. That's the same as writing a $3,300 check for every man, woman and child in America (or, $9,900 for a family of three).
According to CardWeb.com, the average American family with at least one credit card has a debt of $9,200. So the banks will be given enough tax money to cover America's collective credit card debt, which the banks will keep to cover themselves against... right... our debt. And when it's all over, we STILL owe them the debt.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEPTEMBER 19, 2008
The new James Bond theme song, "Another Way to Die" by Jack White and Alicia Keys, has been made available to listen to here. If you're a lifelong Bond fanatic (guilty!), then the release of a new Bond theme is kind of a big deal, and is often a source of heated debate among 007 aficionados. I have a short list of characteristics that any Bond song should contain in order for me to consider it a worthy addition to the legacy:
- A bombastic opening
- Horns or hornlike flourishes
- Electric guitar
- Lyrics that are more evocative than logical
- A crescendo finish
Now, there are Bond themes that fall short in one or more of these areas, and still work ("GoldenEye" lacks bombast,
"The Man with the Golden Gun" and "Goldfinger" make absolute lyrical sense). But to really be a winner, you need at least three of the five, and having only one (or none!) is unforgivable.
Fortunately, the new piece passes the test with flying colors.
The movie, Quantum of Solace, opens November 14, and the trailer seems to suggest one hell of a blazing picture.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEPTEMBER 13, 2008
Earlier this week, Am and I were very discouraged (as were a lot of liberals) about the tepid response from Obama to the McPalin smear machine. We held back our monthly donation to the campaign. We decided to give him until the end of the week to get his act together.
This spot hit on Wednesday:
Okay. A little better than the previous lobbyist ad, but still not quite on the money. For instance, the term "lobbyist", believe it or not, is one that many Americans
still don't understand. Things then got a bit more cutting...
Getting warmer. Getting warmer. But this is a tricky one. I bet you already know why. Does your grandmother know how to use a computer? See where I'm going with this?
Now take a look at this one, put together by an Obama supporter and totally not endorsed by Obama:
THAT'S a fucking ad!
Now, at a rally today in New Hampshire, Obama finally went apeshit on McCain, calling his campaign the sleaziest and most dishonorable in recent memory. Will this carry over into the ads, and will this now define the Obama response? If it does, my wife and I will increase our cash donations to the campaign. It's up to you, Barack.
Cold. Hard. Cash. Yours.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEPTEMBER 11, 2008
I simply had to take a few days off from the whole politics thing. It has been an emotional rollercoaster this past week. McCain's poll standings are way up because of his freaky VP choice, and thanks to the blatantly false and childish attacks he is levelling at Obama.
To add insult to injury, I am wildly unenthused by Obama's soft shoe response. Case in point:
I mean, he's right, but... where's the anger? Obama's repeated mantra that "the American people know better" is starting to scare me. The American people can barely find their home towns on a map, sir. Please realize this now. There is hope, though:
By and large, the media is playing along with McPalin -- somehow, the notion that "the Surge has worked" went from being a Republican campaign motto to an inexplicably accepted historical fact, uttered in an offhanded way by everyone from Brian Williams to Larry King.
And once again the idiot "undecided" independents are showing the world just how easily manipulated they are.
Or are they?
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt chimes in with a new piece called What Makes People Vote Republican? His central thesis is that Americans, by and large, prefer the conservative "vision" for the country to the liberal alternative, regardless of whether or not the GOP ever really delivers on it (they never do). He suggests that by convincing ourselves that people are simply being "duped" into for voting for McPalin, we are missing the real issue. It is well worth a look... but so is Sam Harris' response, which takes issue with the role of emotions in morality. Make some coffee and settle in.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEPTEMBER 4, 2008
How about a day off from politics?
Every once in a while, a piece of pop culture minutae comes along that seems to be a direct, surgical extraction from my subconscious mind, somehow then made real in the world. Such is the case with the new Madonna Sticky & Sweet Concert Tour, now wending its way through Europe. Without belaboring the point, I will just present the video evidence. I will let you, dear reader, try and find it. Hint: Madonna herself, amazingly, is not it.
