a different kind of audition

the national review's david frum brings the mel gibson DUI incident into the political realm...

anti-semitism certainly doesn't hurt at the UN

famous for being famous

quick...name colin farrell's biggest movie...

...why is he so famous...?

Whatever their reasons for ignoring him, the fact remains Farrell’s most marketed-to potential fans haven’t taken the bait yet. Neither has the rest of America. He’s famous, but his presence in a movie is no gauge of its box-office or critical success.

btw, scanning his imdb entry, his biggest movie is probably 'SWAT' or 'minority report' (really a tom cruise movie--which i thought made more money than it did)

nfl (network) plays hardball

given the mind-boggling money involved in the nfl on tv
[although the financial wisdom of the media giants remains questionable]
the nfl step up efforts to secure distribution of its own nfl network on cable tv. by specifically naming cable names and dubious cable channels, the nfl may succeed.

i wouldn't mind some alternative nfl coverage, as i was disappointed in the nfl draft on espn

blogger advice from a blog watcher

in wired's august edition, technorati founder David L. Sifry offers simple advice to raise a blogs profile.
essentially, post quickly, post often, post well...
easier said than done

say it ain't so

the AP reports that tour de france winner floyd landis failed a drug test during the course of the race.

espn essentially echoes the story, but adds analysis which could explain the strange testerone levels.

hopefully this proves to be a false positive as landis' performance, overcoming an 8 minute lead with in only 2 stages

So astounding was the turnaround that race director Jean-Marie Leblanc, who has overseen this event 18 years, called it "the best performance in the modern history of the Tour."
The comeback was read by many as a master stroke, instantly enshrining Landis in cycling's pantheon alongside greats like five-time Tour champion Eddy Merckx of Belgium for his show of both human frailty and superhuman courage in the span of 24 hours.

remains one of the best come-from-behind efforts in recent sports history

long time coming

mickey kaus is right [scroll down to wed july26th]
i thought foreign automakers sold more cars in the US than domestics a long time ago

from the horse's mouth

the wsj profiles JP Borda, a pioneer in the milblogging community. having been a member of National Guard deployed in the war on terror, Borda noted the 'out of touch' negative MSM coverage. Borda along with several other soldiers post first hand experience to counteract this perceived bias.

Now, Mr. Borda finds himself at the center of a growing blogging movement. Military bloggers, or "milbloggers" as they call themselves, contend that they are uniquely qualified to comment on events in armed conflicts. Many milbloggers also argue that the mainstream media tends to overplay negative stories and play down positive military developments. For many of these blogs, says Mr. Borda, "the sole purpose is to counteract the media."

the pentagon has taken a hands off approach, only "reminding soldiers not to post information that might tip off the enemy"

while some can be bogus, first hand accounts of military efforts and war must be included in the mix.

[found via lucianne.com]

can these things be revoked

a nobel prize winner goes decidedly non-peaceful (via watchdog of liberal media newsbusters)

"I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence', because I don't believe that I am non-violent," said Ms Williams, 64.
"Right now, I would love to kill George Bush." Her young audience at the Brisbane City Hall clapped and cheered.

incidentally the peace prize continued its ridiculousness encouraging enabling behavior

the new web as unreliable as the old web

myspace went down and offered pac-man as a standby

in fact, the uk reg rounds-up web 2.0 unreliability

But cute messages and chronic unreliability are a feature of the current wave of 'Web 2.0' websites and services. TypePad suffered another serious outage 10 days ago; Flickr is notorious for its unreliability, and a Flickr-clone called Zooomr "launched" recently, only to disappear again for several days.

i guess half a billion bucks doesn't go as far as it used to...

M$ announces its own 12 step program

in a move to placate watchdogs rather than consumers...
microsoft promises to be a good monopolist.

given past resistance to standards, competitive meddling and overall record...
i'll believe it when i see it

check out the official BS--i mean, PR

senator changes his mind

ohio senator george voinovich suffered some mockery due to the blubbering [video | mp3 audio ] opposition of UN ambassador john bolton.

now, voinovich explains his reasoning for his would be support for bolton's official appointment. [WaPo bugmenot login]
it'll be interesting whether democrats fall back on secondary arguments wrt to bolton

government shouldn't run business

when the maryland legislature attempted to dictate business practices through the fair share health care fund act, governor ehrlich vetoed the bill, which was overriden.

however the courts struck down the wal-mart targeted legislation.
anti-business wal-mart haters will have to try again

the left's reaction to mideast strife

as forbes publisher rich karlgaard remarks on the stunning silence of the lefty blogosphere on national security issues, especially considering the events of the last week.

