Welcome, one and all to the most intense nightly read anywhere on the sphere; The BitsBlog Nightly Ramble.
[1]This is the Crossing Edition. Yes, we’ll hold you up for a few minutes, but at least you’ll have something interesting to look at.
- Temp Check: John Hawkins has one of his polls up, this time it’s the Rightosphere Temperature Check For May, 2009 [2] An interesting read that pretty much confirms what I’ve been saying about the matters John asks about.
- Those dirty rich: Fabius Maximus [3]has an interesting writeup today on HIS vision of Reforming America. It’s interesting, that the vision he proclaims is vastly different from than words of The Chosen One. ™ He identifies something that I’ve spoken of here before:
Unfortunately, the class that has led America — and done so well during our first two centuries — appears to have lost interest in the project. They prefer to skim the profits off the top, and hope the ship drifts along in the trade lane (and stays off the rocks).
Now, as true as that is, let’s examine just WHY, for a moment. After nearly a century of being told by government and later the middle class (who it seems followed the lead of government) that the rich are the enemy, being taxed and regulated to death, and playing the part of the goat for society’s troubles, it’s not hard to imagine why concern for the concerns of government, and the middle class, doesn’t rate very high on the list of priorities of our former benefactors. FM quotes Lewis Lapham:
….
[4]Lewis Lapham
Who and what is America? How is it possible to sustain the promise of democracy without the revenue to pay for all the degrees of subsidy and entitlement? If the federal bureaucracy in Washington is incompetent as well as corrupt, is it because the constitutional machinery has broken down, or because the ruling and possessing classes had decided that the practice of democratic government was both a risk and a luxury that they were no longer willing to finance?…
The task of restoring belief in the democratic idea — as opposed to promoting the ritual fictions of sham democracy made of Fourth of July speeches and editorials in USA Today — presupposes the collaboration of an oligarchy that sees some advantage in the enterprise.
Now… I can think of one thing that would re-spur the interest of the rich in such matters…. Tax cuts. You see? This whole argument about ‘Tax cuts for the rich’ is damaging us in ways I can’t even begin to count.
- Kicking and Screaming: Do you suppose the spectacle of the Secret Service dragging a black woman reporter away from Air Force One [5]will help the Image of The Chosen One?(tm) And can you imagine the reaction from the left with such an incident, had, say John McCain been in office? As it is, I very much doubt you’ll hear anything more about this one.
- Corporate Spin: Time Warner will spin off AOL [6], scream the headlines. Yeah, like there’s nobody that saw THAT coming. I said at the time it wouldn’t work. And remember what Ted Turner said back then? That the deal was better than sex [7]? Well, given how it all worked out maybe we have some idea why even Hanoi Jane left that fruitcake, huh?
- Attention O’Reilly: Yessir, Billy Bob, I did see that ‘apology’ [8]last night to the Hot Air folks [9]. It doesn’t cut it.
[10]Ya know, eventually and for their sake, I hope sooner than later, Fox is going to figure out their problem. One of their biggest draws, hasn’t a bloody clue about things that most of the viewership understands as a matter of instinct. And I’m not all that convinced that O’Reilly’s domination of the time slot is all that impressive of itself, either. About anything that Fox tosses up of late is doing well in it’s time slot. Hell…. Even Jerry Rivers… otherwise known as Geraldo Rivera, one of the least popular personalities still in the business today, is cleaning up in his time slot. That’s a testimony to loyalty to the brand, not the individual. Or perhaps a lack of loyalty to the competition, more correctly. Message to Fox: This thing is not of itself crippling. In someone with less of a pattern of this kind of thing, I’d not be worried at all. But he’s going to retire shortly anyway. Take my advice: It’s about time to consider getting someone like Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin, or yes, Laura Ingrahm in that time slot permanently, and getting the current occupant into semi-retirement, before he does something Fox can’t recover from. - SITYS: Yesterday I quoted Jen Rubin, and agreed that the Obama Honeymoon is over, and suggested the Democrat party’s time in power is very limited…. and that they’re heading for a bloodbath in 2010 and 2012. Seems Obama sees it that way, as well. [11]
- Talk about a pre-emptive strike: From The Politico:
Progressive health care reform groups demanded on Thursday that Washington’s NBC television affiliate refuse to air a 30-minute infomercial funded by a conservative group opposed to creating a public insurance plan.The Service Employees International Union sent a letter to NBC4, arguing that the station has a responsibility to pull the documentary-style commercial paid for by Conservatives for Patients’ Rights. The ad, set to run Sunday after “Meet the Press,” “will be false, deceitful, and a distortion,” the union’s attorney wrote in the letter.
The SEIU has not seen the ad, but is drawing the conclusion from CPR’s record of running “demonstrably false” ads. The station has the duty to protect the public from misleading advertising, the letter argues.
(Emph is mine) Well, if they’ve not seen the ad, on what basis do they claim falsehood? Or is the complaint simply that SEIU is being opposed at all? See, here’s the thing; I think they’re getting nervous, and know their plans simply cannot stand the slightest of scrutiny.
- De PLane, Boss! De Plane!: We’ve got the airshow this weekend. I’ll see about getting some photos to post.