Ice Station Tango

Programming Note

2009-12-08T14:59:00.004-05:00

Much to the chagrin of President Obama, Charlie Brown's Christmas message will be heard loud and clear, unobstructed by pesky speeches about trifles like our endless military engagement in Afghanistan, tonight at 8pm on ABC.

I will be watching something from the DVR, quite possibly Meet the Natives or Dollhouse. Other than that, I've pretty much given up on real TV until Lost starts.

Possible Third Party Runs are Catnip

2009-12-08T14:30:00.003-05:00

First Lou Dobbs opened the door to a third party presidential run in 2012. Now Sarah Palin is dropping hints. How much of the Republican nominee's share of the electorate is going to be devoured by extraneous teabagger campaigns? Still, I don't know if I buy the assumption that the Republicans will not nominate Sarah Palin. Sure the establishment of the party, at least the McCain campaign insiders, hates her like poison, but the neocons, Rush Limbaugh, hard right evangelicals and the NRA-types all adore her. If not Sarah Palin, then who?

What the Heck?

2009-12-07T16:36:00.000-05:00

There's nothing at all in this 1990 L.A. Times article about Barack Obama being elected President of the Harvard Review about the future president being a Muslim or a socialist.

Paging Amy Goodman, You Are Not The Only One the Olympics Are Trying to Shut Up

2009-12-07T12:19:00.000-05:00

Amy Goodman, you may be interested in this guest post by musician Carey Mercer at the music blog Stereogum concerning the demand in the contracts of performers at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics that they not speak negatively about said games.

The reason I'm trying to flag Amy Goodman down on this one is because Canadian border cops asked her several times what she had to say about the games.

President Obama May Take Over Prime-Time Television in Effort to Filibuster Christian Message

2009-12-06T17:54:00.008-05:00

The mayor of Arlington, Tennessee, thinks that the president is timing his prime-time television appearances to subvert the Christian message of Charlie Brown's Christmas Special. Mayor Russell Wiseman wrote, "We sit the kids down to watch 'The Charlie Brown Christmas Special' and our Muslim president is there, what a load... try to convince me that wasn't done on purpose."

Okay, I will try, briefly, to convince you, sir. There were about ten or so networks covering the Obama speech. Think about it, Mayor. Other programming was interrupted by the president. Isn't it possible that the timing of the speech was designed to subvert some other message? Maybe he was trying to do us a favor by sparing us from watching another episode of the bloated corpse of the "Law & Order" franchise. Maybe he doesn't want to know how architect Ted Mosby met his kids' mother. Far more unlikely, but worth mentioning, is the possibility that President Obama's speech had nothing to do with television schedules or the message of Christ at all. Maybe he gave the speech to tell us what he's going to do about the big fucking war going on in Afghanistan.

Or maybe Wiseman is right. We must consider all options, right? Let's see what happens tomorrow night at 8pm when ABC airs Santa Claus is Coming to Town and Fox airs Carrie Underwood: An All-Star Holiday Special. If the president takes over the airwaves again with some ginned up "speech" then we will know for sure. The President should pace himself though, because the Christmas message is splattered all over the prime-time schedule between now and December 25th.

Here's that secret Muslim, "Cenk Uygur" of "The Young Turks" with his two lira on this matter:

Swiss Take it Out of Neutral

2009-12-04T13:58:00.004-05:00

John Oliver goes all out to piss off the Swiss. He settles for quiet, yet deep, displeasure directed at him by the Swiss ambassador.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

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Meanwhile, the Swiss continue to crack down hard on Roman Polansky, placing him under house arrest in his luxury Alpine chalet, unprecedented in Switzerland for a detainee in an extradition case. Why on Earth would Switzerland do that? Well, Polansky did plunk down $4.5 million bail.

Do you have any idea how many minarets you can knock down with that much money?

O'Reilly's Redistribution Plan

2009-12-04T11:53:00.004-05:00

Check out Bill O'Reilly nakedly advocating for a tax system that would cripple the middle class if it hadn't already been eviscerated by the current tax system. Remember Station Nation, President Obama is the one who wants to redistribute wealth.

Big Evil Monopoly Alert!

2009-12-03T14:20:00.002-05:00

It's the new complex, kiddies. NBC's going from the military contractor to the cable company. What could go right?

Cenk Uygur, Karen Finney Debate Obama's Afghanistan Strategy

2009-12-03T12:56:00.003-05:00

Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks and Karen Finney of the DNC debate the president's approach to Afghanistan.

