Thoughts on Bush's last SOTU

by shamanic

Yeah, I watched, and yeah, I was bored as hell. I kept thinking, "Imagine Barack Obama delivering a State of the Union and the poetry he would unleash on an unsuspecting public!"

Bush began the speech sounding like his tongue was too thick, which gave the impression that he was slightly drunk. I think it was just nerves, because it went away after a little while and was replaced with that ridiculously aggressive demeanor that's been a source of annoyance for so many for so long. He clearly relished going after congress in his standard, "You will do what I tell you to do!" way, because he never was any good at picking actual targets for his apparently limitless barbs. Which only suggests that deep down he is a hedgehog or a porcupine or the iconic character from Hellraiser, which most us had already figured out.

Policy-wise? His dad swore, "No new taxes," and the son is now swearing, "No new ideas." Which is just as well, since none of his are very good.

Ordinarily, if I'm going to play a drinking game during a Bush speech (I wasn't last night), I use "freedom" and "liberty" as my drinking words, but for this speech the buzzwords were "trust" and "empower". I would have had a good buzz if I'd stuck with my usual formula, for sure, but the other two would have gotten me trashed. Like the country George Bush leaves behind when he returns to Texas next year.

His sprint to the finish? Call it a limp to the finish. And a lame, lame speech.

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' response, while not the most animated performance I've ever seen on the TeeVee, did include a little tangent that amounted to a straightforward endorsement of Obama's brand of politics and a full rejection of the Clinton & GOP slash and burn approach. She was staid, thoughtful, and mildly intense, but what she was saying there toward the end almost made my face melt off with what it meant. She just exempted herself from consideration for a cabinet slot in a Clinton White House, but she said something important that should be said more often in prominent places, and I'm grateful to her for it.

As for George: I'm grateful he'll be going home to an out-of-the-way mansion in rural Texas from where he and I can play "out of sight, out of mind" for a few years while I recover from the appalling travesty of his presidency.

Missing your TV favorites?

By Libby

I've seen this link on several blogs. FireDogLake has put together a handy point and click letter for you to write to the Hollywood honchos and tell them to pay their writers a decent wage already. Of course, it's customizable but again, the template will do. With these mass mailings, they're more likely to count the numbers than actually read the letters. But if you do nothing, expect re-runs forever because the studios are hunkering down and trying to break the strike. Fight for your fellow workers.

Most interesting to me was that you have to choose which show to write to from a drop down menu. It's a long list. I only recognized about a dozen of the programs. I guess I really am out of touch with pop culture. I mean, Cashmere Mafia, Gossip Girl, Two and a half Men? Who are these people? I wrote to House. That's the only one I watch consistently.

Flaws in the programming

by shamanic

CNN.com is fronting a "Developing Story" banner (they used to say "Breaking News") stating that Dick Cheney will have heart surgery after doctors discovered an irregular heartbeat.

CNN on teevee is talking about some baby. CNN Headline News was talking about something else irrelevant before going to commercial.

So... How important is this "Developing News" story is it if it doesn't warrant any actual coverage on their teevee networks?

Rosie's out

By Libby

That was fast. It looks like MSNBC has heard the ridicule echoing across America at the notion of Rosie O'Donnell as a political pundit. Unlike our Congresslizards who seem to suffering from terminal deafness, they responded to the will of the people and the deal is off.

It remains to be seen if they are also picking up on the groundswell of support for Rachel Maddow.

Consider this an audition tape

By Libby

This is why I think Rachel Maddow should be the host of MSNBC's new program. A imitative shock jock like Rosie isn't going to draw a progressive audience. The rapier wit of an innovative personality like Rachel, will.

The Democrats or Dr. House?

by shamanic

I've never met any of my fellow bloggers here at the Newshog in person, but we often conduct lengthy e-mail exchanges between ourselves about random nothings (Libby really, really wants to ride in a blimp, for instance).

Anyway, today the group has been back and forth about our various lack of cable, our cable companies' unwillingness to carry MSNBC, and jobby conflicts (I no longer experience those) preventing us from liveblogging the debate tonight.

Strangely, though I think tonight's debate might be the first with real fireworks, the truth is I'd rather be watching House. So to you television junkies in the Newshoggers readership, which will you choose at 9pm: a bunch of Democrats or Dr. House?

TeeVee Proves the Efficacy of Homeland Security Cash

by shamanic

One interesting thing that happened this weekend involved a little dip into the crazy world of CNN. They were covering helicopter rescues from the flooding in Oklahoma City, and on Sunday morning I watched a couple being rescued by being forced to cling, one by one, to the skid of the rescue helicopter.

To be clear, there were no rescue harnesses in evidence, nor even any ropes. People stranded in flood waters were waved onto the skid at the base of a helicopter, where a rescuer perched, and were then flown to higher ground. Unsurprisingly, they kept falling off and into the flood waters.

This got me thinking about the billions we've poured into Homeland Security measures over the last few years, and the stupid priorities that emphasize the extremely unlikely over the very, very probable.

