Posted 9:04 PM by Gene

Not only aren't people watching Seligism -- they're not bidding on it either.

We thought each brick of Yankee Stadium was worth at least its weight in gold.

Posted 5:28 PM by Gene

TRANSLATION: The Messiah could ensconce himself in his own well-considered, deeply thoughtful, head-scratching, pondering hole.

CAVEAT: The new David Gurgle.

Posted 4:36 PM by Gene

What is the practical difference between Nukeman and Mr. Two-Face except the latter can say nice things about the West from both sides of his mouth?

Posted 1:30 PM by Gene

Another victim of the who-thought-it-was-continuing credit crunch may be that thousand-plus-foot-high imitation of a spiraling macaroni noodle going up on the Windy City's lakefront.

That's one good thing about this crisis: it may stop TRUMPing dead in its tracks.

Posted 1:28 PM by Gene

The Messiah had better look to the Democrats' favorite state to see what can happen when His party cuts benefits. Luckily He won't let this happen.

Posted 1:24 PM by Gene

North Korean diplomats prepare for 'Kim Jong-il announcement'

Presumably an announcement that He's pulled another one on Dubya, but why that commonplace should cause diplomats to stand at attention is beyond us.

Posted 1:21 PM by Gene

We do not know whether this is good news or bad news; Yes, the holy cockroaches are crippled in their ability to disseminate Elvis's greatest hits; on the other hand you'd think that might send them further underground, where cockroaches thrive. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Posted 1:11 PM by Gene

This is excellent news: Because transit authorities made high-and-wide leasing deals with the likes of AIG they may now have to cut back on their service. Who knew AIG would go broke? is not an excuse.

Meantime we get an inkling SUMNER may be in danger of losing His empire thanks to either His or His daughter's machinations. Why do I think the crisis isn't over yet?

(First link via USAOKAY.com)

Posted 12:15 AM by Gene

Someone named Confetti -- Continetti writes:

It's true John McCain hasn't had much luck running against Obama (so far!). But that luck might change if McCain ran against the Democratic Congress in addition--and against the prospect of undivided, unchecked, liberal Democratic government. Compared with that, even "gridlock" might start sounding pretty good to the American people. After all, they didn't much like one-party, big-government conservatism. They should really be worried about one-party, big-government liberalism.

Pffh-hh-hh hh hh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!

Posted 11:38 PM by Gene

We were about to say one way The Messiah can prove His intellect is by writing a weekly newspaper column, much as Eleanor Roosevelt did, but then we remembered when it comes to public officials the op-ed page is so much the province of ghosts it floats eerily out of a paper. Still, it can't hurt to try.

Posted 11:27 PM by Gene

It appears the financial muck is about to hit HYER LURNING. What a worthy recipient, having spent its last three decades throwing its largess into edifice complexes, kingdoms of dunces, football factories, cozy relationships with business and plain old empire building.

Alas, judging from this tantrum in his blog, this professor may have a bit of a resemblance to the proverbial stopped clock.

(Via -- oh, well -- Phi Beta Cons)

Posted 11:02 PM by Gene

And no doubt this hedge-fund manager, now famous all over the Web for his hail-and-farewell after having brilliantly bet against the subprime-mortgage meisters, has known more than a few would-be movie extruders in his day, "[t]he low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA...people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) [and] rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government." Yep, he would have known them. "I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck," he avows. "Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer [SIC!!!!!], Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life."

But meantime guy, don't spend the rest of yours dreaming of pot. That's a different kind of burning.

Posted 10:54 PM by Gene

This latest backscratching from the Big V assumes the reason movies stink is because of increasingly absurd pay to the A stars who increasingly don't deliver. Reduce the pay and you have "more interesting and varied movies"; why, the biz "could lure adults back to theaters and appeal to niche markets without having to play it safe with four-quadrant pics." But isn't the four-month long Os-CAR® campaign an appeal to niche markets? Isn't that product putatively aimed at adults? (Ad-blurbists are NOT adults.) And this buncombe of four-quadrant pics (beware media buzz words) is code for making dense and offensive movies whose sole reason is to flip the bird to the viewer. Haven't your bosses been doing just that for the last fifty years? No, even if the people who extrude these tentpoles can control costs count on some thoroughly oblivious financiers with stars on the brain to push more moolah their way. As the saying goes (and we've said it before) money, like electricity, follows the path of least resistance, and that path wends its way through Hollywood, to light up more dim-bulb flicks that blow out in a week.

