« March 2006 | Main | May 2006 »
April 27, 2006
New Film Focuses on Homeless Iraq War Vets
This is a theatrical trailer for "When I Came Home," an independent film about homeless Iraq War veterans
(there are now more than 500, according to the film maker). At least one of the men the filmmaker interviewed has since committed suicide.
I'm posting it just because I think it is an important issue that needs as much publicity as it can get.
Posted by MJuhre at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)
April 26, 2006
Snow Job
It's official.
Tony Snow, the journalist-turned-speechwriter and media affairs specialist for George Bush I, turned-Fox News personality, has turned his back on journalism once again, in order to face the White House press corp.
OK, that paragraph was a bit much. But it's the kind of crap that some editors I've worked for love. But anyway.
According to his Fox News bio, Snow has a more eclectic professional and personal background than one might imagine. He plays several musical instruments and is also an advocate for the mentally ill (which, I have to admit, is not typical of Republicans -- I'm guessing he has a personal connection to someone with a mental illness? That's usually the only thing that will make Republican's budge on social issues. But, I really don't know.)
A friend questioned whether this is the first time a broadcast journalist has been chosen as White House spokesman. I don't know the answer but will be seeking one.
I must say that this is the first time I've heard of someone going full circle twice: from hack to flack, back to hack, and then back flack again. And, of course, in a few years he'll probably be back at FOX as a pundit.
Good night and good luck.
Posted by MJuhre at 12:29 PM | Comments (0)
April 21, 2006
Screen Capture of the Day
This Batman Crotch Rocket reminds me of another toy, the Harry Potter Vibrating Broom.
This treat was submitted by Brett, who has submitted number of other fun things like:
Posted by MJuhre at 02:32 PM | Comments (0)
Hu Ya Gonna Call? George Dubya.
Chairman Hu Jintao should have stayed in Seattle with Bill Gates. Hu's visit to America was hunky dory and all smiles until he flew to Washington.
If it wasn’t bad enough that the White House gave press credentials to a reporter for the Epoch Times (the newspaper of Falun Gong), who proceeded to yell protests at Chairman Hu Jintao for a full three minutes before the Secret Service ferreted her away ... or that the official announcer of the event referred to the visiting leader's country as "the Republic of China" (which is the official name of Taiwan, the sworn enemy of the People's Republic of China), the icing on the cake came when Dubya (once again) made a jackass of himself and our entire nation, by accidentally insulting a visiting head of state.
When Mr. Hu began to walk in the wrong direction after a photo op, Bush grabbed him by the sleeve "as if redirecting an errant child," commented The Sydney Morning Herald.
Of course, Bush learned a thing or to about walking in the wrong direction, when he visited China back in November, and I suppose we should just be glad Bush didn't follow in his father's footsteps who vomited in the Japanese Prime Minisiter's lap in 1992.
Posted by MJuhre at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2006
Axis of Execution
The United States ranks fourth in the world in state-sponsored executions, following China, Iran, Saudi, according to a report released by Amnesy International.
(See Reuters article).
Posted by MJuhre at 01:13 PM | Comments (0)
Check Out The Young Turks
I was just hipped to this today. If you haven't checked out The Young Turks, "the first nationwide liberal talk show and first live, daily internet TV show," check it out now.
I'm adding it to my media-consumption repertoire.
The Young Turks airs live M-F from 6 - 9 pm ET via webcast, on Sirius Satellite Radio, on iTunes (Radiopower.org), and on affiliate radio stations nationwide.
Posted by MJuhre at 12:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 19, 2006
Today's Needless 'Cartoon'
Actually, last week's... but time is short these days.
Posted by MJuhre at 10:13 AM | Comments (0)
April 12, 2006
Former Asst. Attorney General Chastises Washington Post's Coverage of Bush Leak
Duke Law Professor and former Assistant U.S. Attorney General Walter Dellinger wrote a scathing rebuke to an April 9 Washington Post editorial entitled "A Good Leak," which defended George Bush's 'declassification' (leak) of portions of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq, that bolstered the President's desire to attack that country.
"We don't know exactly what happened in this instance, and we don't know to what extent previous administrations engaged in similar behavior, but we should know this: No anonymous, one-sided release of misleadingly selective parts of a report deserves the accolade "A Good Leak."
Posted by MJuhre at 10:43 AM | Comments (0)
April 07, 2006
Berating Bush
A North Carolina real estate broker criticized President Bush at a town-hall meeting at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte yesterday.
“While I hear you talk about freedom. I see you assert your right to tap my telephone. To arrest me and hold me without charges,” said Taylor.
To this, Bush simply responded, “yeah” and, a few seconds later, proceeded to interrupt Taylor with a joke to get laughs and claps from the crowd. He did let Taylor finish, however, and even told those booing Taylor to be quiet and let him speak.
Taylor when on to say “I have never felt more ashamed of nor more frightened by my leadership in Washington....I feel like, despite your rhetoric, that compassion and common sense have been left far behind during your administration, and I would hope, from time to time, that you have the humility and the grace to be ashamed of yourself, inside yourself.”
To this Bush responded “would I apologize for that? The answer is absolutely not.”
Of course, none of this should be altogether surprising. But it is interesting that Bush doesn’t even need to feign humility. He can basically just say, “yeah I’ll tap your phone, bitch. Whatchoo gonna do?” and receive rounds of gleeful applause.
See the video here in WMV format or, if you can't view that format, go to BradBlog.com for a Flash version.
Posted by MJuhre at 10:36 AM | Comments (0)
April 04, 2006
Hammer Falls - Tom Delay to Resign Amid Scandal
Posted by MJuhre at 04:33 PM | Comments (0)
April 03, 2006
Jack Abramoff's White Supremacist Ties
It just gets weirder. Yet, sadly, when I reflect on life in the 1980s, it all makes so much sense.
Back when he was a Hollywood producer, GOP slime lobbyist Jack Abramoff did all he could to to keep his films clean. An observant Orthodox Jew, Jack tried to insert good old American values into his final product.
For example, When he made the Reagan-era, anti-commie classic "Red Scorpion" starring Dolf Lundgren, Jack insisted that "obscenity and profanity" be barred from the screen.
Unfortunately for Jack's traditional values, "fuck-you-asshole" style dialogue was an accepted, and expected element of trashy 80s action flicks. The pressures of Abramoff's own beloved, free-market capitalism eventually forced him to cave.
Corporate obscenity and profanity prevailed, and in more ways than one.
Filmed in South Africa occupied Namibia, Red Scorpion spouted not only an an anti-Soviet message, but equated the Nelson Mandela's African National Congress and other members of the anti-Apartheid movement with a Russian plot against the good ... eh ... white-supremacist government of South Africa.
In fact, according to former South African spy Craig Williamson, Red Scorpion was funded by the South African military as part of an intelligence project designed to sway world opinion against the anti-apartheid movement. Abramoff, it turns out, was the South African government's right-hand man in Washington.
So let's recap quickly shall we? Jack Abramoff, the founder of the Committee for Traditional Jewish Values in Entertainment, worked for Nazis. This must be those shameful Hollywood values that the right wing always decries.
Read more in the Raw Story and the Mail and Guardian.
Posted by MJuhre at 12:45 PM | Comments (0)