Bonnie Fuller, Huffington Post:Is Sarah Palin ready to take the mantle of worst mother of the year from Lynne Spears? Bristol Palin... has unwittingly and literally become the poster child for her mother's anti-choice and abstinence-only education policies. She should have had the privacy to make her own difficult choices and now she has to support her mother's ambitions and policies regardless of what she wants for herself -- she's been thrown under a bus...[and] probably doesn't feel like she has the right to object to anything her mother and father are doing or saying right now.
Nico Pitney and Sam Stein, Huffington Post:Three months before she was thrust into the national political spotlight, Gov. Sarah Palin was asked to handle a much smaller task: addressing the graduating class of commission students at her one-time church, Wasilla Assembly of God. Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska's governor asked the audience to pray for another matter -- a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. AND HERE'S THE VIDEO, in two parts:
I know what those of you in the dry states are thinking: what better way to celebrate the holiday than with some pertinent information about John McCain and his bizarre VP pick, Sarah ("What the F@%K???") Palin?
Now on to the VP. After months of slamming Barack Obama for "inexperience," McCain has chosen a right-wing religious conservative with no foreign policy experience (who until recently was mayor of a town of 9,000 people) to be one heartbeat away from the presidency.
The DAILY SHOW puts the choice in perspective, specifically as regards the pandering to women that it represents:
SARAH PALIN FACTS:
- She was elected Alaska's governor a little over a year and a half ago. Her previous office was mayor of Wasilla, a small town outside Anchorage. She has no foreign policy experience.
- Palin is strongly anti-choice, opposing abortion even in the case of rape or incest.
- Palin thinks creationism (i.e. "God made the Universe five to ten thousand years ago") should be taught in public schools.
- She's doesn't think humans are the cause of climate change.
- She's solidly in line with John McCain's "Big Oil first" energy policy. She's pushed hard for more oil drilling and says renewables won't be ready for years.
- She sued the Bush administration for listing polar bears as an endangered species (she was worried it would interfere with more oil drilling in Alaska).
- John McCain met Palin once at a meeting. They spoke a second time, last Sunday, when he called her about being vice-president. Then he offered her the position.
This is information the American people need to see. Please take a moment to send your friends and family to ThrillFactory.com!
Want some MORE video???
FOX News' resident genius Steve Doocy weighs in with a defense of Sarah Palin that has to be seen to be believed:
Not unbelievable enough? Watch John McCain's wife carry the torch:
Enjoy the Obama TV spot that addresses the real issue here:
DENVER -- Iraq war veterans brought their military credibility to the podium on Wednesday and endorsed Sen. Barack Obama as the best candidate to lead the military and help veterans.
Obama is challenged by GOP Sen. John McCain, a former Navy pilot who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam.
Seeking to bolster Obama's credentials on security issues, Obama was formally nominated at the Democratic convention by Michael Wilson, 33, of Melbourne, Fla., an Air Force medic who served in Iraq. Wilson, a Republican, said Obama has wisdom and courage "to talk to our enemies and consult with our allies."
Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Pa., 34, the only Iraq war veteran elected to Congress, addressed the crowd with 25 male and female recent veterans wearing dark business suits at his side. He said Obama has fought for better care for veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and to end homelessness among veterans.
"That's why we are here and we are proud to stand with him as he leads the fight for a smarter and tougher foreign policy, so that we can finally end the war in Iraq, go after the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11, and defeat them where they are strongest, in Afghanistan," Murphy said.
McCain, a key backer of the troop increase in Iraq, is against a scheduled troop withdrawal. Obama spoke out against the war at the start and opposed the troop increase. He has said his plan would get combat troops out of Iraq in 16 months.
Off the stage at the convention, veterans from recent wars have attended fundraisers for Iraq veterans running for office and lobbied for better benefits.
