The Late Shift is a dramatization of the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to Jay Leno instead David Letterman taking over The Tonight Show in 1992; notwithstanding that Johnny Carson clearly wanted Letterman to succeed him. After watching this movie in 1996, I became convinced that far too much of Leno’s public persona as “America’s male sweetheart” is as phony… Read more.
Archives for 2010
The election of Scott Brown: sound and fury signifying nothing
Tonight, Democrat Martha Coakley suffered a stunning defeat by Republican Scott Brown in a special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by the late Sen Edward Kennedy. Stunning, of course, because Massachusetts is a heavily Democratic state that Obama won by 26 points over John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. And, despite the well-documented shortcomings… Read more.
Google finds its own “Chinese medicine” hard to swallow
Google won international praise last week for merely announcing that it intends “to review our business operations in China” after Chinese agents hacked into the Google email accounts of human-rights activists – who are deemed to be enemies of the state. Meanwhile, far too few pundits are bothering to note that these hackers just did to… Read more.
Haiti Earthquake and the Three Rs: Relief, Recovery, and Reconstruction (Hey, Hope Springs Eternal)
It is simply heart-rending to watch the images (which I see no point in republishing here) of Haitians living among the dead as they wait for food and water; to say nothing of those waiting for emergency medical treatment or to be rescued before earthquake rubble becomes their tomb. But this emotion is mollified somewhat by… Read more.
Haiti’s catastrophic earthquake (updated)
Haiti has never been salvaged from the political strife and unconscionable poverty, hunger and disease that have earned it the perennial dishonor as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere…. American presidents are almost as responsible for creating the nightmarish living conditions in Haiti as the succession of incompetent, corrupt and ruthless leaders they’ve sponsored… Read more.
McGwire admits the obvious: he used steroids
Disgraced former baseball player Mark McGwire finally admitted yesterday that steroids fueled his stellar career, which was highlighted by the 1998 season when he out-juiced Sammy Sosa to become home-run king. Fittingly, he was dethroned by another juiced-up superstar, Barry Bonds, in 2007. Unfortunately, this admission is every bit as tainted as McGwire’s home runs. For… Read more.
Book exposes top Democrats dissing Obama
Washington’s liberal establishment is “shocked, shocked” by the allegedly patronizing and racist things Bill Clinton and Sen Majority Leader Harry Reid reportedly said about Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. In fact, Clinton, Reid and many other politicians are exposed as preening hypocrites in Game Change – a book by TIME’s Mark Halperin and New York Magazine’s… Read more.
Airport security: please take off your shoes … and your underwear
Here’s to getting over prudish self-consciousness and welcoming all-seeing, full-body scans…. Mind you, nothing demonstrates what a haphazard farce airport security has become quite like the fact that, after the shoe bomber bungled his attempt in December 2001, we were led to believe that every passenger had to take off his/her shoes for separate scanning to ensure air safety. For… Read more.
(UPDATE) Obama: We screwed up … the buck stops with me!
President Obama met on Tuesday with his Cabinet and national security team to discuss the intelligence failures that led to the near catastrophic terrorist attack on Christmas Day. But it was clear from the press statement he delivered after that meeting that he can offer no explanation for the slew of “red flags” telegraphing this… Read more.
Obama: we screwed up
President Obama met yesterday with his Cabinet and national security team to discuss the intelligence failures that led to the near catastrophic terrorist attack on Christmas day. But it was clear from the press statement he delivered afterwards that his meeting produced no explanation for the slew of red flags about this attack that all… Read more.