Posted 7:11 PM by Gene

The destruction of in loco parentis now extends to personal belongings, to where spoiled college kids can blithely leave behind tons of still usable stuff others would beg for. It's all well and good to smile and insist it's donated to charity, but at best this all says gullible parents are wasting even more of their earnings on creature comforts in an environment that is too often about creature comforts; more to the point, our INSTEETOOTS UV HYER LERNING can tolerate it because, as last month proved, they view people as disposable too.

Posted 5:36 PM by Gene

Blah blah blah blah moon, blah blah blah blah star:

I feel like a traitor to my fellow parents for even saying this. These movies are made in part for me: a socially progressive, irony-friendly Gen Xer with rug rats. I thought Hoodwinked! and most of the Shrek series were hilarious, and God knows I don't want to go back to the days of suffering with my kids through a long, slow pour of Uncle Walt's wholesome syrup. But even if you ultimately reject their messages, old-school fairy tales are part of our cultural vocabulary. There's something a little sad about kids growing up in a culture where their fairy tales come pre-satirized, the skepticism, critique and revision having been done for them by the mama birds of Hollywood. Isn't irony supposed to derive from having something to rebel against? Isn't there a value in learning, for yourself, that life doesn't play out as simply as it does in fairy tales? Is there room for an original, nonparodic fairy story that's earnest without being cloying, that's enlightened without saying wonder is for suckers?

I have often said the biz would be better off without the ad-blurbists, and now I'm thinking it would be better off without show-biz writing of any kind PERIOD. How often have the hacks said that some cultural trend or another is the greatest thing since SUMNER created the universe, and how often have these same scribblers come back two years later to say maybe they shouldn't have said that? It's all revisionism, revisionism whose goal is precisely that of the Kremlin heavy thinkers who airbrushed inconvenient faces from existence, revisionism that would not be necessary if they viewed things with that cold skeptical eye of legend they're supposed to have in the first place.

I HATE NEWS HACKS!!!!!

Posted 5:33 PM by Gene

WwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwELL! Look who doesn't like the immigration "reform" bill!

Posted 5:07 PM by Gene

I tend to look sourly at we're-in-the-money columns like Gekko Kudlow's for a reason, and now we have a good one: the Dow has gained close to a thousand points during the never-ending MASSACRE RALLY. How great is the nation with three-headed dogs and psychotic shootists, and where the dogs and their humongous wealth creation are somehow supposed to justify our vast cultural and moral rot? As for this supposed leap in manufacturing (and if a left-leaning think tank supports a right-leaning typist, it must be -- right) I'd bet these days it's basically airplanes and Dilbert boxes. And do American-made Toyotas count? And they have to be bigger-ticket items than what we made before. Take all that away and you have next to zero -- or rather the vast sea of goods now produced by the likes of China. I'm no protectionist and realize much of our productive might was destined to leave from the time Sony made its first transistor radio, and nostalgia is not a good foundation for economic policy, so why do I feel some screw is missing somewhere?

Neither, I will confess, does it help when a man like Gekko Kudlow would absolve a person of his failings just because of his wealth.

Posted 2:24 PM by Gene

All we would say for Jimmah's calm and reasoned comment that Dubya's our "worst" president in international relations is it takes one to know one, and we're not sure he'd know.

Posted 10:02 AM by Gene

Another excuse for lawsuits -- "cyberchondria"!

Posted 9:54 AM by Gene

Why not Wolfy's job for The World's Oldest Adolescent? It could be at least as profitable as being Prime Minister.

Posted 9:38 AM by Gene

We learned how to cuss at Boobs McKeating long before Boobs learned how to cuss at his fellow Sena-TOR.

Posted 9:30 AM by Gene

The New York Post's scandal-scarred gossip column committed EDITORIAL SUICIDE yesterday when it admitted that Page Six honcho Richard Johnson took cash from a favored celebrity restaurant....

The torrent of allegations came in a signed affadavit.... [Very excited overemphasis and Mort Zuck spells it his own way! SIC added]

We're supposed to be surprised that news hacks take favors? We're supposed to be surprised that SLIME operatives take favors?

When a paper engages in its famous one-upmanship against a paper famous for its own one-upmanship you can be sure it has affidavit material worth hiding.

By the way, we learned the spelling of affidavit from To Tell the Truth.