Earlier Wednesday, thousands of people attended a Rage Against the Machine concert sponsored by Iraq Veterans Against the War. Afterward, about 50 veterans in military fatigues led a noisy but peaceful protest from the concert into downtown.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 25, 2008
Alrighty, then. Joe Biden. I'm good with that. He voted for the Iraq war (ouch!) but has since regretted it and been a vocal critic of the disastrous result (redeemed!). He's got more honor and integrity in his nutsack than John McCain has in his whole body. And best of all -- he's knows how to cut you down to size with his mouth. We need that. Bad. Go get 'im, Joe!
It's time for things to get nasty. Frank Rich of the New York Times pretty much nails the situation:
As the real campaign at last begins in Denver this week, this much is certain: It's time for Barack Obama to dispatch "Change We Can Believe In" to a dignified death. Zero hour is here. The fierce urgency of the 21st century demands "Change Before It's Too Late".
Over the weekend, Am and I had a chance to chat with a few family members and friends, with the subject inevitably turning to the election. Some of the talk was encouraging -- everyone we spoke to was either going to vote for Obama or not at all. Still, there was a distressing amount of old school bitterness, of the "liberals want to give my money away to welfare moms" variety (as if that's where the money ever actually went). And what would a conversation about this election be without at least one person trying to frame their viewpoint as one thing ("I just don't feel safe with Obama") so as to weakly cover up what they're really all about ("I'll never vote for a black guy")?
The whole black guy thing mystifies me. Every time I've ever been lied to, hustled, cheated on, backstabbed or punched in the gut, it has been a white person doing the deed. I almost look forward to being fucked over by a black guy. Change of pace.
And, really... the white people I've spoken to who have a problem with Obama's race...? They're blacker than he is!
Thomas Jefferson continues to spin in his grave: Obama and McCain were both forced to endure a televised sit-down with one of America's "most revered pastors" recently. The subject: their religious beliefs, of course. How far has America sunk? Can it get any lower?
Oh, and in answer to an Ask an Atheist query from "St Paul": Is there anything outside of the realm of cold, hard science that you believe in? Anything at all?
You mean like homeopathy, acupuncture, echinacea, aromatherapy, magnetic resonance zones or anything "holistic"? Personally, I think they're all harmless horseshit -- except when I meet someone who legitimately positions them alongside chemotherapy, antibiotics or vaccines (a.k.a. actual medicine). That isn't harmless thinking. It is potentially deadly backward-thinking. The alternative medicine myth has failed and failed again in every double-blind study it has ever been subjected to. There is nothing verifiable, provable or reliable about any of it. Never was. Placebo. Psychosomatic. End of story.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 17, 2008 American 15-year-olds rank 24th out of 29 countries in math literacy, and their parents are as likely to believe in flying saucers as in evolution; roughly 30-40% believe in each. The president believes "the jury is still out" on evolution. The political right (and their "culture warrior" allies) actively ignore evidence and encourage misinformation. To motivate their followers, they label intelligent and informed people as "elite," implying that ignorance is somehow both valuable and under attack.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 16, 2008
Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency? Vote here.
John McCain’s warning that Barack Obama isn’t ready for the awesome job of commander-in-chief may not be registering with a key constituency: the American military. U.S. troops, and especially those deployed abroad, are talking with their wallets and saying they want Obama as the next president!
It also appears that the John Edwards infidelity fiasco is (as I hoped) blowing back on John McCain (the philanderer who is actually running for President). The LA Times has a must-read piece, and this Hannity & Colmes video is priceless:
As if to add insult to injury, a trio of Republicans have defected from McCain and kicked off an effort to garner support for Obama. Here's a video, too (and notice the testy tone from the Fox News tool):
However... it's not ALL good news this week, as an anti-Obama book called "Obama Nation" is due to hit store shelves, and is "expected" to be a huge best-seller. It's written by the same festering ass wound who headed the anti-Kerry "Swift Boat" nonsense in 2004. It's easy to dismiss this douchebag because his book is a hackjob full of lies, but this is also the guy who somehow convinced a lot of people that John Kerry (war hero) was a coward and a traitor, and that George W. Bush (draft dodger) was a patriot and a soldier. Anyway, consider yourself INFORMED now:
KICK ASS! A federal judge just ruled that the University of California can deny course credit to applicants from Christian high schools whose textbooks declare the Bible infallible and reject evolution. Seeing as how my daughter is very likely going to grow up in the California School System, I have to smile about this one.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 15, 2008
76% of Americans believe the next president should make improving science education a national priority -- but only 26% believe that they themselves have a good understanding of science! How do you rate? Test yourself. And don't forget... a failing grade isn't funny or silly or cute. It means you're a bit of a retard.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 7, 2008
Below is a new piece by Robert Parry that I am re-presenting in its entirety and without permission. I've never done this before on the Desktop, but the sentiments are so close to my own mind -- and so incredibly important to the future of our country -- that I just had to. I've injected some multimedia elements to flesh it out. Please read.
