boiling down tv

in the spirit of 25 word novel summaries teevee.org summarizes today's tv crimed dramas

¶ - nitish @ 5:17 PM | 0 comments

  more decline of espn

awhile back i lamented the state of espn...

but this guy goes a step further, or about 50 steps further with an itemized list of espn flaws.

while i agree with alotta of it (stuart scott and the like adding their schtick to highlights, self-importance of sports reporters, throwing in entertainment like bad reality tv and b-grade movies), some of it not so much (olbermann can stay gone--he's king schtick)...
but it is a compelling read

¶ - nitish @ 4:37 PM | 0 comments

  serial meddler

no one can question his success, but daniel snyder definitely subscribes to a hands-on management style, evidenced by his time as Washington Redskins owner.

Baltimore has its own activist owner in O's owner Peter Angelos

since gaining control of six flags, he's decided to ditch Mr Six, the dancing old guy from the amusement park's ad campaign.

the company is in pretty bad financial shape, so snyder looks for a change in strategy.

¶ - nitish @ 10:15 AM | 0 comments

  you can NOT be serious

this night on Hardball with Chris Matthews...

Chris Matthews maintains the military should only be used for self-defense...
that so 9/10 thinking...or maybe not given Matthews state-of-mind...

and seymour hersh cannot come up with a difference between 'insurgent' and 'terrorist'...
he has to be TOLD by chris matthews that terrorist TARGET CIVILIANS...

[note: transcript to follow, if available]

¶ - nitish @ 5:38 PM | 0 comments

  just encouraging him

the borat-kazakhstan feud continues with the former soviet republic taking the iran pr strategy of an extensive ad in the NY Times, prompting more hijinx (including video) from the 'comedian'

¶ - nitish @ 5:13 PM | 0 comments

  dinosaurs to hit screens everywhere

and i'm not talking about king kong...

the rolling stones will perform at halftime of superbowl XL (with the obligatory delay)...

anything to make money and goose record sales...

¶ - nitish @ 1:05 PM | 0 comments

  i'll take fx and usa, and hold the qvc

the fcc plans to 'suggest' 'a la carte' pricing for cable channels instead of those ridiculous packages offered now.

in a bit of a reversal [bugmenot login], the fcc now surmises that consumers would pay less a la carte than in the current package scenario since consumers would only pay for what they'd want

A year ago, an initial report concluded that consumers would save money on an a la carte plan only if they subscribed to fewer than nine channels, the Journal said. The average cable subscriber watches 17 channels, the FCC staff found, suggesting a rate increase of anywhere from 14% to 30%, according to The Journal said.

the cable industry will likely 'resist' this to say the least...

¶ - nitish @ 10:22 AM | 0 comments

  media's iraq coverage and blow-back

the media loves polls, gauging sentiment, and reporting on polls gauging sentiment...

unfortunately, the media sees through the prism of perhaps the most negative outlook on iraq. [fortunately,] the negativity hasn't entirely rubbed off on the general public, the military and the iraqis themselves. in fact, the people believe all this bad-mouthing the military effort in iraq may (surprise! suprise! surprise!) lower military morale [bugmenot login], further seeing the sniping as an attempt "gain a partisan political advantage."

this past weekend, the wall street journal suggests the speech bush should give [bugmenot login].

And we are winning. Soon Iraqi forces will be able to maintain order in the few hot spots that still exist in Iraq. We will stay the course until they are ready. We made no mistake ending Saddam's rule. We have brought not only freedom to Iraq, but progress to most of the Middle East. America should be proud of what it has accomplished. America will not cut and run until the Iraqis can manage their own security, and that will happen soon.

the speech lists the accomplishments while still addressing the violence and terrorism.

unfortunately, with the sign-off of arthur chrenkoff's Good news from Iraq series, only the conservative media covers it
...like the chicago sun-times

There's too much static noise out there regarding the war. It's filling a vacuum caused by the administration's failure to keep us regularly updated on what is happening throughout Iraq. It's time for the Bush administration to step up and tell us what is going on -- with regular reports, weekly updates, fireside chats, talks with soldiers -- through the entire country of Iraq.

We're getting our reports from hotel rooms in Baghdad.

It's time for the whole story from over there.

...and the ny sun

Does [Frank] Rich think his own colleague and the Associated Press are also part of what he derides as "propaganda" and "the disinformation assembly line"? And when it comes time for a new generation to ask their elders what they did during the war to end the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, what are the editors of the Times going to have to say for themselves?

now, if only this would hit the traditional MSM...but that's not likely given the media's sentiment...

¶ - nitish @ 10:09 AM | 0 comments

  kim jong il, media critic

north korea is a notoriously enigmatic country (particularly for one commentator), partially due to the lack of media access.

kim jong ill didn't appreciate a cnn documentary which includes footage of an apparent public execution.