Canada Freaks Out On Amy Goodman

2009-12-01T12:14:00.003-05:00

The great hope for Democracy in this hemisphere--Canada--took a disappointing, communist China-like turn toward Olympic host nation paranoia. Who's the great menace threatening to screw up all of Canada's arrangements? Little Amy Goodman from the academic exercise in purist journalism that is Democracy Now!

Rove Dismisses Cheney 2012 Rumors

2009-11-30T14:08:00.002-05:00

Meh! He's not running, Meh!

By the way something, Newsweek's Jon Meacham is pushing a Cheney '12 run. Also, I know it's ignorant, but I like calling the 2012 presidential election Oh twelve. As in, who is Obama going to run against in oh twelve. Just sounds good to me.

Next Tell us About the WMD They Found in Iraq, Dana

2009-11-27T13:37:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night on the Hannity and Hannity Show guest Dana Perino said, "We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term." I'll spot her the anthrax attacks, since no one knows what the fuck happened there, but 9/11 is a pretty glaring omission. That kind of factual error would get Perino fired when Fox goes error-free in 2010. I'm not kidding. Luckily for Perino she doesn't work for Fox, she works for that Obama guy. He let's her say whatev. What a cool boss!

Crist Completely Outflanked

2009-11-26T16:43:00.000-05:00

Holy shit, Charlie Crist is going down. He's turned on the base and pointed the finger of blame squarely at them. "People are hurting and they're suffering," Crist said. "I hear about it every day. That's frankly why I thought the stimulus was so important. I know there are some in my party that don't agree with that, but I don't have the luxury of putting politics over people." Crist is forced to embrace his moderate tendencies, since he can't out crazy his opponent, Marco Rubio. The result could be a pick up for Dems. Getting to 61 senators could make a huge difference for the Dems, since it might finally give them what they need to dump Joe Lieberman's ass.

Giving Thanks

2009-11-26T09:41:00.000-05:00

I give thanks that this guy:

is president and that neither one of these guys:

is president instead.

Amanda Lindhout, Neil Brennan Freed

2009-11-25T21:36:00.003-05:00

I'm very pleased to hear the news that Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Neil Brennan have been freed from their captors in Somalia. Lindhout is a friend of a friend so this comes as very welcome news.

That's an Easy One

2009-11-25T20:52:00.006-05:00

Colorado car salesman Phil Wolf posted a billboard that asks "President or Jihad?" in reference to the president, who wears a turban in the billboard's depiction of him. In an appearance on MSNBC, Wolf told Ed Schultz, "My statement up there on the sign has got a question mark behind it. And the question has to be answered."

Well, a good friend of mine, Scientist of the Artist v. Scientist Podcast, decided to call Mr. Wolf and answer his question. Take a look:

Dobbs Hints at 2012 Presidential Run

2009-11-24T14:57:00.004-05:00

On Fred Thompson's radio show, Lou Dobbs told the former Republican Senator and Die Hard II actor that he was considering a run for, get this, President. Quite the field President Obama could be facing in 2012. I'm predicting Obama, Palin, Dobbs, Nader, Bob Barr, Jesse Ventura and perhaps one or two other attention-seekers looking for juice for their potential book deals/TV shows.

Nicely Done, BooMan

2009-11-24T14:35:00.003-05:00

BooMan properly assails warfreak Frank Gaffney. It's a brief, yet workmanlike and properly scathing, tirade targeting one of our worst neocons. Here's a taste for you non-clickers:

He complains about religious extremism while getting his paycheck from the Unification Church. That he gets paid at all is proof that the most extreme form of affirmative action in this country is reserved for conservative people who are willing to make dishonest arguments in newspapers and on the teevee.

By the way, look out, Frank, Ron Reagan, Jr. is behind you!

It's a Slow Apocalypse, Charlie Brown

2009-11-23T11:27:00.007-05:00

When I started this blog it was because the end of the world was really bumming me out. One of our early slogans was "Apocalypse Got You Down? Chill out at Ice Station Tango." But I never meant to imply that the end of the world was fast approaching. My sense of the apocalypse is that it is already here, but it's a very slow process. Movies like 2012 (check out NASA's debunking of fears associated with 2012) and The Day After Tomorrow rush the thing for the sake of giving viewers a good ride, but, in reality, the end will come at a slow droning pace, not like the fast striking Martian conspiracy to suck the planet into the Large Hadron Collider or anything like that.