"Why Obama Could be in Trouble"
By Robert Parry, Consortium News. August 7, 2008.
It might seem unlikely that the United States would elect John McCain to succeed George W. Bush when that would ensure continuation of many unpopular Bush policies: an ill-defined war with the Muslim world, right-wing consolidation of the U.S. Supreme Court, a drill-oriented energy strategy, tax cuts creating massive federal deficits, etc., etc.
But there are reasons -- beyond understandable concerns about Barack Obama's limited experience -- that make a McCain victory possible, indeed maybe probable.
Here is one of the big ones: The U.S. news media is as bad as ever, arguably worse.
On Monday, Obama gave a detail-rich speech on how he would address the energy crisis, which is a major point of concern among Americans. From ideas for energy innovation to retrofitting the U.S. auto industry to conservation steps to limited new offshore drilling, Obama did what he is often accused of not doing, fleshing out his soaring rhetoric.
McCain responded with a harsh critique of Obama's calls for more conservation, claiming that Obama wants to solve the energy crisis by having people inflate their tires. McCain's campaign even passed out a tire gauge marked as Obama's energy plan.
For his part, McCain made clear he wanted to drill for more oil wherever it could be found and to build many more nuclear power plants.
These competing plans offered a chance for the evening news to address an issue of substance that is high on the voters' agenda. Instead, NBC News anchor Brian Williams devoted 30 seconds to the dueling energy speeches, without any details and with the witty opening line that Obama was "refining" his energy plan.
So, instead of dealing with a serious issue in a serious way, NBC News ignored the substance and went for a clever slight against Obama, hitting his political maneuvering in his softened opposition to more offshore drilling.
Williams's quip fit with one of the press corps' favorite campaign narratives, Obama's flip-flopping. But the coverage ignored far more important elements of the story, such as the feasibility of Obama's vow that "we must end the age of oil in our time" or the wisdom of McCain's emphasis on drilling -- and nuking -- the nation out of its energy mess.
And, as for flip-flops, McCain's dramatic repositioning of himself as an anti-environmentalist -- after years of being one of the green movement's favorite Republicans -- represents a far more significant change than Obama's modest waffling on offshore oil.
The Sierra Club, one of the nation's premier environmental organizations, has repudiated McCain and now is running ads attacking his energy plan. But McCain's flip-flops -- even complete reversals -- remain an underplayed part of the campaign story. They just don't fit the narrative of maverick John McCain on the "Straight Talk Express."
Loving the 'Surge'
The major U.S. news media has been equally superficial in dealing with the Iraq War and the "war on terror." It is now a fully enshrined conventional wisdom that George W. Bush's troop "surge" was a huge success and vindicates McCain's early support for it. On Obama's overseas trip, it became de rigueur for each interviewer to pound him for the first 10 or 15 minutes with demands that he accept the accepted wisdom about the "surge" and admit that he was wrong and McCain was right.
Obama's attempts to offer a more subtle explanation of what had occurred in Iraq -- that key reasons for the declining violence actually predated the "surge" -- were treated with bafflement by the interviewers, who simply reframed their questions and came back at him in a show of toughness against Obama's supposed evasions.
CBS News anchor Katie Couric started this pattern...
...but others fell smartly in line, including NBC's Tom Brokaw on "Meet the Press." Indeed, many of the same media stars who had cheered the nation to war in 2003 (such as Brokaw) were now hectoring Obama, who had spoken out against the invasion in real time.