Posted 9:24 AM by Gene

You'd think if a government inadvertently poisoned 100 of its people to death we'd hear of it. This is the first I heard of it. I wonder why? Is it because of all the JERNALISTS being fired? Or do you suppose the ones with their jobs intact have the institutional wherewithal not to care less?

It looks like China's getting quite a rep for quality control too -- as if business cares.

Posted 9:21 AM by Gene

So -- Rummy wants to start a foundation to "provide funds for Americans with experience outside of government to do a stint in public service."

Isn't a little late in the day for public service? Or are we planting the seed corn for future lobbyists?

Posted 6:05 PM by Gene

We are sorry to hear the "near-bankrupt" Tweeter is abandoning its naming rights for four formerly CHEAP CHANNEL concert venues, meaning in C----n our Tweeter Center can lure a third overpaying self-bankrupting entertainment company sponsor. Anyone remember Blockbuster (and Sony)?

Posted 6:04 PM by Gene

House's Frank Wants Worker Safeguards in Private-Equity Buyouts

TRANSLATION: One three-headed dog attacks another!

Posted 5:59 PM by Gene

Giuliani losing steam in '08 presidential race

Hey WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!! You don't suppose that's piling on?

Then again, maybe he can catch up!

Posted 5:56 PM by Gene

Modern medicine may have saved Lincoln

So let's build a time machine and save him!

(Via Slashdot, who would)

Posted 5:54 PM by Gene

"DR." DOBSON WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPS!!!!!!!!!! RUDY!

I don't know Doc, he may claim that as an endorsement.

Posted 5:50 PM by Gene

In other Congressional P. R., Rep. Human Rights wants to punish Michael Vick for disrespecting the human rights of dogs!

Not to justify that football-hero cretin, but when these bloviating clowns (particularly of the good side) can spend so much time chasing these publicity stunts maybe that means for all their legislative triumphs they have a bit too much time on their hands.

Posted 5:46 PM by Gene

Shucks, a Paris of pop and the HERR DOKTOR SONDHEIM of pop split.

I don't know that I can take it.

Posted 5:42 PM by Gene

Gotta linkta Romy again:

Bradlee's "flat-out sick" of hearing bad news about journalism

Well, LEGENDARY Ben, if You hadn't turned mere Clark Kents into SUPERMEN!, and then turned one of Your SUPERMEN loose on JIMMY, maybe we wouldn't have some of the conditions that breed all that BAD NEWS.

Posted 5:37 PM by Gene

ENOUGH!

IT'S TIME TO IMPEACH GONZALES...

BEFORE HE DOES ANY MORE DAMAGE TO THE LAW!

(Too bad he's not going anywhere.) [Overemphasis added]

Who says only newspapers are irrelevant?

(I had to collect all these @#$%&* heds because Bill and St. Warren make it impossible to do a screenshot unless you know what you're doing.)

Posted 5:35 PM by Gene

"I'M MORE UPSET AT REPUBLICANS THAN DEMOCRATS!!!!!!!!!!" [Zillionaire loudmouth overemphasis added]

Wow! Something must have gotten Sean MAD!

Posted 5:12 PM by Gene

The Mexicans don't like it.

So maybe it is good?

Posted 8:59 AM by Gene

Why am I thinking Kerngershwin Hammerstein's latest masterwork will have a disastrous tryout and he'll be saved only by the rave reviews of flacks that are already in their hard drives?

Posted 8:52 AM by Gene

PEOPLE WARNER's chairman's facing an alleged "fallout" for paying hush money!

Proving once again, as in the House, that ethics are fungible.

(Via MediaBistro)

Posted 8:48 AM by Gene

OOOOOOOOOOooooooooooh, Congressman Respected Ex-Marine broke the House rules by threatening a Republican in a non-Kosher way -- and it's coming up for a VOTE!

I think we know what will happen: the Republicans will scream, then the Democrats will scream, then it gets turned down on a party-line vote, then we can make asses of ourselves as usual.

Posted 6:42 PM by Gene

Lady's Man finally quits, after what he supposes is face saving.

Posted 6:40 PM by Gene

Sorry Mike, three talking heads divided by zero is still zero.

Posted 6:02 PM by Gene

Is there symbolism in "Z" visas?

The way whatever-passes-for-Dubya's hundreds of thousands of elves say THIS IS NOT AMNESTY will make con-SER-va-tives happy.

Posted 5:25 PM by Gene

...a salvo of poop, farts and belches....