"CNN is losing popularity as the days go by although it had high audience rating in the world in the past," KCNA said. Much upset by this, CNN staged such poor farce to improve its image."

In the process, the U.S. broadcaster has been "reduced to a trumpeter and a political waiting maid for the U.S. administration," it said.

mickey kaus chimes in with a paragraph which just missed the final cut

"Floundering tool Jonathan Klein thought tarnishing the democratic struggle of the Korean people would promote further his career and make up for failure of his overemotional pretty boy Anderson Cooper in the crucial 25-54 demographic."

talk about kicking a struggling news network when it's down...

¶ - nitish @ 9:46 AM | 0 comments

  the science of 'beer goggles'

leave it to the land of the 'liquid lunch' to examine the concept of 'beer goggles'.

while conventional wisdom chalks up the phenomenom simply to consumption of alcohol, University of Manchester professor Nathan Efron develops a formula which also includes such factors as lighting, distance and eyesight.

the uk register better explains the sliding scale

¶ - nitish @ 11:13 AM | 0 comments

  more iraq war opinion

continuing with that iraq sentiment bit from yesterday, the conservative-leaning washington times adds more detail to the pew research center mentioned in that prior poll. essentially reiterating the la times editorial

When asked whether they thought democracy would succeed in Iraq, only 33 percent of the journalists agreed that it had a chance. The number was even worse in academe -- 27 percent of respondents thought the effort would succeed. Among the military, however, the number stood at 64 percent.

the washington times adds

Negative press coverage of the war in Iraq in recent weeks has emphasized rising pessimism among the American public about the conflict. But a new survey found that 56 percent of the public thinks that efforts to establish a stable democracy in the country will succeed.

the times continues with details about the decision to go iraq and its effect on terrorism, detailing the lefty opinion of the media and academie with more positive views amongst the military and public in general.

¶ - nitish @ 11:00 AM | 0 comments

  xbox 360 launch

despite my absence from the recent video game console market, i'm still intrigued by the goings-on...

in its bid to gain "leadership" in the market, microsoft goes with the obligatory fanfare for its xbox 360 launch.

however, since this is microsoft (and me covering microsoft), things don't always go smoothly...
the finances look shaky as each xbox 360 loses ~$125 (with the hope of making it up in games)...
shortages are expected, but execs try to shoot down conspiracy theories that shortages were planned to amp up the hype...
somewhat lukewarm reviews, crashes and matrix-esque glitches probably don't engender confidence...

some in the media are going even further with the lingo

¶ - nitish @ 10:26 AM | 0 comments

  rebates galore

with holiday shopping season around the corner, retailers and manufactures promise rebates on all sorts of things.

- "Nearly one-third of all computer gear is now sold with some form of rebate, along with more than 20% of digital cameras, camcorders, and LCD TVs, says market researcher NPD Group."

the deals appear almost too-good-to-be true"Hal Stinchfield, a 30-year veteran of the rebate business, calculates that some 400 million rebates are offered each year. Their total face value: $6 billion, he estimates."but sometimes it is too-good-to-be true

"Why the rage for rebates? The industry's open secret is that fully 40% of all rebates never get redeemed because consumers fail to apply for them or their applications are rejected, estimates Peter S. Kastner, a director of consulting firm Vericours. That translates into more than $2 billion of extra revenue for retailers and their suppliers each year."

sometimes the companies' business models rely on unredeemed rebates

The impact on a company's bottom line can be startling. Consider TiVo (TIVO ). The company caught Wall Street off guard by sharply reducing its first-quarter loss to $857,000, from $9.1 million in the same period last year. One reason: About 50,000 of TiVo's 104,000 new subscribers failed to redeem mail-in rebate offers, reducing the company's expected rebate expense by $5 million.
[snip]
The quest for buyers who don't end up collecting a rebate has spawned special industry lingo. Purchases by consumers who never file for their rebates are called "breakage." Wireless companies that pay 100% rebates on some cell phones, for example, rely in part on "breakage" to make money. Rebate checks that are never cashed are called "slippage."

however, shenanigans surrounding the rebate redemption process prompted both regulator oversight and even retailer policy changes.

¶ - nitish @ 6:25 PM | 0 comments

  polls, polls, everywhere polls

having established my fascination yet skepticism of the countless polls out there, the media loves them (especially when it's bad for bush).

instead of focusing solely on the usual america-centered polling, relative la times newcomer max boot examines [bugmenot login] polls not typically covered:

Yet in a survey last month from the U.S.-based [conservative] International Republican Institute, 47% of Iraqis polled said their country was headed in the right direction, as opposed to 37% who said they thought that it was going in the wrong direction. And 56% thought things would be better in six months. Only 16% thought they would be worse.