Conversely, McCain is never challenged about his misjudgment in advocating a rapid pivot from Afghanistan to Iraq in late 2001 and early 2002, before Osama bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda were captured and before Afghanistan had stabilized.
That premature pivot now stands as one of the biggest military blunders in U.S. history, leaving American troops bogged down in two open-ended wars and allowing the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks to regroup and to plot in safe havens inside Pakistan.
However, American voters who rely on the major news media for their information would have no idea about McCain's central role in this fiasco. All they hear about is how McCain was right about the "surge" and how Obama won't admit he was wrong.
Britney/Paris
When American news consumers aren't hearing misinformation, they're almost surely hearing trivia. The TV news shows couldn't resist endlessly repeating McCain's attack ad that compared Obama and his enthusiastic reception in Berlin to misbehaving celebrities Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.
Though the juxtaposition was clearly meant to demean -- and reminded some political observers of the "call me" ads of a sexy white woman whispering to black Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford -- McCain's campaign insisted it was all in good fun.
While some pundits did take note of McCain's detour onto the low road, others picked up McCain's campaign theme that Obama is a "presumptuous" elitist who looks down on others.
That powerful attack line, which touches on the grievances of working-class whites who feel that some blacks have gotten unfair advantages from affirmative action, is at the heart of modern American racism. Since the Nixon era, Republicans have played this Southern Strategy with great success, telling whites that they're the real victims.
This Obama-elitist theme reached its apex (or nadir, if you prefer) when the Washington Post's Dana Milbank distorted a reported quote from Obama to a closed Democratic caucus and used it to prove Obama was a "presumptuous nominee." [Washington Post, July 30, 2008]
Jonathan Capehart, Milbank's colleague from the Washington Post's neoconservative editorial page, then took the point a step further on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show, citing Milbank's misleading quote to establish that Obama is an "uppity" black man. Yet, the true meaning of the Obama quote appears to have been almost the opposite of how Milbank used it.
Painting Obama as a megalomaniac, Milbank wrote: "Inside [the caucus], according to a witness, [Obama] told the House members, 'This is the moment ... that the world is waiting for,' adding: 'I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.'"
However, other people who attended the caucus complained that Milbank had yanked the words out of context to support his "presumptuous" thesis, not to reflect what Obama actually said.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-South Carolina, said Obama's comment was "in response to what one of the [House] members prefaced the question by," a reference to the crowd of 200,000 that turned out to hear Obama speak in Berlin.
According to Clyburn, Obama "said, 'I wish I could take credit for that, but I can't. Because it's not about me. It's about America. It's about the people of Germany and the people of Europe looking for a new hope, new relationships, as we go forward in the world.' So, he expressly said that it's not about me."
A House Democratic aide sent an e-mail to Fox News saying, "Lots of people are reading the quote about Obama being a symbol and getting it wrong. His entire point of that riff was that the campaign IS NOT about him.
"The Post left out the important first half of the sentence, which was something along the lines of: 'It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol ...'"
So, it appears that Obama's attempt to show humility was transformed into its opposite, establishing that, as Capehart put it, Obama is an "uppity" black man. [Capehart himself is black.]
A week after Milbank pulled the Obama quote inside out, the Washington Post had yet to run a correction or a clarification. The august Post apparently judges that Obama's supporters don't have the clout to punish a news organization for getting a quote wrong, even if it continues to reverberate through the media echo chamber to millions of Americans.
Putting Obama at Risk
Yet possibly even more offensive than the quote, Milbank's column shoved everything, including the Secret Service security arrangements for Obama, through the lens of proving that the candidate is arrogant.
When Washington police and the Secret Service blocked off roads for Obama's motorcade, that was not simply prudence in the face of extraordinary security concerns for Obama's life; it was proof that Obama already sees himself as a head of state.
"He traveled in a bubble more insulating than the actual President's. Traffic was shut down for him as he zoomed about town in a long, presidential-style motorcade, while the public and most of the press were kept in the dark about his activities."
Milbank groused, too, about the tight security that the police put around Obama's movements on Capitol Hill.