Posted 5:43 PM by Gene

And I have a hunch con-SER-va-tives will be trying to talk up their own Messiah. That won't work; for starters, there can only be one God at a time.

Posted 5:40 PM by Gene

Oh and one other thing: has all this Messiah talk prompted us to defensively downgrade The God?

On the other hand all the Messiah talk did upgrade His chances, didn't it.

Posted 5:27 PM by Gene

Perhaps The Messiah can think, really think -- and if He can really think we will accept Him; but a cogitating Adlai may be practically no better than an empty-headed Dubya, and we ruefully recall Slick was supposed to be different too.

Obviously He isn't Adlai -- but who else could He be?

We hope eventually He can give us cause to hold off the capitalized pronouns and the "Messiah" gag. But Janns sparked it. We'll be waiting.

"Don't underestimate the capacity of Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Don't underestimate our ability to screw it up."

Thankfully, we won't.

Posted 5:23 PM by Gene

$10 million for a five-record contract for a classical artist may seem impressive until you remember the one-hit banshees who get that for the equivalent of one album, and especially when you think of how recorded...SOUND industry accounting is almost as adept as the creators of CDOs in turning $10 million into zero.

Moreover Dame Kiri has called her a fake singer, adding to our skepticism.

Posted 5:07 PM by Gene

And in another Romy discovery:

Arguments in favor of continuing the tradition [of presidential endorsements]: Our editorial board follows the news closely, is well-informed on the issues and has a strong sense of the community, so our opinion is useful to readers. Endorsements, like all editorials, help spark debate and discussion, an essential part of the democratic process.

Arguments against: We don't interview the presidential candidates, as we do the candidates for local and state offices, and, in this digital age, we have no special access to information about them. Presidential endorsements contribute to the polarization in our society and tend to aggravate readers and lead them to believe our coverage is biased.

The latter wins.

Posted 4:56 PM by Gene

TRANSLATION: HISTORY'S GREATEST SATIRIC NOVELIST'S RESIGNATION is a non-matter, and if we who scrounge the Web for tidbits don't look like fools for paying attention.

FURTHER TRANSLATION: JLo's twins for eggheads.

(Emended and corrected at 5:19 p. m. I used "scourge." Stupido!)

(Further corrected at 5:48 p. m. I forgot some punctuation. Double stupido!)

Posted 3:41 PM by Gene

Well, we are slightly comforted to know it might not be just stupid would-be media moguls trying to unload baseball teams who are paying.

Posted 3:20 PM by Gene

If we're going to turn this election into a joke, may as well go all the way.

Although I think it got there some months ago.

Posted 3:12 PM by Gene

We did not know until today (alas) that Jack Narz and Tom Kennedy were brothers. Obviously good game show hosts ran in one family.

Posted 3:02 PM by Gene

This would have been the LALATimes' eleventh or twelfth straight Democratic endorsement for president had it been marginally honest. We suspect it's starting now because with the COL. sending His company down the drain the editors may figure, hey, what do we have to lose?

Meantime,

Wednesday Fitch Ratings released a report saying "default (not necessarily bankruptcy) is a real possibility." Fitch's outlook on the company is "Negative," it's [Big C SIC] current rating on Tribune's IDR "CCC".

Plus He appears to be gradually giving up on selling dem Cubbies. Way to go, COL.!

ROMY hasn't posted on this yet?!?

P. S. at 5:03 p. m.: Ditto.

Yes, the paper has stood for Republican principles for a long time. In 1855, a young politician named Abraham Lincoln wandered into the offices of the Tribune on Clark Street. Lincoln handed over $4 for a subscription and complimented the new co-owner and managing editor, Joseph Medill, on his stand against intolerance. "I didn't like it before you boys took hold of it," he said of the Tribune.

And now that COL. has gotten hold of it and messed up the place with His muddling and his debt you REALLY won't like it.

Romy found this one!

Posted 2:35 PM by Gene

Jonny Hairshirt may think himself EXTREMELY clever for writing this 18 days before an election, but all he's doing his waving his big plum-stained paws in the direction of 1150 15th St., NW and whispering, "HEY!!!!! ISN'T HOWARD GETTING A LITTLE OVER THE HILL?!?!?!?!?"