American soldiers are also much more optimistic than American civilians. The Pew Research Center and the Council on Foreign Relations just released a survey of American elites that found that 64% of military officers are confident that we will succeed in establishing a stable democracy in Iraq. The comparable figures for journalists and academics are 33% and 27%, respectively.

a further signifier is the healthy reenlistment rate of the military. Boot continues with various political economic, media and military progress in iraq which does not receive much press here. but, Boot concludes

This is not meant to suggest that everything is wonderful in Iraq. The situation remains grim in many respects. But the most disheartening indicator of all is simply the American public's loss of confidence in the war effort. Abu Musab Zarqawi may be losing on the Arab street (his own family has disowned him), but he's winning on Main Street. And, as the Vietnam War showed, defeatism on the home front can become self-fulfilling.

¶ - nitish @ 12:08 PM | 0 comments

  fearless cable news prediction

given the ratings trends, i predict MSNBC will pass CNN in ratings (especially the 25-54 demographic) within a few years...

it's much more likely that cnn hits third rather than first in the niche it created...
and it's own Headline News may be breathing down its neck by then...

[full disclosure: as if you couldn't tell, i'm no fan of CNN]

¶ - nitish @ 4:43 PM | 0 comments

  one way to get rid of inflation

in an effort to downplay the notion of inflation, the government will stop publishing M3, the broadest measure of money supply.

[S]keptics note that M3 - which includes the very biggest deposits not contained in M2 - is rising about 7.5 percent right now, compared with just 5.6 percent growth at the end of 2004.
M2, on the other hand, has a more modest 4 percent growth, which is down from 5.6 percent last year.

over the last several years, money supply has increased at an (un)healthy clip. since increase in money supply is the underlying cause in price inflation, getting rid of M3 allows for further massaging of CPI and various other measures the government uses. (although i prefer real world measures like the 12 days of christmas index)

it's in the government's interests to work the numbers since benefits and salaries often have cost of living adjustments tied to CPI.

¶ - nitish @ 1:13 PM | 0 comments

  birds of a feather

no wonder david shuster does such wacky reporting on hardball with chris matthews...

his boss is a bit wacky

he suggests america should have attempted to 'learn' from the terrorists trying to kill us:

"If we stop trying to figure out the other side, we've given up. The person on the other side is not evil -- they just have a different perspective."

the national review media blog has more on the wackiness

¶ - nitish @ 5:51 PM | 0 comments

  which way is the wind blowing

so former panderer-in-chief calls iraq a "big mistake" on foreign soil just last week, after years of hawkish iraq rhetoric" [bugmenot login] before and after 9/11

"So, you're sitting there as President, you're reeling in the aftermath of this, so, yeah, you want to go get bin Laden and do Afghanistan and all that. But you also have to say, 'Well, my first responsibility now is to try everything possible to make sure that this terrorist network and other terrorist networks cannot reach chemical and biological weapons or small amounts of fissile material. I've got to do that.'

"That's why I supported the Iraq thing. There was a lot of stuff unaccounted for."

however, former president clinton warns against premature pullout in a wide-ranging speech once back in front of an american audience.

...reminiscent of the SNL skit lampooning john kerry as a panderer (rather than a flip-flopper) tailoring his message to his audience...

¶ - nitish @ 10:37 AM | 0 comments

  no anti-us ad turned down

but speaking of people who hate america, the NY Times accepted an ad from Iran defending its nuclear program.

given the NY Times stock chart, i don't think they will be turning away anyone's money

¶ - nitish @ 3:09 PM | 0 comments

  way to take a stand

writer kurt vonnegut pulls a Bill Maher and expresses a strange admiration for terrorists. vonnegut's words of praise include refering to terrorists as "very brave people" with "sweet and honourable" intentions who are "are dying for their own self-respect", even comparing their tactics to Truman's decision to use atomic bombs during Japan.

vonnegut's inflammatory rhetoric has increased recently (especially with President Bush's election)

¶ - nitish @ 2:55 PM | 0 comments

  oily politicking and grandstanding

in a bout of political opportunism, the senate held hearings to brow beat oil execs for being profitable. some even suggested/demanded that some of the profits be confiscated through a 'windfall tax'.

however an examination of oil industry finances reveals some startling statistics:

[O]ver the past 25 years, oil companies directly paid or remitted more than $2.2 trillion in taxes, after adjusting for inflation, to federal and state governments—including excise taxes, royalty payments and state and federal corporate income taxes. That amounts to more than three times what they earned in profits during the same period, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Department of Energy.

the graphical analysis of taxes and profits boggles the mind.

also note that the 'windfall tax' around 1980 crippled the industry 5 years later. the best way to ensure lack of exploration and investment would be to levy such a tax again.

