December 01, 2007
The 18th Brumaire of Hugo Chavez
Is Hugo Chavez Venezuela's Louis Napoleon? This might just be a private joke for myself... Grad school and my new daughter still precludes me from spending any time blogging
Posted by MJuhre at 11:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 19, 2007
FOX News Writes Its Own 'Facts'
Still no time for blogging, but I gotta backlog of crap to post sometime...Like this, for instance.
I came across this curiosity while perusing writing jobs. One always suspects FOX News just makes things up on a daily basis. Note that the title of this job is not "fact checker" -- a common position for any news organization. This appears to be a gig to write copy for the FOX news ticker that runs below the main stories, and/or create those captions--"students say gunman was a loner"--that let viewers just tuning in get a general sense of the news being presented. I wonder, though, if they check any of their facts for either of these or if their "fact writers" simply transform rumor and innuendo into "fact" by putting them on television.
Posted by MJuhre at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2006
Just Too Crazy
There's little time for blogging these days, as family life and school take precedence. But this was just too crazy to let it just go by...
My wife Myra and I were lying in bed with the TV and the laptop on. I was reading a reply to something I posted on Roadfood.com and turned to Myra and said, "Oh yeah so I've confirmed that your great grandfather Harry Perry did indeed invent the lobster roll" (it is family lore and, in our kitchen, we have a sign that hung at Perry's restaurant that tells the tale of Harry inventing Connecticut's signature sandwich).
One second (literally) after I said this, a David Cross character on Comedy Central's new show, Freak Show said, "Now who wants lobster rolls?" and threw lobster rolls out into a crowd of cartoon extras.
Should anyone care? No, but it was just too crazy.
Posted by MJuhre at 10:55 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2006
Elmo is an Evildoer
I just can't agree with this commentary more:
..."I am not the only one who hates Elmo. Vernon Chatman and John Lee, the creators of MTV2's dark 'Sesame Street' parody, 'Wonder Showzen,' think the evil red one is destroying the show.
'Elmo doesn't grow. People show him something and he laughs. He doesn't learn a lesson,' says Lee. 'It's the exact opposite of what old Sesame Street used to do. Elmo has been learning the same lesson his whole life, which is that Elmo likes Elmo.' " ...
-- Joel Stein in the LA Times
Posted by MJuhre at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)
July 26, 2006
Punk Obituary
There have been few blog entries of late I know.
While there's really no reason why you should care, I'll tell you anyway. I've been spending a lot of my free time time moving my vinyl collection to iTunes. Some of that work is available at at http://punkobituary.blogspot.com.
Posted by MJuhre at 02:11 PM | Comments (0)
May 10, 2006
Go Away
This morning I have little time, but think you should check out these two stories on Alternet:
Stephen Colbert: New American Hero -- When Colbert turned up the heat on Washington's elite,
he revealed the big split between those basking in power and those fighting for change.
--By Don Hazen
The Best Little Whorehouse in Washington -- Who can pass up a scandal involving poker, hookers
and the Watergate building?
--By Molly Ivins
Posted by MJuhre at 09:31 AM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2006
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
January 24, 2006
Canceled Reality Show Revealed Bigots can be "Queer-Eyed"
Some time ago, my fiancee posited that the popularity of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" might truly strike a blow for American bigotry by 'introducing' real, regular gay people to otherwise ignorant American audiences. That the Fab Five have given makeovers to a frat house in Texas and a Moose Lodge on Long Island, led me to believe she might be right.
Back in June, we posted a piece on ABC's canceled reality show, "Welcome To the Neighborhood."
This interesting update on that series, from Towerload, submitted to us by Matt Lavine, hints that Americans' bigotry really can be lessened by such 'introductions.'
****
The ill-fated ABC series Welcome to the Neighborhood is back in the news again. If you'll remember, the realtiy show featured a cul-de-sac of conservative Christian families in Austin, Texas who were to choose a family to live on their street from among a pool of "alternative" contestants — African-American, Hispanic, Korean, Wiccan, tattooed, gay, and a strip-tease artist.
While the show was cancelled because it was said to be too controversial, the real-life drama...revealed how bigoted attitudes can be turned around by lifting the veil of ignorance...[T]he cul-de-sac's most virulently homophobic resident tossed his bigotry aside and became close friends with the gay couple, made amends with his gay son, and spoke at a vigil against an anti-gay amendment that would ban gay marriage. (continue)
Posted by MJuhre at 09:20 AM | Comments (0)
December 06, 2005
I might be done with Hillary Clinton
Every time I try to forget that Hillary Clinton does things to infuriate me ... she does something to infuriate me. And it's always pretty much the same thing -- each time she engages in some wimpy, posturing, opportunistic, political tactic that she thinks will appease right-wing voters.
Clinton announced she is co-sponsoring a law with Senator Bob Bennett (R -Utah) to make desecration of the American flag a crime ... but says she opposes a Constitutional amendment to the same effect.
That's it Hillary, stand up for what you believe in!
While right-wing candidates win elections by appealing to their base -- making NO concessions to appeal liberal voters, Clinton continually goes out of her way to never take a stand on anything.
Does Hillary get off from straddling the fence or something? I just don't get it.
The one thing about the Democrats that talking heads on both sides of the political spectrum agree on is the notion that the Democrats have no conviction.
I'd like to say that this assertion is not true (Democratic Committee (Chairman Howard Dean seems to have conviction, for example), but it is hard to make that argument when prominent Dems like Hillary pull crap like this.
Clinton's flag-bill nonsense comes on the heels of her bill for the Family Entertainment Protection Act (FEPA), which she says would "empower parents by making sure their kids can’t walk into a store and buy a video game that has graphic, violent and pornographic content."
At least with FEPA it seems plausible Clinton might actually believe in her bill (even if she did follow up the previous statement with "This is about protecting children," a statement that obviously translates to "Look at me conservatives! Me is stopping porn and supporting family values!").
But this lame flag law is just such obvious posturing.
Can someone like that be elected president? I just don't know. My gut says 'no' but I'm not a political scientist, and national elections these days tend close and surprising.
Maybe she is making a bid to be John McCain's vice presidential nominee. Oh wait, no. That's Joe Liebermann (who, rumor has it, Bush is considering as a candidate to replace Donald Rumsfeld as defense secretary).
The pool of would-be Democratic presidential candidates thus far looks to me to be so weak that I'm basically prepared to throw up my hands and just think "at least McCain will be better than Bush."
God I miss Paul Wellstone.
Posted by MJuhre at 11:41 AM | Comments (0)