"Capitol Police cleared the halls -- just as they do for the actual President. The Secret Service hustled him in through a side door -- just as they do for the actual President," Milbank wrote.
While Milbank portrayed these security steps as further evidence of Obama's hubris, there is no reason to believe that Obama had any say in the decisions of his security detail to protect the candidate.
Milbank and the Post were behaving as if they were oblivious to the physical danger that surrounds the first African-American to have a serious chance to be elected President of the United States. It was almost as if they were baiting him to order the Secret Service to pull back or face the accusation that he is, as Capehart put it, "uppity."
This pattern of how the major media treats Obama also is not new. Although the McCain campaign and the right-wing media insist that Obama gets easy treatment from the press corps, that amounts to more "working the refs" than a legitimate complaint.
Just because Obama gets more coverage than McCain -- the centerpiece of the Republican complaint -- doesn't mean that the press favors Obama, anymore than the fact that Bill Clinton got lots of coverage in 1998 over the Monica Lewinsky scandal meant that the press was favoring him.
Indeed, there have been repeated examples of media double standards working against Obama.
For instance, during the primaries, the major media obsessed for weeks over controversies that would have blown over for other candidates in days. The stupid remarks by Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright, were endless fodder for news programs, while offensive comments from pro-McCain pastors were just tiny blips and soon disappeared.
Similarly, Obama's lack of a flag-lapel pin became a theme that was used to challenge his patriotism, although neither John McCain nor Hillary Clinton wore a pin. Neither, by the way, did ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson as they moderated the April 16 debate in Philadelphia where Obama was grilled over his lack of a flag-lapel pin.
(The flag-lapel "issue" was first given national prominence by New York Times columnist William Kristol and was given more impetus by Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer. To put the issue to rest, Obama finally began wearing a flag pin, though McCain still doesn't wear one regularly.)
Economic Determinism
Every presidential election year, it seems, some economist publishes an article that declares that economic data -- good or bad -- will decide whether the White House will be won by the in-power party or the out-of-power party. For instance, the booming economy of 2000 supposedly assured Al Gore a resounding victory.
In Campaign 2008, this thinking holds that Americans -- faced with severe economic troubles -- will throw the Republicans out of the White House and elect a Democrat.
However, this economic determinism may no longer hold sway in a nation that is as inundated with media as the United States is. The ability to float false "themes" against one candidate or another and have the major media constantly repeat the propaganda is an extraordinarily powerful force in deciding American elections.
Millions of Americans went to the polls in November 2000 believing a number of false claims that had been circulated about Vice President Gore (including the bogus notion that he had been part of a plan to sell nuclear secrets to China, when those secrets actually had been compromised during the Reagan years.)
Given the persistent superficiality -- and cowardice -- of the major U.S. news media, there's even the larger question of whether a meaningful democracy can survive when the public is so thoroughly misinformed.
Although there are some Internet sites that challenge the major media's errors, the imbalance remains tilted heavily toward the ideological Right. Especially when prestige newspapers like the Washington Post contribute to the distribution of false or misleading information -- as with Milbank's quote about Obama -- the pro-Republican media eagerly amplifies it and most Americans never hear the other side.
Right-wing Internet sites also have proven to be very adept at inserting completely false claims about Obama that stick with many Americans, such as the oft-repeated lie that Obama is a Muslim or that he trained at a radical Islamic madrassah.
To assume that people will somehow see through such distortions has proven to be naïve in the past. More likely, many millions of Americans will head to the polls in November having internalized a hodgepodge of negative themes about Obama. Indeed, a significant number who have absorbed the uglier accusations will have come to hate him.
So, even if a McCain victory guarantees that the United States would solidify the policies of a deeply disliked President, many Americans may set aside what may be good for the country -- or even good for their own pocketbooks -- and vote against Obama, more based on perceptions than reality.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 6, 2008
VJIII down in Jersey brings this rather distressing bit of news to the Factory's attention. Apparently, efforts to get James (Scotty of Star Trek) Doohan's ashes into space have hit a permanent snag.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AUGUST 3, 2008
So this week, I am delving deep into The Who.