Unfortunately, that slow drone is gaining momentum. In spite of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which we Americans took a pass on, carbon levels have increased 6.5 percent. A new report shows that both halves of Antarctica are melting (h/t Stacy Sedai, who also designed this image back in 2006 -->). Again, even this news isn't an indication that the end is near. It just means that the things that will doom us are progressing steadily. NASA says that Antarctica lost 196 billion metric tons of ice in 2006. That will raise sea levels by 0.02 inches. Now project that out over twenty years. But don't project it at a flat rate unless we start signing some serious legislation to combat the root causes of our climate problems. No, project it at a steadily increasing rate reflective of the rate at which things are getting worse.

Gore Agitates for Toy Gun Wielding Tree Army to Seek Revenge on Non-Green Politicians

2009-11-22T13:39:00.000-05:00

The time for crazy has come.

Lou Dobbs, Advocacy Journalist

2009-11-19T21:13:00.004-05:00

Lou Dobbs stopped by The Daily Show to talk about his departure from CNN. Crooks and Liars has all the video--three big ol' segments.

I found this comment by Dobbs to be just sensational:

What happened is CNN and I decided that we would be going different directions. John Klein, the president of CNN told me point blank that the network was going to move away from advocacy journalism, that I practice, and move toward something he called 'middle of the road' journalism.

What this tells me is that Lou Dobbs thinks that if you put the word "advocacy" in front of the word "journalism" it creates some kind of a legitimizing word-umbrella that somehow protects the nation from the damage his hateful disinformation wreaks on the nation. It's just like using the term Advocacy Weatherman. "It's going to rain today, folks, and it's that warlock President Obama's fault for bowing to the Japanese Emperor."

This quote also tells me that CNN's president thinks there's such a thing as 'middle of the road' journalism. That somehow facts can be moved from where they are found and conveniently relocated to a place where they can't hurt anyone's feelings. That is far more damaging than a dozen Lou Dobbses.

Confusing ACORN for Diebold

2009-11-19T20:15:00.004-05:00

I'm trying to convince myself that a full quarter of the American people have decided to fuck with the people who call them with poll questions. I have to believe this because if 26% of Americans really do believe that ACORN stole the election for President Obama, then I can no longer justify my low income. If I am competing against that many morons in our capitalist society and this is the best I can do financially, I have to take a hard look in the mirror.

While I meditate, read this from Huffington Post:

Overall, 62% of Americans think Obama legitimately won the election. Only 26% think ACORN stole it for him, with most Democrats and independents dismissing the idea.

TPM's Eric Kleefeld points out that, given the 53% to 46% divide between Obama and Sen. John McCain in the 2008 race, "in order to believe that Obama wasn't the true winner of the 2008 election, one would have to think that ACORN (and perhaps other groups) stuffed ballots to the tune of over 9.5 million votes."

Trust me. I know a stolen election when I see one. No one had to steal this baby.

First the Senate, Then the Presidency, Then the Universe!

2009-11-19T16:38:00.006-05:00

Word on the street is that Starscream is considering leaving Megatron to join Rudy Giulinani's staff as he prepares for a run at the Senate, which will set up his next run for the Presidency, which will set up his run for Galactic Overlord.

Mr. Noun-Verb-Black-hole-devouring-planetary-systems-in-the-central-core will have a hard time getting by the more conservative Galactus in the primaries. he may think he's un-Scozzafavable, but he's not. Even Rudy can be Scozzafavaed.

UPDATE: The Giuliani camp denies the rumor.

No, Seriously, Free Don Siegelman

2009-11-18T14:11:00.000-05:00

There are abundant reasons why good people should stay out of politics. The sad saga of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman, who was Rove'd into prison in one of the most bullshit political jack moves of all time, stands as yet another monumental example of why you should just stay home and hope for the best. Seriously, Rove and the Bush Justice Department should have just hired the actors who played Brutus and Cassius on HBO's Rome and sent them down South for some old fashioned regime change.

What makes me toss in my own mouth is that the Obama Justice Dept. hasn't replaced the Bush US Attorney that made it all possible and they are supporting her against Siegelman.

Remember kids, do unto others before they can do unto you.

Burning Questions--Dobbs v. Menendez in 2012? Is Obama el Diablo?

2009-11-17T13:00:00.006-05:00

On Fox News last night, Bill O'Reilly asked Lou Dobbs if Barack Obama is the devil. I shit you not. The devil. Lou said no, then spewed bullshit and my eyes glazed over and I put on a DVD. Lou also hinted at a Senate run, which I understand would take place in New Jersey in 2012, and his opponent would be Bob Menendez. Yeah... No word on whether or not this will happen, but word on the street is that Dobbs is looking for a contractor to build a wall around Menendez's campaign office.