Gannon's Back!

He's shaved, rested, and ready. Also, he spells Harry Reid's name wrong.

My friend Bob sent me a link to a great clearing house for Guckert Guck.

Can't go wrong with Daily Kos...

WB goes DMZ

My brother Bill sent me the following link

I liked it better when WB didn't know what they had. Honestly, this crap is unnecessary! Kids still love the original cartoons. Has anyone ever attempted to catalogue all of the Warner Cartoons?

You know, I've never seen a good catalog of the WB cartoons. I have always wondered what was the last one produced.

There''s lots of tired, self-referencing humor in the new stuff. Bugs is now so "cool" he's almost inert.

The only respectable spin off was Animaniacs, which featured very little of Bugs and Co and concentrated on original characters. It allowed the creators to do their own stuff while paying homage to the style and attitude of the classic cartoons, without any embarrassing comparisons.

I agree. Still I was really upset when the handed the WB universe over to Spielberg based on his name and involvement in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Spielberg's one contribution to WFRR was to suggest they give the character a mouth like Thumper from "Bambi." I think the principal reason Animaniacs was good was that Spielberg really wasn't very involved.

But this latest project seems like a Mad Magazine parody. I really wonder if it will ever see the light of day. Then again, they came up with awful new designs for the Batman and his villains for a new show. The Joker looks like a bad rip-off of the Creeper.

Correcting IMDB.com on Matt Drudge

I love IMDB.com. It's the greatest waste of life a movie lover can ask for outside of the movies themselves.

But I read one item, under the trivia section of Matt Drudge (not an actor, I know, but they do bios for any big media personality) that was a typical example of right-wing anti-Clinton myth:

Was sued, unsuccessfully, by the Clinton White House for $30 million dollars for libel.

For the first time, I went through the corrections process and typed this:

Was sued by Clinton presidential aide Sydney Blumenthal for 30 million dollars in libel damages after Drudge wrote - and retracted - a report which wrongly accused Blumenthal of spousal abuse. The case was settled out of court, and Blumenthal agreed to pay $2500 in expenses to Drudge.

I was asked to provide reasons by IMDB.com. Here's what I told them:

The previous trivia claimed that Drudge was sued by the White House. This is incorrect. He was sued by a presidential aide. I have also added some more details for clarity. See http://www.courttv.com/archive/legaldocs/cyberlaw/drudge.html and http://archive.salon.com/politics/red/2001/05/02/blue/

I think what I wrote is pretty fair. I did note, for instance, that the Blumenthal story was retracted before the suit, and that Blumenthal had to pay some of Drudge's expenses. But sheesh! To think how many people go around thinking "The Clinton White House" sued Drudge and lost...Get it straight, people.

Bob Says...

Decent fan-subbing article: http://news.com.com/Anxious+times+in+the+cartoon+underground/2100-1026_3-5557177.html?tag=st.num

I say:

This is another chapter in the "ownership society" debate. Most people agree with the idea of private ownership, including the ownership of creative ideas and media. But they also feel the public has a right to a certain amount of unfettered use of these items. ("Does someone deserve the right to own the 'happy birthday' song? You bet! Do I have to get their permission or pay a royalty for singing it at a birthday party? No way!")

This is a relatively recent debate, remember. It was not so many generations ago that nobody owned a song or story. I'm never sure where the dust will finally settle..Or IF it will ever settle.

Mickey Kaus Spins Again

Mickey Kaus, the Zell Miller of Democratic bloggers, says...
"I'm trying to get up to speed on Gannongate, but I keep getting confused."

Gee, Mickey, maybe you shouldn't spend all your time linking to conservative/right-wing bloggers.

Then Kaus makes a ridiculous argument against the weak-kneed liberals who think the government shouldn't use right-wing frauds to advance propaganda for the state.

If "Gannon" did get a leak of classified documents, would that make him more of a fake reporter or more of a real reporter? Wouldn't it make him Robert Novak?

Which is like saying, is you dress a chimp in a flight suit, then he has to be considered a pilot.

You can put anyone in a flight suit. That doesn't mean they're a pilot.

You can leak something to anybody. That doesn't make them a journalist.

I think Mickey should be asking, is wouldn't that make Robert Novak Jeff Gannon?

If the Democratic Party was a spaceship, Kaus would be this guy.

The real retirement solution...

Okay, so Bush has now admitted that his private account proposal has nothing with increasing Social Security's long-term solvency. His argument, essentially, is that it helps people and gives them more "choice."