I've always been a middling fan, their greatest hits having been a household staple for many years. But I never actually took the time to explore the full album catalog. Specifically, I had never listened to Tommy and Quadrophenia -- the original concept "rock operas" -- in their entirety and in the proper song order, as intended (verdict? slightly overrated). I'm almost embarassed to admit I'd never heard the complete Who's Next, considered one of the greatest albums of all time (verdict? except for the classic tracks already on the hits albums, I could easily keep the rest well away from my iPod). But before this starts to come off like I'm dismissing the band, please let me be clear: after the mighty Beatles, The Who is easily the 2nd Greatest Band of the 1960s British Invasion, with their share of my iPod's drive space increasing from 22 songs to damn near 50. I really wish I'd done this sooner.
In case you're wondering, the Rolling Stones can eat my ass.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JULY 23, 2008 FRANK RICH:If voters got a fair presentation of John McCain's economic plan, the idea of him winning the White House would cause mass panic. AL GORE: The future of human civilization is at stake... I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.
Here's me and The Little Man! Jack was born just a few weeks ago. Congrats to Anthony and Kristine.
Ahh... memories...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JULY 18, 2008
Hey now!! No sooner did I pontificate on the virtues of the TV series Mad Men (see July 15 entry below), then I find out the show has been bukakke'd with Emmy nominations! Can it be that Am and I have finally "discovered" a show that gets what it deserves? Is it actually possible that one of us could go to work and have small talk with a colleague about the previous night's episode? Will we finally know what that feels like? Has anyone seen my meds?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JULY 15, 2008
Holy cow, is that the time? Can it really be almost two weeks since my last update? I'm a menace!
The last couple of weeks have been a little intense, with Am prepping a major paper for school while also gearing up for her big California trip next week. I've been involved with the production of a short film profiling various people with multiple sclerosis, which will be used in conjunction with the MSCureFund. And, of course, a toddler around the house presents its own agenda. But I think I have a few minutes to get things caught up.
Every once in a while, you see enough positive coverage of a TV show that it makes you wonder if you're missing out on something special. Acting on this curiosity can result in a monumental entertainment discovery, like Deadwood (cancelled, too sophisticated), Rome (cancelled, too intelligent) and Battlestar Galactica (disgustingly overlooked). Am and I are always on the lookout for the next great show, but it seems every time we find it, no one we know watches it because of some other bullshit like Grey's Anatomy or CSI. Hopefully, I can change that by gently pointing you in the direction of AMC's Mad Men. Set in the hustle-bustle world of early 1960s Manhattan, it has feature film production values, spectacular writing and acting, and plots that are actually about something. Something real. Something primal. Do it. Do it.
On the political front, I have to say that I am utterly amazed at how much of a free pass John McCain is getting from the media. Here on Earth, of course, we know that the news media is overwhelmingly controlled by the Conservative Right (despite all their claims that the Liberal Left are the true puppetmasters). But
even I am taken aback by how this guy continues to skate by when his campaign is practically daring the American public to shut it down. Example: McCain's right hand man (and the genius behind the investor loophole that has caused gas to top $4) recently stated that America is a country of "whiners" when it comes to the economy. Can you IMAGINE the UPROAR if even the coffee boy on Obama's campaign said ANYTHING even CLOSE to that? Yet, the media...
Just to lighten the mood, I have to point you toward director Michael Bay's "rejected" screenplay for The Dark Knight. It helps if you know who Michael Bay is.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JULY 3, 2008
Joe Jerman, director of Thrill Factory's inaugural gag Legacy of the Jedi, recently shot the Miss Universe Pagaent on location in balmy Vietnam. These pics popped up on Yahoo! Please note: the first photo was taken before the radical surgery to replace Mr. Jerman's camera with an actual human head. Photo #2 indicates the procedure was successful, except the hat was put on backwards. Asian surgeons!!!