Nothing on Israel. Nothing on Iran's support of Hamas and Hezbollah. Nothing on Iran's nuclear program. Nothing, even, on the G-8 Summit.
And we're to think that the Netroots Left is a serious political player?

power line follows-up with the one lefty who attempts to address foreign policy (but often does so badly)

in a bit of apparent self-hatred, the WaPo's richard cohen advances a 'blame the victim' take on recent events. labeling israel "a mistake"--not just its actions/policies, but the entire nation. he includes all the apologist arguments--absolving evildoers of responsibility

There is no point in condemning Hezbollah. Zealots are not amenable to reason. And there's not much point, either, in condemning Hamas.

blaming the israelis

Whatever happens, Israel must not use its military might to win back what it has already chosen to lose

cohen fails to realize these pullbacks were meant to reduce the 'occupation' excuse for hating israel.

in typical lefty fashion, cohen criticizes while offering no solutions

ny times shrinks

not only its stock price...not only its influence...not only its credibility...
but the actual newspapaper
following the lead of others in the struggling newspaper business, the move will reduce news space, headcount and costs

the emperor takes off his own clothes

didn't mark cuban make his billions from broadcast.com?

now, cuban doesn't like internet video

[to preempt the 'broadcast.com-was-audio-only' rebuttal,
the victoria secret fashion show was a broadcast.com event]

at least cuban was smart enough to cash-in before the internet bubble bust

someone didn't get the joke

didn't (blossoming media darling) tvnewser do exactly what he mocked several media outlets of doing just a few days ago?

posting about a joke-dream as if it were real?
[don't worry brian scrubbed it from the site...]

news flash...

the big dig is a disaster
a long time brewing...
a "tribute" to government boondoggles...
and it gets worse every day...

[note: most news links found via lucianne.com

you just lost yourself a customer

i don't think server maker sun micro should expect repeat business from these guys

possible alternative title: don't let the sun (server) go down on me...

story gets smaller and smaller

bob novak finally chimes in about his role in the joe-wilson-valerie-plame-cia non-leak investigation. the bullet points: the wilson-wife angle slipped out in conversation, some others confirmed, novak's ultimate source for wilson's wife's name turned out to be none other than...joe wilson from his self-submitted entry in who's who in america.

of course, AP writer pete yost only reads 'karl rove' from the story (found via lucianne.com)

hardball with chris matthews always proves compelling after air is taken outta this story. matthews' near-clinical obsession over the hubbub exhibited itself through the hours devote to details surrounding no credibility joe, typos(--insufficient corrections) and the unindicted karl rove.
i may have to break it down again

skipping the middleman

conservatives often believe the MSM exhibits a liberal bias, but this example newsbusters found goes too far. a reporter, albeit at a student newspaper, lifts talking points from the democrat policy committee

but of course there is no media bias...

through 'terrorist' eyes

continuing the recent MSM terrorist-enabling ways...
reuters provides a (helpful) chronology of attacks in india, yet maintains its long-standing tradition to not call terrorists 'terrorists'. while some attacks target government and/or military locations, several specifically targeted civilians. that is the definition of 'terrorism'

similarly, the WaPo publishes unopposed propaganda from an terrorist leader [bugmenot login]

medical malpractice

ezra klein attempts to debunk the conservative-republican belief that medical malpractice-tort reform would reduce the cost of healthcare. klein includes analysis pointing to the rather efficient disposition of nearly 75% of cases [yet 10% of bogus cases may get some compensation].