Posted 12:01 PM by Gene

And what’s next for the two big stars of the night? Billy is going to go back on tour with Elton John, I’m told. Springsteen is working on what may be a new E Street Band album, a follow up to the super "Magic" of 2007. But really, the next tour should be Billy and Bruce. Or maybe they could run for prez and vice prez. I’d vote for them in a second.

You would, Rog.

Posted 9:01 AM by Gene

Maybe The Messiah can be a "great president". We can hope so. Maybe He can also be the Black Nixon. What annoys us is that The Founders in all their wisdom couldn't come up with something better than to force us every four years to take a guess. They assumed every president would be a Washington. They never assumed Nixons.

By the way, ST., we wouldn't rate a president's excellence by how well he writes. Nixon wrote books too (although most after he left office). And Warren Harding was a newspaper editor.

Posted 8:46 AM by Gene

In my never-to-be-published comic novel about my college career I say mice are scientists' favorites because they're cute and they'll do anything you want them to.

After seeing this I'm thinking the same is true for rats, only rats tend to be not-so-cute.

Posted 8:40 AM by Gene

The increasingly negative tone of the campaign isn't likely to be lost on voters, particularly those in the swing-state media markets where the candidates are concentrating their attention. During the Wisconsin project's survey week in late September, the campaigns ran ads 1,991 times in Denver -- about 12 ads an hour -- and 1,300 times in Las Vegas.

Almost all of the McCain ads and one-third of the Obama ads were negative.

Leaving aside what we've said before about campaign advertising, if this is true (these are SLIME's Wall Street Journals) it might account for why Boobs may lose the election: you have to be for something too.

(Via MediaBistro)

Posted 1:33 PM by Gene

We have not bothered with ACORN because we figured it was a conservative thing that no one else would pay attention to; and now that the FBI is investigating this merely gives The Lord another item on His To Do List after His Ascension.

Nonetheless these things accrete, don't they.

Posted 1:30 PM by Gene

SLIME'S JOURNALS' NEWSSTAND SALES ARE UP!

WhoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPS....

(Via MediaBistro)

Posted 1:15 PM by Gene

ACME Communications is being delisted from the Nasdaq Global Market, and also intends to deregister its common stock and cease filing reports with the SEC.

Shucks!

Posted 1:13 PM by Gene

What's next, Madonna?

Whatever You say is next!

USAOKAY!!!!! would be nothing if it didn't grant favors to show-biz types. Oh, it's nothing anyway.

Posted 11:51 AM by Gene

We are astonished and saddened to learn that Edie Adams, the very very comely and talented singer and actress and the devoted wife of Ernie Kovacs until his dreadful freak death in a Corvair in 1962, has died. But for Mrs. Kovacs the morons at ABC would long ago have erased his famed 1961 specials.

By the way, she played Daisy Mae in the original Broadway production of Li'l Abner. Nuf said.

P. S. Well, not nuf said: Julie Newmar and Tina Louise were also in that show. Siggggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

Posted 11:37 AM by Gene

Spain's SUPER CHICKEN!!!!! and his appeasement weren't enough to keep holy cockroaches from continuing to congregate in certain Spanish neighborhoods.

Posted 11:32 AM by Gene

Six of one: The newspaper in PILLHEAD's precinct hires the notorious Magid consultancy, which a media outfit usually does when it wants to dumb itself down for increased profits.

Half-a-dozen of the other: Romy gets mad because "[d]uring the buildup to the Iraq War, the company warned clients that coverage of war protests 'turned off news consumers,' according to Salon", with Romy conspicuously making sure the last three words and the link were missing.

Posted 11:22 AM by Gene

11:09 AM Crude (USO) trades below $70. Currently -6.35% to $69.90. Wasn't OPEC supposed to support $80?

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!!!!! [From SeekingAlpha.com]

Posted 9:09 AM by Gene

Bugmeister Bill gets His revenge -- AGAIN:

Barclays buys more Lehman assets than wanted after Excel error

Posted 8:55 AM by Gene

Mr. Superscript is reporting the election for CA-NAL PLEWWW. The French and Kenneth are a perfect fit.

Posted 8:34 AM by Gene

How apt that as our Fightin' Phils cure a few diseases Rep. Kookcinich is scalding the Yanks for some fiscal trickery with their new Taj Mahal, greatly aided by Honorary Three-Term Mayor Mike. Government is the secret partner in Seligism, giving our money away to feed the greedy maws of zillionaires.