Isn't that what all "family" movies are?

(Via ShowBizData)

Posted 3:01 PM by Gene

America-Iran Talks to Begin May 28

Posted 2:00 PM by Gene

When we have a lame duck for a president and whining crybabies for a Congress the inevitable result is something like immigration "reform."

Fatso Glub-Glub doesn't like it, so maybe it isn't that bad. On the other hand, whatever passes for Dubya agreed to it, so it can't be that good.

Posted 1:50 PM by Gene

Con-SER-va-tives are astonished that the ninny "presidential candidate" Ron Paul is a racist and anti-Semite?



With THAT face?

Posted 9:44 AM by Gene

You're kidding! Brian's tearful explication of THE SHOOTIST may have HURT his ratings?!? You don't say!!!!!

Posted 9:16 AM by Gene

After what the lobbyists' tool Trent Lott and the recorded-SOUND conspiracy have done why shouldn't copyrights lack respect?

Posted 9:07 AM by Gene

It appears THE GREATEST SEASON IN TELEVISION HISTORY has failed to please the viewers -- worse, it seems to have weaned a few of them off prime-time -- but we should remember the last thing network television is about is pleasing viewers.

(Via IWantMedia)

Posted 8:48 AM by Gene

A few of Branson East's theme-park operators are in a tiz because some nose-in-the-airs failed to nominate their ride for teenage girls for a Best Tourist Trap award, arguing such attractions "dumb down" the visitors' experience. They forget that High School "Musical" [sic] has beaten them to it in the hinterlands. Besides, the theme-park operators needn't worry for the long term; crowds who could make hits out of such carny draws as Grease or Spamalot clearly want to see anything.

Posted 5:05 PM by Gene

Harvard Gave President Summers $2 Million Severance

$2 million? He should have gotten $50 million like any mutual fund chief!

Posted 4:59 PM by Gene

Embattled World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz is negotiating an agreement to resign, according to unnamed sources quoted by the Associated Press and Reuters and CNN and the Washington Post and ABC News and.... [Certain words added]

Lady's Man's such a popular guy everyone wanted to leak first!

Posted 2:09 PM by Gene

Kathy Hilton: Young People May Learn from Paris

That's the problem.

Posted 1:53 PM by Gene

The Media Institute's backers include NBC U, Time Warner, News Corp., Viacom, Tribune, and Gannett. The institute commissioned the study but did not pay for it, according to a spokesman. [LAST GRAF]

OhhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhh, so when a BIGMEDIA trade group COMMISSIONS a "report" that comes to OUR conclusions but doesn't PAY for it we can be SUUUUUUUUUUUUUURE it's fair and impartial. RIGHT?

Have you folks performed a few self-administered extractions in preparation for the tooth fairy?

(Via MediaBistro)

Posted 12:13 PM by Gene

AN ASSPRESS EXCLUSIVE:

"Don't Read!! Personall," warns the diary's inside cover. But its author, Anna Nicole Smith, has no hold in death on the remnants of her life.

The public now can discover that she was delighted by rough sex, ecstatic over the prospect of plastic surgery for her breasts, and fearful of a jealous boyfriend. She was careless with spelling, punctuation, and, too often, with her own well-being.

Complaining about her then-lover's carousing, Smith writes that she'll break it off with him if he doesn't stop. Then she amends her stand, according to new diary excerpts released EXCLUSIVELY to The Associated Press.

"We discussed it and he said he wouldn't go out and get drunk no more unless it was with me," Smith wrote in the diaries, which span about a year from early 1991 to 1992. [Crusading overemphasis added]

This is the greatest thing to happen to chick-lit since Opal Mehta!

Posted 11:58 AM by Gene

OH oh, somebody FINALLY suggests SLIME waste LESS money by starting His own business newspaper!

And the truth may be starting to dawn on con-SER-va-tives -- ever so slightly:

[Y]es, the Journal Ed Page is the best conservative op/ed page in the world; but that's just the opinion operation. The news guys are further left than the Post (Washington, not New York) or the Times (New York, not Washington).

The only thing is somebody tried competing with the Journals with Investor's Business Daily. Have you heard of it lately?

Posted 10:40 AM by Gene

VERY good news from Romy:

Reuters trustees say Thomson deal won't hurt its journalism

TRANSLATION: Militants as usual.

Posted 10:12 AM by Gene

Oop! The cheap partisan hack Timmy couldn't hold his glee!