¶ - nitish @ 9:52 PM | 0 comments

  cutting off their nose to spite their face

remember those ridiculous rumors, irresponsibly parroted by the loser democratic candidate for president [bugmenot login], of a military draft if bush were re-elected...?

never mind that pretty much only democratic congressman Charlie Rangel and new lefty darling John Murtha supported this notion...ironically even Rangel voted against his own ridiculous bill...

the surest way to ensure the reinstitution of the draft would be to ban military recruiters as the voters of San Francisco have. if more cities were to take similar actions, military recruitment would plummet, prompting the need for...
the military draft.

¶ - nitish @ 5:03 PM | 0 comments

  pot meet kettle

the last few days, howard stern has criticized rush limbaugh for a $49 gift subscription program for members in the military

howard got a hold of a clip from the ratings-challenged Countdown with that ex-SportsCenter ex-MSNBC ex-Fox Sports Net anchor back-with-MSNBC guy (i know that's a really unwieldy title) for fodder on his show: mark's friggin archive (scroll to "Keith Olbermann's New Fan - Howard Stern. 11/16/05. 10:10am") and/or stern's archive (3rd item in "TODAY’S SHOW COMPANION")

meanwhile, a Sirius subscription to listen to howard stern would cost nearly $250 a year--$13 for a subscription (for their car) and an additional $6 (subscription for home/work).
don't forget the pay-per-view service howard plans (No pricing has been set, although there has been talk of a $10 a month introductory plan.)

that's nearly $400 a year compared to the $50 plan which prompted howard's ire.
way to "line your pockets" howard --that's an inside joke among stern fans

in order to avoid credible criticism of hypocrisy...
i'm calling for howard stern to personally fund a discount program for policemen, firemen, or any group howard deems worthy of a subsidy.

i doubt this will ever happen...
$100 million a year doesn't go as far as it used to...

¶ - nitish @ 6:53 PM | 0 comments

  i want my sat-tv

the Texas town of Clark changes its name to Dish taking up EchoStar's offer of free service for the town's 125 residents.

"We accepted this challenge because we believe this relationship will give us a unique opportunity to put our town on the map," said Dish Mayor Bill Merritt.

i wonder if this is factored into property tax assessments?

¶ - nitish @ 4:05 PM | 0 comments

  freeh-k the 9/11 commission

former Director of the U.S. FBI Louis Freeh questions, in an opinion journal piece [bugmenot login], the 9/11 Commission for chiming on matters outside its scope

This self-perpetuating and privately funded group of lobbyists and lawyers has recently opined on hurricanes, nuclear weapons, the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel and even the New York subway system. Now it offers yet another "report card" on the progress of the FBI and CIA in the war against terrorism, along with its "back-seat" take and some further unsolicited narrative about how things ought to be on the "front lines."

Freeh critiques the Commission due to its active suppression of able danger. Freeh effectively recaps the able danger story.

he invokes the statements of 9/11 families demanding further comment and/or investigation then concludes

The 9/11 Commission gets an "I" grade--incomplete--for its dereliction regarding Able Danger. The Joint Intelligence Committees should reconvene and, in addition to Able Danger team members, we should have the 9/11 commissioners appear as witnesses so the families can hear their explanation why this doesn't matter.

the 9/11 commission was supposed to be the final word, but it appears incomplete.

¶ - nitish @ 12:12 PM | 0 comments

  sow-ing some reality

conservative commentator thomas sowell critiques liberal hobby horses such as 'universal' this and 'price control' that "with little or no awareness of the economic repercussions of turning that wish list into laws."

sowell cites the pharmaceutical industry, mass transit and rent control to demonstrates some flaws in these. but don't expect these calls to go away because its too pander for votes by demonizing bad guys because as Sowell comments:

"But the lure of the free lunch goes on."

¶ - nitish @ 9:43 AM | 0 comments

  hypocrite michael moore

my lack of fandom of michael moore is evident.

michael moore gets called out as the preachy 'do as i so...' hypocrite he is. drawing from Peter Schweizer's book Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy, uk independent writer janet street-porter (via seattle post-intelligencer) alludes to the deceits of Fahrenheit 9/11, easily rebutted.

the article catalogs instances of hypocrisy, elitism and divadom.
it's a good read

¶ - nitish @ 5:47 PM | 0 comments

  good news/bad news for TiVo

disclosure: i've been a dedicated TiVo user since 1999, a bit perplexed that it hasn't garnerer more of a user base.

'internet monitoring company' brandimensions conducts a dvr study which finds TiVo being attacked from both sides--current users and potential customers. however, at the same time, tv execs back TiVo's innovative pvr/dvr technology as increasing viewership.