Posted 2:25 AM by Gene

For once a plausible, reasonable story about the mess the new president faces, which begins all too aptly with this line:

Why exactly would anybody want this job?

Posted 1:52 AM by Gene

We did not see this: an SI package on the serial fleecers of sports fans. One does not want to hope for an economic blowout but the professional sports tycoons deserve it -- and they would be among the last to suffer.

(Via Game On!)

Posted 12:43 AM by Gene

As the sudden population explosion of collegiate town drunks slowly recedes into its hangovers, I think tonight is no time to be celebrating, what with how Wall Street is destroying our economy, and how we're about to elect as president either a clueless boob or an imperial megalomaniac, and how we've inflicted ourselves with an unshakable sense of national ennui. I hope The Messiah surprises us by realizing an inner humility, and an inner reserve, and seeing that He must govern more than a third of the nation, and one hopes He will lay off the cheap stunts, but I'm betting Speaker Babs forces His hand.

Aside from being deprived of my sleep I'm angry because these cheering cretins don't realize a Series win only benefits the owners -- and the players who will quickly decamp for richer sites -- and then I can see our governing superiors with their feet on the rails in their luxury boxes, who couldn't stop the slaughter in our ghetto (yes, we have a ghetto) if they had Superman, but still manage to act as though they rule the planet, and on whom their smug smiles cannot be wiped off even by a conviction.

I wonder how much crowd "control" and cleaning up the vomit costs us tonight, and when they win the Series. Enough that we can't afford. One other thing -- what is the average profit margin in Seligism?

Posted 7:47 PM by Gene

The huge pay package of Moon 'n' Stars' boss barely makes it out of His shareholders' meeting alive.

Meaning 1. The people are starting to reward these incompetent prima donnas for years of earning 30,000 times their average workers' pay; and 2. The next incompetent prima donna may not be so lucky.

Posted 5:59 PM by Gene

White House Meddled in Races

So did your thankfully retired managing editor.

One good thing about the latest Wall Street Psychosis: WPO down 43.60 POINTS today, to another eleven-year low.

Posted 5:51 PM by Gene

A judge has thrown out a Nebraska legislator's lawsuit against God, saying the Almighty wasn't properly served due to his [SIC] unlisted home address.

How can you sue someone Whose home address is everywhere?

Chambers, who graduated from law school but never took the bar exam....

Legisla-TOR of the year? lawyer of the year?

How about doofus of the year?

Chambers, who has served a record 38 years in the Nebraska Legislature, is not returning next year because of term limits.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA -- oh, never mind.

Posted 5:44 PM by Gene

Say Dmitry, let's poison someone else, s'allright?



S'ALLRIGHT!

Posted 5:39 PM by Gene

One doesn't want to accuse Dubya of intelligence, but you have to wonder if he woke up briefly to call The Lord's bluff. Given what could happen in Iraq an open-ended commitment would not be objectionable, especially given the dollars and sacrifice already expended and the problems abandonment portends; on the other hand thirty-six months is longer than sixteen -- or twelve -- or whatever The Lord decides; and sooner or later we should be out of there, best later if it must.

Posted 5:34 PM by Gene

And The Lord said, "Let Me have air time!"

And Selig and SLIME said -- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN!

Posted 5:32 PM by Gene

And also on The Messiah's to-do list:

ACLU: Federal death row inmates denied health care

Posted 5:28 PM by Gene

Hell they're racists, who needs 'em?

Besides maybe The Lord can inflict His Righteous Wrath on them after the election.

Posted 2:17 PM by Gene

The Beige Book, reporting on Philadelphia:

Although most of the surveyed banks were “actively looking for credits” among potential business borrowers, recent consolidation affecting banks in the region has led to some interruption of loan marketing efforts at those institutions.

You don't suppose...hmmm....

Posted 2:04 PM by Gene

Tieless...clueless....

Posted 1:58 PM by Gene

The same kind of Messiah supporters who will reenact the Fairness Doctrine make a promo.

By the way, HARVEY WHINER, if your extrusion's so outrageous why didn't you -- GO ALL THE WAY?

Posted 1:46 PM by Gene

A juxtaposition on Zeitgeist.com's home page:

• Brain signals revive paralyzed muscles in monkeys

• Bush, Paulson say economy's rebound will take time

Posted 1:39 PM by Gene

Has The Man ever really loved anyone but Himself?