For instance, flooding. Flooding is a far more likely threat in nearly every place than biological, chemical, or nuclear attack. But what do you want to bet that the state of Oklahoma, thanks to the Department of Homeland Security, is the proud owner of hundreds of radiation detectors. Hell, it's even possible that the rope-and-harness-free helicopter on the teevee on Sunday had one of them in some kind of emergency preparedness kit.

But ropes? Harnesses? How boring! Ropes and rescue harnesses are for suckers. In the 21st century, radiation is sexy!

Who's the abuser?

By Libby
Updated below

Let me admit right up front that I don't watch reality shows. I saw about 15 minutes of the final program of that first one, it was called Survivor I think, and about 20 minutes of some other show that was about a bunch of teenagers in an RV, maybe it was called Real World or something like that and I didn't get the point.

I have read a few articles about the format though and from what I gather, these programs are far from real. The action is scripted and the "actors" are routinely abused with long hours on the set and other violations of rules of the actor's guild. It's hardly a secret and they get away with it because the participants are not hired as union actors. In fact that's why the shows can be produced so cheaply and why they've proliferated.

So I find these parents that are now complaining about child abuse after production has closed on the latest entry into the genre, Kid Nation, to be more than a little disingenous.

CBS presumably did not kidnap these kids. They were there with parental permission, sent by parents that clearly wanted the money. What responsible parent would have pulled their 8 to 15 year old child out of school to participate in this fraud in the first place and in the second, one would think if they had concerns about safety they would have the option to pull the child out. Of course they would most probably have to forfeit the cash.

To the parents that are complaining after the fact, in a transparent attempt to squeeze more dough out of CBS -- pardon me, but your greed is showing. The real abuse is signing the kid up in the first place for such a hare-brained scheme. Nonetheless, I expect their children learned more about responsibility and co-operative living from enduring the hardships, than they will by observing the parents trying to change the rules after the game has already been played.

Update: I'm much more used to criticism so it's makes me a little nervous when people say nice things about me, but thanks to Capt. Ed for the props.

Nukes! Nukes!!!

by shamanic

I've been light on posting because I had to tie about 75 loose ends up at work last week, about 65 of them unexpected, before leaving for a week-long vacation at the National Poetry Slam in a couple of days. I've spent a very relaxing weekend cleaning, doing laundry, recording audio, doing some basic home repairs, and generally trying to set myself up to a) leave, and b) come home again next Sunday to a relatively clean house.

While doing mountains of laundry this morning, I happened to watch 2002's "The Sum of All Fears", which prominently features the nuking of Baltimore.

Nukes have been much on my mind of late, what with Tom Tancredo calling for the utter destruction of world holy sites should crazies attack us, Barack Obama's call for the (non-nuclear) bombing of Pakistan, and then later Obama's unclear remarks about nukes (on the table? off the table? under discussion? not so much?).

If I could just jump in as, like, a member of the human race and a citizen of the only nation on Earth that has ever used nuclear weapons offensively: could we quit this please? I'm really with Atrios on this. Just imagine how it would feel if the politics of other nations included the prominent discussion of whether or not to nuke us.

I was 14 when the Berlin Wall fell. People even a couple of years younger than me probably don't have much of a memory of growing up under a nuclear threat. I remember being really, tear-inducingly afraid sometimes as a child that the Russians were going to nuke us. I'm sure a lot of Eastern bloc kids were just as afraid of us.

And now we're threatening anyone and everyone in the world in the most inane, casual, off-handed, and self-evident way imaginable. Frankly, it makes me feel ashamed.

Henley Panders to the Meat Eating Crowd

by shamanic

Looks like Jim Henley has given up vegetarianism. I guess he figured out how wussy it is.

Battlestar Gallactica to End

by shamanic

Well kids, according to numerous media reports, the next season of BSG will be the last.

I, for one, am thrilled. When Sci-Fi moved the uber-awesome series that occupied my Friday nights to Sundays, I was unable to follow. I've said for some time now that I'd just wait until the whole intricate, beautiful thing was out on DVD, and now I can reasonably expect that to happen by 2009.

I'm a patient girl, yo. If you need proof, I'm still watching Lost (but usually not on Wednesday nights. I usually watch the episodes on ABC.com.)

From a creative-type perspective, I'm also pleased. It's good to see Ron Moore make the decision that the next story arc will end what he's been working on, rather than having some network suit decide that it needs three more seasons beyond what he can creatively give just to pull in a few more advertising bucks.

But also, it's a sad day for science fiction on television. Stargate: Atlantis is playing in the background as I write this, and I keep hearing the words "explosive tumors" emanating from the teevee. Actor, please. That ain't sci fi. That's just stupid.

So I'll wait for the entire series of BSG on DVD and love them forever. Many thanks to everyone involved with BSG for a mesmerizing, addicting, and mindblowing television experience. I can't wait to have it all in my hands and watch it from beginning to end.