TiVo is kinda stuck in a dilemma...
the 'early adopter' nature of the TiVo fan base may contribute to the first finding. these guys are on the leading edge. once happy with the technology, they now demand multi-tuner TiVo's and/or HD ready units to keep up with their AV demands.
on the other end of the spectrum, the 'mass market' may be happy with the simpler options offered by their cable companies. the crippled dvr tech may be good enough for their needs.

fortunately, TiVo has fans among the tv execs who tout the results of a study which demonstrate increased viewership, less commercial avoidance, etc. granted, its in their interest to stress these numbers to keep ad buyers happy.

interestingly,

"Nielsen Media Research will begin releasing data Dec. 26 on viewership that includes same-day DVR viewership and seven-day DVR viewership in addition to the current ratings numbers."

i've always been a bit skeptical of traditional nielsen ratings. tivo reports popular shows, actors, directors.

¶ - nitish @ 4:07 PM | 0 comments

  organized IE-switch campaign

using some tools from explorer destroyer, the Kill Bill's Browser campaign launched to 'suggest' an alternative to M$'s Internet Explorer.

it's more pro-active than the simple 'get firefox' buttons, but not so intrusive to be annoying...

[disclosure: if you're viewing this site with IE, you'll already know that i have joined in the fun]

¶ - nitish @ 10:27 AM | 0 comments

  speaking of precious americans

stunning actress brooke burns suffered an injury...
invoking julia louis dreyfus's elaine character when learning about her himbo boyfriend's accident, "what about the face...?", it appears the former baywatch and future co-star with SI/morphing rebecca romijn in a (soon-to-fail--i mean air) WB show will be okay...probably much better than ok actually...

meanwhile, jaime pressly is 'ecstatic' that My Name is Earl allows her to "get noticed for something besides my T&A." the role of scheming ex joy on NBC's breakout comedy really suits pressly, accentuating her 'strengths'

¶ - nitish @ 3:14 PM | 0 comments

  blame ebert

for the behemoth that is oprah winfrey...

he suggested the syndication route that made oprah the american icon she is today.

¶ - nitish @ 10:07 AM | 0 comments

  shuster full of --it, AGAIN

in tonight's BS report, repeat offender david shuster on hardball with chris matthews LIED when he said that the bush administration regularly referred to iraq as an "imminent" threat. notice neither video nor sound bite backing up this lie in shuster's video and sound bite heavy reporting.

the whole point of pre-emptive strike was to prevent having to deal with saddam after the fact (like the US has to do with North Korea, Pakistan, India and all the other countries missed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammed elBaradei and his IAEA)

note: this is a quick report, which may re-visited

¶ - nitish @ 5:32 PM | 0 comments

  no laughing matter

former soviet republic kazakhstan is not happy with sasha baron cohen's borat, threatening legal action. i understand the disdain for stereotypical, negative jokes at the expense of a group of people

Cohen's earlier jokes about the Central Asian state include claims that the people would shoot a dog and then have a party, and that local wine was made from fermented horse urine.

the foreign minister's rhetoric may be a bit overheated

"We do not rule out that Mr. Cohen is serving someone's political order designed to present Kazakhstan and its people in a derogatory way," Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashykbayev told a news briefing.

while that may be a bit much, i don't necessarily like the idea of someone profiting by denigrating another (the basis for my hatred of shows like punk'd)

¶ - nitish @ 2:44 PM | 0 comments

  finally tv on demand

recently, tv execs jumped aboard the VOD bandwagon. abc and itunes initiated this change in policy in tv land, as cbs and nbc essentially followed suit with comcast and directv respectively.

aol and warner plan to launch in2tv in january with a free on-demand (ad supported) delivery of old favorite tv shows. the slate of shows include personal faves genre-bending brisco county, balki and cousin larry's antics on perfect strangers, lynda carter's star spangled wonder woman, and landmark sci-fi v

¶ - nitish @ 9:27 AM | 0 comments

  hardball's david shuster is full of --it

[originally posted friday evening, further edited saturday morning]

during this veterans' day edition of Hardball with Chris Matthews, David Shuster attempts to reveal the Bush administration actively linking 9/11 and IRAQ.

let's go bogus-point-by-bogus-point:

- strangely, Shuster opens with Cheney denying a 9/11-Iraq link on Meet the Press

Just days after the 9/11 attacks, Vice President Cheney, on “Meet The Press,” said the response should be aimed at Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror organization not Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

beginning with an instance directly refuting your point is not a good start...

- then Shuster immediately moves on to a Donald Rumsfeld suggestion which was disregarded

[A]cording to Bob Woodward's book, Bush At War, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was pushing for military strikes on Iraq

Shuster apparently forgets that Iraq wasn't dealt with at that time, but 18 months later...to put it in perspective, 18 months ago Terrell Owens and the Philadelphia Eagles were happy with each other...