Posted 10:07 AM by Gene

XM suspends a couple of slugs so it can merge.

"We're under the same scrutiny as (National Public Radio) _ [SIC] it doesn't make sense!!!!!" [Overemphasis added]

Who said anything about sense on your salaries?

(Via MediaBistro)

Posted 9:23 AM by Gene

TRANSLATION: Dubya's noble ethanol campaign's raising food prices!

The best laid plans of mice....

Posted 9:21 AM by Gene

When students get killed one at a time in the ghetto, 27 in a year, in one city, they don't count.

How can the professional racial groups and our drone-like mu-ni-CI-pal leaders sleep through this?

Posted 8:31 AM by Gene

A co-owner of a piece of Little Malcolm's "page-view sweatshop" campaigns against air pollution -- in his penthouse!

Ah, the lifestyles of the rich and world-saving.

Posted 8:12 AM by Gene

Yesterday Philthydelphia's voters (some of them), facing a small army of indictable hacks (including two Congresspoops -- pfui!), chose one Michael Nutter as their mayor. This morning he's surely practicing his EDDIE!!!!! THE CITY'S COMIN' BACK!!!!!!!!!! routine before a mirror while his aides take down the names of John Street's friends for -- reference. I hope I'm wrong, but knowing the sorry state of America's mayors in general and Philthydelphia's in particular, I doubt it.

Posted 8:15 PM by Gene

At Hahvahd Mutual Fund's EHDYUKAYSHUNAL STUB, "re-FOHM":

One of the eight new required subject areas -- "societies of the world" -- aims to help students overcome U.S. "parochialism" by "acquainting them with the values, customs and institutions that differ from their own," Harvard said.

Tell prospective Fixers they're parochial.

"This new program is the result of hundreds of hours of lively engagement by the faculty," David Pilbeam, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, said in a statement.

EIN VOLK, EIN REICH, EIN FACULTY!

Posted 8:12 PM by Gene

In other news from our favorite advertising Web rag, it's a measure of the real vitality of network television that among ESPNCorp Network's new series are Saturday Night College Football and a product placement.

Posted 8:06 PM by Gene

McBurger tries yet again to counter the "stigma" of McJobs:

McDonald's said 30% of franchisees, 50% of corporate staff and 70% of restaurant managers began as crew. Of the top management -- including CEO Jim Skinner -- 40% started behind the counter.

And what percentage of all counter help has graduated? We can't all be CEO of Mickey D's.

While the term "McJobs" was first coined in 1984 by McDonald's as part of a training program for handicapped prospects....

Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffft!

Posted 5:05 PM by Gene

Maybe Dubya thinks he's standing up to the forces of right by so doggedly defending Cipher and The Lady's Man, but mightn't it ever occur even to him to name replacements that would do him good even if he has to get them approved by the no-goodniks of the Senate?

Posted 4:58 PM by Gene

YOOOOOOOOOOhoooooooooo! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanybody out there?

Posted 2:58 PM by Gene

The problem, Perfesser Shafer, is that not only do we get "crap stories" on Mondays, but on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays too.

Or haven't you noticed?

(Via MediaBistro)

Posted 1:44 PM by Gene

Mixing politics and religion has almost always meant trouble. It ultimately failed for the Rev. Jerry Falwell not because of his vision, which meshed well with the Reagan era, but because of his prickly and combative manner, a manner all too well suited for television, which with that stern basso profundo led to the understandable notion that anything that came out of his mouth was -- to use that awful double entendre -- judgmental, when on the basis of so much he said in recent years he seldom showed good judgment. His chief difference with, say, Billy Graham was a political forthrightness, and a freedom from sucking up, but that hardly made him more palatable. He'll always be remembered for that journey down the waterslide -- and that points to another failure: he took over the PTL Club in an epic power struggle after Jim Bakker's moral turpitude, and pointed fingers and bellowed and allowed it to slide into bankruptcy. Today despite the rehabitation of its buildings its once headquarters is a veritable ghost town, its water park long demolished. That the evangelical movement of the eighties is a shambles now is because in many ways it was a ghost town too.

Now news hacks, try to hold your glee!

P. S. at 5:25 p. m. The Corner hasn't said anything, and the reaction of con-SER-va-tives has been somewhat muted.

P. P. S. on 5/16 at 9:30 a.m.: NRO did run a few squibs before my P. S., so I was wrong; I still submit, however, the reaction of many con-SER-va-tives was (understandably) muted.

