The new movie The Golden Compass has a baddie played by Nicole Kidman who is blond, who is evil, and who's last name is Coulter.

Hollywood is so unbelievable.

Excellent, thoughtful essay by Chris Hedges regarding the issue of civil disobedience as it relates to war. It puts into perspective the relatively little abuse that I have gone through because of my anti-war shirts and bumper stickers as compared to what the giants of dissent have endured, such as Henry Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, et al. For too many people, the occupation of Iraq has simply been an abstraction to them. It is long past the point that the majority of people in this country awaken to the fact that they, like those during the Vietnam War, have the power to bring this illegal occupation to an end.

Um, what's going on with the font for the roundup the past couple of days? It's tiny and hard on the ole eyes over here.

IgnoranceIsNotBliss, I just sent Nicole an email about that. Not sure why that's happening. Hopefully it can be adjusted to avoid further eye strain.

Whenever anyone from the Bush Administration says anything, regardless of whether they have the evidence to back it up, they can take comfort knowing that their trusted lapdogs in the U.S. media will report it as the whole, unadulterated truth.

U.S. Media Says Torture is OK

toroture?

Must be when the matador kills the bull.

Timely quote via jr from the comments section of at-Largely:

The civilized have created the wretched, quite coldly and deliberately, and do not intend to change the status quo; are responsible for their slaughter and enslavement; rain down bombs on defenseless children whenever and wherever they decide that their 'vital interests' are menaced, and think nothing of torturing a man to death: these people are not to be taken seriously when they speak of the 'sanctity' of human life, or the 'conscience' of the civilized world.

-- James Baldwin [From chapter one of "The Devil Finds Work" (orig. pub. 1976), page 489 of Collected Essays (1998)]

You're quite welcome.

Thanks for your kind words, Batocchio, and welcome back. Glad I could catch you up, specifically on the cat juggling - the MSM has been mum on this for far too long.

"(Also, don’t miss CNN’s John Roberts bring up the “fair and balanced” Global Warming Hypocrite meme seconds later.)"

That clip linked to that was posted on Al Gore's site didn't mention what John Roberts said after the speech. Anyone care to clue me in?

Thx

danL, your confusion makes sense. Gore (or the person running his website) has since snipped the video on his site to cut out CNN's subsequent idiotic ramblings. I'm actually surprised Gore or his peeps didn't think of that in the first place. It's a little like ending your wedding tape with a comment from a disgruntled ex.

jr, thanks. Appreciate it. And thanks for reading.

Erroll,

I was hoping to find the segment of Talk of the Nation that Sagel was on today but it appears they didn't put it up. In a nutshell he said that they have their guests on their comedy game show and the guests try to be entertaining and self-depreciating. This is particularly true as the segment tries to stump them about stuff that they wouldn't be expected to know about. Perino spoke about the Cuban screw up herself pointing out that it was something that she should have known and looked foolish about for not knowing.

Sagel's point was that while it might be appropriate to jump all over her about it the day she made the comment at the press conference, this was a situation where levity was involved on a quiz show. And he thought it showed the lack of a sense of humor on the part of people to get bent out of shape about it in that context and her own admission of it. Which was my take on it a couple of days ago, kind of like shooting fish in a barrel I guess. And while yes, she should know that stuff it makes us look quite petty, when you step back, to see the blogs piling on over this occurrence on a freakin' game show where she's trying to be a good sport, probably in front of a mostly liberal audience judging by the lackluster applause.

Now, perhaps you know every possible thing that you might be expected to know about your job and have never screwed up at it. I can't make that claim. I'm not giving her a pass, but is this really worth a ton of bandwidth if she missed something that happened when she was a kid? When it's an obvious point about Iraq or the sub prime debacle or such, that's pretty critical and should rightfully be flagged. But this...?

Anyhow, Sagel's comment on the entire affair was that in his opinion, "it would be better if mockery were left to the professionals." Maybe he has a point. I laughed anyway.

#24-Noodles

"I'm not giving her a pass..." Actually, it does sound like you are giving her a pass. My point still stands. She and you want people to have pity on her for not knowing what should have been a basic point of knowledge regarding U.S./world history. You seem astounded that Perino is being criticized for "having missed something when she was a kid." You somehow want to believe that Perino's ignorance is to be seen as a reason for humor if not a source of pride while I and others see it as symptomatic of society reveling in their lack of basic world affairs. Yet you are not bothered in the least that she, as a government employee and a spokesperson for the White House no less, was not aware of one of the most important historical events of the twentieth century. To you, this is something to be laughed at while those in countries which value education and knowledge shake their collective heads at the continued stupidity that Americans seem to take so much pride in.

If she had not been aware of how many children Franklin Roosevelt had or if John F. Kennedy had any pets, then your point would have been valid. One wonders if this mental giant is cognizant of what act caused the U.S. to enter on the side of the allies during World War II. Perhaps she should ask her husband what country attacked the U.S. and if she recognizes the date of Dec. 7, 1941. One wonders if she stayed awake in school to learn how President Kennedy died. Perhaps this tower of intellect believes that John F. Kennedy is alive and well and living at Martha's Vineyard.

She has no excuse and she deserves all the criticism that someone in her position has received for not knowing, and seemingly not caring, about one of the major historical events to have occurred in this country and in the world. All the rationalizing that you wish to engage in does not obscure the fact of how profound her ignorance truly is, which apparently is quite deep.