- apparently during those same cabinet meetings, Woodward relates Cheney "express[ing] deep concern about Saddam and wouldn't rule out going after Iraq at some point."
Shuster forgets iraqi regime change was passed the House by a 360-38 and Unanimous Consent in the Senate, then made official policy of the United States when Bill Clinton signed it in 1998

- Shuster then includes something that has makes no claim about a Iraq-9/11 connection:

On September 8, 2002, not only did White House hawks tell The New York Times for a front page exclusive that Saddam was building a nuclear weapon, five administration officials also went on the Sunday television shows that day to repeat the charge.
"He is, in fact actively and aggressively seeking to acquire nuclear weapons," Cheney told Tim Russert on “Meet The Press".

and this has to do with the administration linking iraq and 9/11 how...?

- Shuster proceeds to pull a Maureen...Dowd editing job:

But the White House started claiming that Iraq and the group responsible for 9/11 were one in the same.
"The war on terror, you can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror," said Bush on September 25, 2002.

for the rest of the story, check the Meet the Press transcript

Q [by Tim Russert] Mr. President, do you believe that Saddam Hussein is a bigger threat to the United States than al Qaeda?

PRESIDENT BUSH: That's a -- that is an interesting question....They're both risks, they're both dangerous. The difference, of course, is that al Qaeda likes to hijack governments. Saddam Hussein is a dictator of a government. Al Qaeda hides, Saddam doesn't, but the danger is, is that they work in concert. The danger is, is that al Qaeda becomes an extension of Saddam's madness and his hatred and his capacity to extend weapons of mass destruction around the world.
Both of them need to be dealt with. The war on terror, you can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror. And so it's a comparison that is -- I can't make because I can't distinguish between the two, because they're both equally as bad, and equally as evil, and equally as destructive.

- after taking that quote outta context, shuster makes another point that has nothing to do with an iraq-9/11 connection. but he's gotta fill his airtime somehow...

"We've learned that Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases," said Bush a few days later on October 7. "He's a threat because he is dealing with Al-Qaeda."

this has absolutely nothing to do with 9/11. apparently shuster doesn't realize that no "bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases" were used during 9/11.

- NewsBusters effectively deals other portion of the report that remotely dealing with the administration linking 9/11 and iraq. but i'll note that the two instances appear to be attempts to link 9/11 and al qaeda more than 9/11 specifically. however, Shuster again pulls another Maureen...Dowd special by selectively quoting

Cheney stated, "It's been pretty well confirmed that he did go to Prague and he did meet with a Senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service."

consulting the Meet the Press transcript

RUSSERT: Do you still believe there is no evidence that Iraq was involved in September 11?

CHENEY: Well, what we now have that's developed since you and I last talked, Tim, of course, was that report that's been pretty well confirmed, that he did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack.
Now, what the purpose of that was, what transpired between them, we simply don't know at this point. But that's clearly an avenue that we want to pursue.

Shuster concludes: "Nonetheless, the White House strategy worked."
which one...? the strategy shuster and his partner-in-crime chris matthews imagined and constructed in there heads?

after more than 4 years after 9/11, these 'hardball' guys fail to see that al qaeda does not only mean 9/11, but rather a network of terrorist groups that committed many terrorist acts. if this is the best Shuster and Matthews can do, they should go back to wall-to-wall coverage of the scooter libby indictment

¶ - nitish @ 10:28 AM | 0 comments

  we had no intelligence

reliably spot-on funny (and from the righty perspective) satire site ScrappleFace pre-emptively calls the democratic response to the president's response to antiwar criticism:

“We had no pre-war intelligence,” said Sen. John Kerry, “History will show that none of the leading Democrats had substantial intelligence. Anyone who remembers what we did then knows that the president is making a baseless allegation. I think history will bear out my contention that we Democrats lacked the intelligence to make such an important decision.”

The junior Senator from Massachussetts said he continues “to faithfully support the troops who uselessly die for a lie in Iraq.”

“Our troops deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war will remain firm in our conviction that we didn’t know what we were doing at the time,” Sen. Kerry said. “It’s important, on Veteran’s Day, to remember that our Democrat commitment to our military hasn’t changed.”

essentially, many people personally against the war made calculated decisions regarding national security, putting politics over convictions.

¶ - nitish @ 5:10 PM | 0 comments

  terrorism as PR backfires

during the summer, pew global released its study tracking attitudes throughout the world towards extremism, terrorism and bin laden.

disturbingly, the jordanian population had 'positive' outlooks on terrorism and bin laden. meanwhile, countries targeted by terrorist attacks were in the process of turning away from these attitudes.

however, with al qaeda taking credit for the amman hotel bombings, jordanians protested iraqi al qaeda head zarqawi.

the intercepted letter from al qaeda #2 man zawahiri warns zarqawi [bugmenot login] that indiscriminate terrorist acts may alienate formerly receptive populations.

¶ - nitish @ 12:07 PM | 0 comments

  able danger figure all-but-fired

able danger, which was pretty much ignored by the 9/11 commission suggesting inherit institutional problems, has been actively supressed.

now one of those who brought able danger public is being pushed out of work.