I've really been delighted at how the real facts on Social Security, how it works, and how changes would affect it, are now really being discussed instead of letting RNC/Cato Institute sloganeering set the terms. In fact, there's little I can add to all the good arguments our side has raised.

Except One.

Doesn't anyone remember Al Gore's Retirement Savings Plus" plan? (See here and here.)

Gore had it right, and no one listened.

Instead of Bush's "carve-out" option, Gore proposed an "add-on" proposal that would work much more like a 401K plan than anything Bush has proposed.

Bush dismissed it with "we can't afford it" during the debates. But Gore's plan would have cost the government a fraction of what Bush's vastly upper income cuts have cost us, and it all would have added to our nation's savings. The greatest danger it posed was that if a lot of people signed up, the cost would rise. But of course, the government's expenses would be in the matching funds, which acted as an incentive. The matching funds could be scaled back if the program proved popular enough, and still leave people better off.

Best of all, Gore really targeted the middle and lower income people who needed to save.

This plan was so ignored, I doubt even most Gore supporters knew about it. Googling Gore "retirement savings plus" turned up mostly derisive dismissals, which consisted of "this is just an imitation of Bush's plan" (It was anything but) and "we can't afford it." (compared to what Bush has done, it's a bargain.

I really hope to see this plan come up again. It's what we really need.

Good Culture Still Survives..

My brother bill wrote me from the UK, re: his three-year-old Tommy.

I put on "Dizzy Doctors" (Brighto! Brighto) for a friend who was visiting with his 3 year old daughter last week. Tommy and the little girl were in hysterics!
Who would have thought that the stooges' sophisticated humour would be accessible to a toddler?

Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk...

Bush on His May 2003 "Mission Accomplished" Stunt:

"You bet I'd do it again."

Great.

Do it again.

Bob Says...

My Friend, Robert likes to highlight stuff on the net that interests or enrages him. Here's one to share:

"Alan Keyes' daughter is a lesbian. Surprise! How many more virulent anti-gay politicians and activists have gay offspring? Still, she showed her family loyalty by campaigning with her dad. And her dad's compassionate conservative approach to this news? He has apparently cut her off. Pro-family? "
Andrew Sullivan said

In Maya Keyes own words:

"They -our friends on the far right- like to 'say' they don't 'hate homosexuals'. The just say that they merely 'hate' the sin or 'the lifestyle' that gay people lead. I say bullshit. They hate gay people. Nobody who can do this, to their own child, can pretend that there is any 'love' in this. You have to wonder, after all the garbage about 'family values', about 'God' and 'Jesus' and 'morals', what crawls as thought through the mind of a father who not only fires his own child, but pushes her out the door without the resources to start over. This man, ladies and gentlemen, wanted to be a U.S. Senator, and now wants to be a state Governor. A leader of men, and a crafter of laws. So I ask you, what kind of world would we all be living in if this man had any kind of power or say-so over any of our lives? "
Link: Daily Kos
My jaw dropped as I read this and my feelings summed up at the end like so:

"Isn't there any human kindness in Alan Keyes?"

Little truth coming out of these politicos. Less each day. Well paid hypoctits.

G'night,

Bob

I just want to add here that Robert has been an open admirer of Keyes in the past.

Dick Cheney's on a Roll

3-16-03: "We believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."

2-6-05: "I think the Eagles by three."

Bush Describes His Social Security Proposal, and I Actually Agree With Him

"It's kind of muddled."

Via DAILY KOS and Atrios

My First (but not last) Social Security Post

Okay, so Bush actually starts to describe at least some of his Social Security plan in his State of the Union Address.

Then the Washington Post runs a story which says Participants Would Lose Some Profits From Accounts
(This is a corrected version.)

Then the Drudge Report runs a "news flash" titled White House Blasts Wash Post on Social Security Claim.The flash is in the form of a press release.
(Not sure if this was written in response to the original Post story or the corrected version)


THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Great Falls, Montana)

Participants get 100% of Their Personal Retirement Accounts, Both Principal and Interest

But there's no name or link on this. I couldn't find it in Google News or the White House site, or anywhere but Drudge.

Have I been negligent in my search? Is this one of those early "scoops" Drudge gets handed?

Or is someone (very possibly someone in the White House) trying to defend Bush's plan without attribution or accountability.

In other words, "Bush's plan is flawless..but FOR GOD'S SAKE, DON'T QUOTE ME ON THAT!!

testing...

Testing, 1234, testing...Just seeing if this thing works...