Posted 1:15 PM by Gene

The hacks are going into their fake consecration mode for Bob Barker. Okay, he entertained a lot of people (if you can call what he did entertaining), and he had a following, and he's loopy at 83 (who wouldn't be after doing The Price is Right for 35 years?), but dammit what did he do that was so special except hang around?

Posted 1:05 PM by Gene

It wasn't just the title. We submit book reviews have a higher burden of proof for all their logrolling. A front-page review in the Paper of Re-CORD's insert is apt to look like an ad as anything, which may explain its diminished power. We wonder too if people want to read a novel about the office when they already live there. And God knows how many reviewers have called how many "comic" novels HILARIOUS!!!!!!!!!! when their humor is at best gentle, as apparently here. That said a better title would have helped; THEN...WE...CAME...TO...THE...END sounds almost willfully clueless. Office Hours sounds old fashioned, and there's a bad low-grade inside-reference joke to it, but it might have helped.

(Via ArtsJournal)

Posted 12:07 PM by Gene

For the 10,000th time in recent memory, and possibly the two millionth in recorded history, the advertising business has "pledged" to improve its reputation:

The pledge comes after a recent Gallup survey in the U.S. found only 10 percent of those polled rated the ethics of advertisers as "very high" or "high." The advertiser beat the "ever-ridiculed used car salesman" by a single point.

Another U.S. poll asked the public to list the top five areas requiring governmental regulation. Tops was water pollution, followed by toxic waste, air pollution, advertising and nuclear safety.

One problem: four of the five are solvable.

Posted 8:44 PM by Gene

OH oh, now we'll get to learn how much all those greedy professional college coaches earn.

We should -- the football and basketball types are the CEOs of the trade.

Posted 5:39 PM by Gene

Elsewhere the Fords may get out of their business, the very definition of a day late and a dollar short.

Posted 5:37 PM by Gene

So: the reason DaimlerCorp's "merger" didn't work is that it wasn't merger enough.

That makes sense. Something has to after all that money evaporated.

Posted 5:33 PM by Gene

Christian conservatives pledge support for '08 Thompson bid

Gingrich may get into presidential race

What a delusional race this will be.

Posted 5:27 PM by Gene

"I'VE SEEN BOB GET 60, 70, 80 MEDIA CALLS IN ONE DAY!!!!!" says the man who hired him at Syracuse, David Rubin, dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. "I'VE SEEN HIM IN A HALLWAY ON HIS CELL PHONE FOR HOURS. YOU COULD GO SO FAR AS TO SAY BOB IS THE MOST QUOTED ACADEMIC IN THE UNITED STATES!!!!!!!!!!"

So often has Thompson been quoted, over 17 years at Syracuse, that some news organizations (including The Associated Press) have lately tried consciously NOT to quote him. [Enthusiastic pop-culture-is-king overemphasis added]

But then their colleagues make up the slack by quoting his inane sound bytes even MORE. We'll NEVER be rid of this preening lout.

Posted 5:23 PM by Gene

ZELIG SELIG reasons in His ossified CW manner that if He starts the Series on a Wednesday and avoids Fridays and Saturdays and ends it in NOVEMBER He'll get BIG BIG AUDIENCES!

Let's see how big the audience gets when He runs and hides from Barry Bonds*.

Posted 5:19 PM by Gene

The top spokesman for Venezuela's leftist government insisted on Monday that the pope's condemnation of Marxism wasn't directed at President Hugo Chavez, who says he's steering Venezuela toward "21st century socialism."

"We all know that the current pope is characterized as a conservative man, but that doesn't necessarily mean that we must automatically think that any word he utters ... is against Venezuela," Information Minister Willian Lara told state television.

TRANSLATION: Vatican City is a sovereign state.

Meantime the TWXSTERS say the Pope got a lukewarm reception in Brazil, which we attribute to four things: 1. He's old; 2. He's uncharismatic; 3. His predecessor may have traveled once too often; and 4. A goodly chunk of Latin Americans are still nostalgic for a native brand of Communism, as witness Fidel Jr.

Posted 11:09 AM by Gene

I had great respect for The American Enterprise and its editor, Karl Zinsmeister, so it was disappointing to read that he may be a "morally repugnant, cheating, shifty human being." Disappointing -- but in the Beltway's context, not surprising.