¶ - nitish @ 4:36 PM | 0 comments

  the next failure of a show

given the lack of new showbiz ideas, and the worldwide success of the terminator series, attempts to milk the idea--i mean, extend the magic--are inevitable.

fox explores the idea of a 'tweequel' series taking place between T2 and T3 with "The Sarah Connor Chronicles". the premise, they maintain doesn't require arnold nor linda hamilton. i think it doesn't work

¶ - nitish @ 9:49 AM | 0 comments

  meet the democratic candidate for president in 2032

anti-war darling Jimmy Massey has been debunked:

Former Marine Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey was the liberal media's dream come true: An anti-war Iraq veteran who came forward to publicly lambaste the Bush administration and accuse American troops of murdering innocent civilians.

Jimmy Massey was Michael Moore, Cindy Sheehan and John Kerry all wrapped up into one tidy, soundbite-friendly package -- a poster boy for peace topped off by a military uniform and tattoos to boot. But like a lot of the agitators who pose as well-meaning, good-faith peace activists, Jimmy Massey was something else:

A complete fraud.

let's go over the checklist:
- military service
- across-the-board denigrations of fellow soldiers
- mis-remembering 'details'

expect the exploratory committee and trips to iowa and new hampshire...

¶ - nitish @ 10:16 AM | 0 comments

  smurf this

given the recent use of the smurfs in an anti-war UNICEF ad, peyo studio has apparently hired lawyer smurf to defend its ownership of all things smurfy

update (09/12): smurf translation site WebSmurfer remains defiant

¶ - nitish @ 8:54 AM | 0 comments

  a real dangerous cia leak

given the 'gleeful' nature surrounding the plame affair and the cia's dubious record, there has been no outrage over the leak of cia prisons [bugmenot login] in various locations including thailand and eastern europe.

Senate leaders--republican leaders--call for a probe of this dangerous leak. terrorists like al qaeda have made it abundantly clear that anyone that cooperates with the united states is a target for terrorism as evidenced by attacks in bali riyadh, morocco, madrid, london...
there are more instances...

there is no doubt. this leak has endangered the countries mentioned in the story

¶ - nitish @ 5:39 PM | 0 comments

  alarmists alarmingly off

the greenland ice shelf, which we have been warned was thinning and melting, even 'doomed', which was even 'speeding up' as late as last year...

...you know where this is going...

well, it isn't...in fact its thickening

¶ - nitish @ 9:48 AM | 0 comments

  french cooking the usa

the american thinker continues to put some meat on the French-Niger forgery story by connecting the french related dots: Plame/Wilson french connections, french official skullduggery, and their respective motivations.

surprisingly, i haven't seen this much around the web...reliably conservative lucianne.com tipped me off, but surprising lefty tpmcafe also carried it.

¶ - nitish @ 7:33 PM | 0 comments

  late night wars long over

having never been a fan of letterman, the fact that jay leno increases his lead over his late night rival comes as no surprise to me.

ever since hugh grant came on, leno has consistently beaten letterman. letterman and his backers used to point to the lackluster cbs schedule, but now cbs dominates nbc.

circumstances have taken the edge off of letterman's schtick. i believe there is a limit to the number of viewers who want to watch someone seemingly unhappy to be himself.

the letterman crew (and even some media watchers) appears to be in permanent denial:

-But the ratings can't be a heartening development for the people at "Late Show," who have never quite believed that more Americans consciously choose Leno.
-"Late Show" executive producer Rob Burnett isn't so sure. He finds that Letterman's audience is loyal, that it sticks with the show throughout.
"Obviously, Dave isn't new and yet at the same time I constantly find college kids and high school kids who are discovering Dave and adding to his fan base," he said. [then why would rating fall?]
He cautions against counting Letterman out in this eternal competition....
"If CBS and NBC continue in their current models, Dave will beat Jay," Burnett said, "and I also don't think it matters...."
-Late Show executive producer Rob Burnett has said, "Clearly, Dave is the more culturally relevant of the two." This is undoubtedly true.

¶ - nitish @ 3:54 PM | 0 comments

  CYA at the CIA

the cia 'leak' investigation didn't paint many people in a good light....
of course scooter libby and some adminstration officials, wilson's story has been undercut, the overzealous media, but most disturbingly, the CIA continues its record of incompetence.

NY Post's Deborah Orin invokes the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan who remarked about the CIA's "unbroken record of missing what's happening." these failures include the fall of the Soviet Union, 9/11, the "slam dunk case" of WMD.

however more troubling is the CIA's tendency towards 'revisionism' in order to paint itself in a more positive light.

But then, all this came at a time when the CIA division where Wilson's wife worked had an intense need to cover its rear: Remember — they were the ones who (along with every other intel agency in the world) had insisted that Saddam had WMDs — but no WMDs were being found.