Keep up the good work, Joe. I always knew if you applied yourself, you'd get to work with rafts. Don't get hung up with beautiful women and tropical settings. That was Ian Fleming's mistake. Keep your eye on the rafts. Oars Up!!!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JULY 2, 2008
Sometimes, things just work out, y'know? I have a grin from ear to ear with the revelation that the FOX News Channel (or "Fixed News") is struggling to maintain it's ratings dominance over CNN and MSNBC. What comes around goes around, indeed. And while we're in the good news portion, let us raise a "woo-hoo" for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which is on track to be the undisputed box office champ of 2008. The man with the hat (and his diehard fans, like me) still gots the mojo!!
Rick Shenkman weighs in on stupidity in America. The vast majority of Americans are unable to answer even the most basic and rudimentary knowledge questions. And what's even sadder: it's culturally acceptable to not care that you don't know. What's happening here? Do you care to know? Here's a sample of Shenkman's piece if you must have a preview: Five defining characteristics of stupidity, it seems to me, are readily apparent. First, is sheer ignorance: Ignorance of critical facts about important events in the news, and ignorance of how our government functions and who's in charge. Second, is negligence: The disinclination to seek reliable sources of information about important news events. Third, is wooden-headedness, as the historian Barbara Tuchman defined it: The inclination to believe what we want to believe regardless of the facts. Fourth, is shortsightedness: The support of public policies that are mutually contradictory, or contrary to the country's long-term interests. Fifth, and finally, is a broad category I call bone-headedness, for want of a better name: The susceptibility to meaningless phrases, stereotypes, irrational biases, and simplistic diagnoses and solutions that play on our hopes and fears. Some light can be shed on this sad phenomenon, by way of this analysis of how the brain processes information. Very interesting stuff.
NEED MOVIE NEWS? SCROLL DOWN FOR THE IMDB STUDIO BRIEF!
CURRENTLY... READINGThe Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. LISTENING TO the Madonna catalog. LAST... MOVIE I SAW WAS Burn After Reading (thumbs up), Married Life (thumbs up). TV I WATCHED WAS The Adventure of English on History International. I AM ... CONSIDERING doing a documentary next year. FEELING happy to have lost 21 lbs.
TINA FEY as SARAH PALIN: THE SEQUEL
MY ISSUE IS RACE, AFTER ALL...
MEET SARAH! Nice bathing suit...wanna run my country?
JACK CAFFERTY IS STEAMED
VIETNAM VETS AGAINST McCAIN Wow...
JOHN McCAIN APPROVES THIS MESSAGE Saturday Night Live, 9/20/08
IT'S TIME FOR SCIENCE AND REASON The Center for Inquiry
HOWARD STERN GAG on CNN
WALL STREET JOURNAL vs McCAIN??? You better believe it.
SARAH PALIN: WILDLIFE
JOHN McCAIN: HONOR
JOHN McCAIN: MY FRIENDS
TINA FEY as SARAH PALIN Saturday Night Live, 9/13/08
THIS SPEAKS FOR ITSELF. BRILLIANT.
LOST "TITANIC" SCREEN TEST
FROM MOCK OUTRAGE TO SCUMBAGGERY Could this finally be the thing that kills McCain?
9/11 a REPUBLICAN TRADEMARK Commentary by Keith Olbermann
AHA! GOD ONLY SEEMS NON-EXISTENT ...my bad.
DOES HUMAN IGNORANCE EXPLAIN RELIGION? Sam Harris
GEORGE CARLIN R.I.P.
"I'M VOTING REPUBLICAN"
FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS "Business Time"
BILL O'REILLY LOSES IT Yep... he was ALWAYS an asshole.
DAWKINS on BILL MAHER HBO - 4/11/08
DAWKINS! Keepin' it REAL in Scotland - 4/2/08
SAM HARRIS: IS ATHEISM A RELIGION? For "Neil" (see Joe's Desktop 3/12/08)
THE 'OUT' CAMPAIGN Are you ready to come out?
CLASSIC RE-EDIT THE VADER SESSIONS Starring James Earl Jones
META
Thrill Factory is the home page for actor/writer/filmmaker/activist Joe Tesora, covering films, TV, pop culture and modern life.
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...............ASK AN ATHEIST! 
FRANK RICH: If voters got 