(Via MediaBistro)

Posted 10:59 AM by Gene

Please, please, pretty please, we'll talk with you. You're not an axis of evil, you're an axis of good. Please, please, pretty please!

The state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency yesterday quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini as saying Iran agreed to the talks to ``relieve the pain and suffering of the Iraqi people, support the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and stabilize peace and security in Iraq.''

And we are all extremely grateful. Pffffffffffffffffffffffft!

Posted 10:51 AM by Gene

A champion for diversity:

Homogenized movie criticism could lead, I fear, to a further homogenization of the movies. Fewer movie critics means fewer voices shouting against the noise of Hollywood's hype machine, fewer champions for the small, interesting films struggling to break out amid the blockbusters.

What the hell do we have now?

(Via the crusading Romy)

Posted 8:32 AM by Gene

We will confess not to have heard of Theodore H. Maiman, but we can say we have heard of the laser, and that the story of its veritable inventor's death seems to have gotten swallowed in the news maw is inexcusable. It is hard to imagine a more multifaceted invention. We can understand though why its inventor would be ignored; scientists are no longer the crusading geniuses of boys' fiction, if they ever were. Indeed there's the problem with modern scientists: they're as indistinguishable as Dilberts. Let us remember him, though, the next time we get our groceries scanned, or put a on a CD or DVD.

Posted 8:25 AM by Gene

Losing a fortune in poker isn't a crime. Making lousy movies should be.

Posted 8:23 AM by Gene

What is the difference between a wake and a jazz concert?

Posted 8:15 AM by Gene

Michael Bloomberg is not only a better mayor of New York than Rudy Giuliani - he'd make a better President, too.

That's the result of a Daily News poll released today that asked the voters who know best - New Yorkers - which man belongs in the White House.

Is Mort Zuck campaigning for something? Maybe he owes him a tax deal.

I can see Zuck writing a slew of those "centrist" editorials in Useless News. Fuhgeddaboutit, Zuck.

Posted 8:11 AM by Gene

Well, if the union says it's okay, it must be okay. Plus the Three-Headed Dog is taking on the pension liability. Time will tell if this is a magnificent deal or just another episode in the de-industrialization of America.

Posted 6:31 PM by Gene

Ty Burr has written a book with the self-explanatory title The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together. I've criticized him before -- he can be trendy -- but he's on solid ground here. Here's the thing: Before The Second Coming of Christ anyone could view a movie. Situations and jokes might have zoomed over the kids' heads, but they probably wouldn't be bored, and most likely there'd be little or nothing to harm them, and their parents would still get an adult movie. Now we have no movies for kids and adults, but in their place MARKETING, or movies suitable for no one, or both. A great big thank you again to SECOND COMING!!!!!

By the way, from what I remember, The Seven Samurai would be a pretty good movie for young teens, because it's such a pretty good movie. But why does it have to be so expensive in DVD?

P. S. 21,534. Serves Bertelsmann's boneheads right for printing 100,000 of these. Yoohoo, remainder bins!

(Via a Terry Teachout post on Commentary Magazine's blog)

Posted 6:08 PM by Gene

TRANSLATION: Because Cipher is such a good doggie Dubya escaped a big problem.

Don't you just love stirring leadership?

Posted 5:43 PM by Gene

The sinister vulture-cap firm named for the three-headed dog of the underworld with Dan Quail, Quaal, QUAYLE as a figurehead has evidently won the bidding for Chrysler, which means now the buyers are exposed to daylight, which things that live under rocks may not like.

The company's Web site looks like Enron's after it went broke.

Posted 1:13 PM by Gene

A siren call to "the next tech billionaires":

Every Tuesday during the program, Y Combinator hosts a dinner of chili or stew for the start-ups. At this first one, Graham and Livingston distribute gray T shirts emblazoned with one of Graham's pithiest admonitions, MAKE SOMETHING PEOPLE WANT. A second, black shirt is bestowed only to start-ups that achieve a "liquidity event"—a purchase by a larger company or an IPO. It reads, I MADE SOMETHING PEOPLE WANT.

No no no no no, the point isn't to MAKE SOMETHING PEOPLE WANT, it's to MAKE PEOPLE WANT SOMETHING. That's who we can't live without spam and buggy software and nuisance cell-phones and all other sorts of sexy inconveniences. If high-tech had MADE SOMETHING PEOPLE WANT it wouldn't be high-tech.