Having Wilson go public was very useful to the CIA, especially the division where his wife worked — because it served to shift blame for failed "slam dunk" intelligence claims away from the agency. To say that Bush "twisted" intelligence was to presume — falsely — that the CIA had gotten it right.

victoria toensing, a former chief counsel for the Senate Intelligence Committee, catalogs the questionable role [bugmenot login]of the CIA in the whole Plame Affair: nepotism, unqualified agent, nonexistent oversight, it goes on and on. toensing sums up:

The CIA conduct in this matter is either a brilliant covert action against the White House or inept intelligence tradecraft.

in any case, the CIA is crippled going forward

¶ - nitish @ 10:31 AM | 0 comments

  TO needs a time out

in a far-ranging interview with espn, terrell owens hit all his usual high notes--bad-mouthing teammates, pettiness and selfishness.

well, TO won't be playing much for the forseeable future.

apparently, the words weren't the only things flying from TO...
maybe some fists

this is just another of Terrell Owens' antics...
self-promoting celebrations...including trade demands...bad-mouthing teammates...it goes on and on...

good riddance...

¶ - nitish @ 12:44 PM | 0 comments

  sign of progress

media reports helped establish the dangerous reputation of the road to bagdhad airport.

however the situation has improved [bugmenot login] owing to a change in tactics and involvement of the iraqi military.

Harris started by slowing down the convoys, forcing soldiers to look out and see the passing landscape. Then he sent troops into the surrounding neighborhoods. Barriers went up, preventing cars and trucks from reaching the airport road unless they passed through a military checkpoint. The Iraqi army set up positions and stayed 24 hours a day.

while this october had an unfortunate uptick in american deaths, the situation in iraq ultimately comes to the iraqis themselves.

¶ - nitish @ 10:32 PM | 0 comments

  the $ behind the music

shows like smallville, laguna beach, veronica mars and charmed (alright i shouldn't be watching that but that alyssa milano...) feature music prominently, often including a credit at the end of the show.

the impact--of these plum placements is examined. while the monetary windfall isn't huge, the buzz can help. witness the bump an 80s hit had after some key placement.

¶ - nitish @ 2:14 PM | 0 comments

  more dowdy times

maybe maureen dowd isn't as irrelevant as i believed...
her style of selective writing appears to be spreading at the NY Times....

following up on an entry by michelle malkin regarding a NYTimes '2000 dead' story which cherry-picking the words of fallen soldier Jeffrey B. Starr's to fit the Times' anti-war agenda,

"Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this, that is why I'm writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances."

the times stops there...
but the NYPost relates the rest of the story....

Timothy Lickness a relative of Cpl Starr did not appreciate the Times focusing solely on a awareness of death, leaving out noble sentiments:

I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark."

the family does not appear to chalk up the omission to anything malicious....
there much kinder than i...

¶ - nitish @ 12:18 PM | 0 comments

  unnecessary AND irrelevant

slate's Katie Roiphe asks the question:
"Is Maureen Dowd Necessary?"

a question made moot by the NY Times itself

¶ - nitish @ 5:27 PM | 0 comments

  don't believe the hype

i've never really understood the reverence of 'star wars'.
bad dialogue, ridiculous coincidences, special effects as a crutch, overrated villain...
essentially a bad, rather blatant rip-off of frank herbert's dune

nevertheless slate's Aidan Wasley ascribes 'art film' status on lucas' space opera series. wasley attempts to rehabilitate the clunky narrative structure, the overreliance on gimmickry.

he even audaciously attempts to justify jar jar binks. nothing if not ambitious.

¶ - nitish @ 9:52 AM | 0 comments

  destined for the bargain bin

speaking of delusional people stuck in the past...
mary mapes has a book she has to promote.

basically she laments

"If I was an idiot, it was for believing in a free press that is able to do its job without fear or favor....

...fear or favor of the press trying to get away with lying and cheating

...oh the good ole days...

¶ - nitish @ 1:10 PM | 0 comments

  somebody gets a paycheck for this

the boston globe's thomas oliphant is fighting the last war.

update: lispy ej dionne chimes in with a similar lame point

lemme give you the maureen...dowd summary
if only...john kerry president....
i think that covers it

it's such relevant, incisive, topical entries like this which lead to the boston globe's and washington post's booming business. [sarcasm off]

¶ - nitish @ 12:43 PM | 0 comments

  m&a trick or treat

AOL co-founder Steve Case exits stage left from Time Warner. while some people are saying nice things, the media never misses an opportunity to thump that disastrous AOL-TimeWarner merger
and every opportunity should be taken to mention arguably the single worst financial transaction in history...

speaking of ridiculous mergers, the telcos are doing their best to undo the break-up of Ma Bell

¶ - nitish @ 9:38 AM | 0 comments