After all, including legal fees, insurance costs, and payouts, the cost of the suits comes to less than one-half of 1 percent of health-care spending. If anything, there are fewer lawsuits than would be expected, and far more injuries than we usually imagine.

further, klein promotes the liberal-democratic alternative 'reduce medical errors' plan.

unfortunately (or conveniently) left out in the mix is perhaps the most expensive byproduct of the current medical malpractice system: defensive medicine.
all those unnecessary CYA tests and procedures add up

how can we help you...build nukes

basking in the glory of their well-earned nobel peace prize, the international atomic agency continues its diligent watchdog-dom by taking and following through requests from the watchdog-ee iran.
further, the german newspaper Die Welt followed the NYTimes security-be-damned policy

A spokesman for the IAEA yesterday would not comment on the story. Die Welt wrote that officials from the organization confirmed the key facts of the piece and asked the newspaper not to publish it. One of the reasons the officials gave was that it would harm the work of its inspectors on the ground.

seriously...how could safety trump up the need for 'the scoop'?

no good deed goes underplayed

perhaps the shake-up at gawker media shouldn't be complete, as the 'terror' coverage at gawker appears shizophrenic.
apparently, sometimes the war on terror is something to worry about...sometimes it isn't paramount.

the gawker geniuses pooh-pooh the latest terror bust

So, how is this news? When doesn't someone want to blow us up? [italics in original]

so when did eric harris and dylan klebold's plan pass the point of mocking?
how about timothy mcveigh? how about 19 guys in the fall of 2001?

i don't (necessarily) mean to pick on gawker, but lib types tend to want it both ways in the war on terror--it's over-hyped at the same time it's life-threatening...
whenever people plan to kill other people, it should warrant attention from the authorities

biden 'not joking'

joe biden regularly demonstrates a quirky sense of humor...
on c-span, biden makes a strange comment regarding my indian brethren and stereotypical jobs (found via those ldotters)
despite his throwaway "i'm not joking...", i have a feeling biden was joking
as an ldotter comments: "If Biden were a Republican..."

microsoft opens up

despite complaining about OpenDocument format standards, microsoft grudgingly accepts the standard...with the usual snide remarks promoting their propietary office format.

microsoft's standard operating procedure stems from the founder's tech elitist attitudes.
a sense of humor always comes in handy when dealing with microsoft.

rock star bests idol

before the completion of its first cycle, my interest in american idol faded. nevertheless, AI indisputably remains a tv juggernaut (if not necessarily an automatic idol maker--william hung may have higher name recognition than many AI contestants). the money-grubbing product placement further contributes to my active rooting for idol's downfall.

similar to my own preferences, nj star-ledger media guy favors rock star over american idol: better singers performing a better variety of songs for people whose careers depend on the outcome of the show

rock star: supernova opens tonight at 8pm on cbs

britney carries alotta weight

britney spears may have helped baby sis jamie lynn get rid of 'rival' co-star alexa nikolas.

Last August, Page Six reported Jamie Lynn and Britney ganged up on Jamie Lynn's "Zoey 101" co-star Alexa Nikolas after the two tweens got into a spat on the set of the Nickelodeon show. A source told us then, "Britney had the talent coordinator bring Alexa over to Jamie Lynn's trailer, where she proceeded to scream that Alexa was an 'evil little girl' and that she had better watch herself or she 'will never work in this town again!'

who knew nickelodeon could be so cut throat?
fortunately, 14 year old alexa nikolas, her imdb entry indicates she'll likely land another job

gauging 'global opinion'

christopher hitchens proves compelling reading, whether dissecting bad movies, liberal blowhards and apologists.
hitchens examines the vagaries of 'global opinion' (found via memeorandum and lucianne.com)

these polls often yield mind-bogglingly contradictory findings...the act of polling may be illegal (an iranian pollster was arrested for his efforts)...and how do you sample 6 billion people properly?

If I was to interrupt this article every few sentences, asking you whether or not I was making a good impression on you, I hope and believe that you would think I was a servile jerk. Yet this is what our politicians are doing in every speech (most notably in the absurd recent debate on “flag-burning”) and this is apparently what we hire Karen Hughes to do in our public diplomacy.
[snip]
Thus, for a Fourth of July message, I would suggest less masochism, more confidence on the American street, and less nervous reliance on paper majorities discovered by paper organizations.
Happy Independence Day.

while i fall for these polls, healthy skepticism must accompany that interest since it remains easy to play with polls, surveys, etc

nasa's next rv

as man continues to reach for the stars in various ways, NASA gives more details on the next generation space launch vehicles including the name 'ares' (get it..? 'mars')

extra! extra!

conservative blog power line finds another ny times scoop.

it is of course a joke, but not that far off considering other recent MSM stories