Posted 10:54 AM by Gene

Our definition of "GO TO HELL": A leading fingerbanger of JANNDOM and a leading fingerbanger at the former BUCKLEYDOM debating who caused the financial crisis.

Posted 10:33 AM by Gene

Bottled water's no better than tap. Who knew?

Posted 9:16 AM by Gene

In more news of show-biz, the TWXSTERS and Mattel (along with some outfit called Nerd Corp Entertainment) are presenting a weekly half-hour HOT WHEELS infomercial. (NOT the first time.)

Elsewhere what the Big V assures us is a BIG CAST will do a CON-SUHT RRRREADING of ONE OF HERR DOKTOR SONDHEIM'S CLAS-SICS, which is just as bad in its own way.

Posted 8:59 AM by Gene

"I went home out there to West Texas where I was raised," Bush recounted. "Some old guy said, you know, 'Hey, man, what are you doing?' And I said, 'I'm recognizing reality.' "

That's a first.

Posted 8:37 AM by Gene

We do not know whether The Paper of Re-CORD ran this because with a New Era of Love and Harmony ready to blossom it could afford to be condescending, or whether it was engaged in one of those showy displays of conscience meant to reassure the world it isn't run by demagogic automatons, but in its own bass-ackwards way the Paper tells us that a key danger to the arts is conformity. Perhaps people in the thea-TAH biz can afford to smile with their superior worldview, but our culture is dying because it is extruded by like-minded people from the same meat-grinder, using the same rancid ingredients. But as the tragic tale of that dimwit Mr. Zucker tells us the token conservative won't do; nor will it do for token conservatives to ape the tantrums of liberals. And it's not just plays; we're in our financial mess because RealTORS and bankers and brokers think so much alike, to such deadly effect. It will take a miracle beyond even The Messiah to revive our arts, and they will not revive so long as they manifest the comfort of their superiority and likemindedness so unintentionally on display here.

Posted 8:01 PM by Gene

Which is more than you might waste on pet insurance, but close enough.

Posted 7:56 PM by Gene

Speaking of bargains, if you pay $300 for a championship Seligism event, and it lasts five hours, and you get one minute of action, by rights the ticket should cost $90,000.

BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted 7:54 PM by Gene

Those two alternating notes you hear in the background are JoooooOOOOOHN AaaaaaDAAAAAMS' new AH-pe-RA, of which the ASSPress effuses:

[M]odern music is a tough sell, and orchestra seats that usually go for $175-$220 were discounted to $30 following a $500,000 donation by a Met board member. It's the bargain of the season.

So are stocks!

Posted 5:54 PM by Gene

A possible definition of "oxymoron":

US pledges to curb 'fat cat' pay in $250bn rescue

Posted 5:40 PM by Gene

The control phreaks who run ESPNCORP take their control a step further: the ESP is

using the Blu-ray “Sleeping Beauty” to push the company’s new BD Live technology, which requires an Internet connection. Every time I tried to load it on my desktop computer, my software player choked on the 58-page “End User’s License Agreement” and crashed, so I don’t know how well the new features work.

And all so the kiddies can send text messages while they're watching. Well, Uncle Walt (whoever he was) loved toy trains.

Posted 5:27 PM by Gene

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch called Sen. Ted Stevens a hero, a legend and one of the Senate's greatest minds during testimony at the Alaska senator's corruption trial.

Another argument against Republicans.

Posted 5:21 PM by Gene

Free-en-ter-prise types always used to gloat about business cycles. All of a sudden nobody gloats. As bad as they are don't downturns serve a salutary effect too? You could argue Wall Street's psychotics needed one.

And I'm getting a little tired of predictions. Nobody knows and everyone acts as if he does.

Posted 5:00 PM by Gene

This morning I was in a sour mood. I no longer refer to any professional sports team in the first person plural. I have reasons. All a championship does is make the owners richer and break up the franchise. Once we had strong civic ties to our sports teams. The players lived in our midsts, didn't they? I doubt if many of our city's Seligism franchise live in the area, let alone Philadelphia. The public knows better; the TV ratings for this year's Seligfest are a bomb. The "sport" has devolved into strong regional franchises propped up by CEOs and cable systems, indeed so strongly wedded to regionalism and cable as to take away its national following. Three decades ago the mass might have cared who won the Series. Does it care now?

As for "our" team, I suppose (being a municipal worker) we'll get half-a-day off to "celebrate". Knowing how stupids overran Broad Street the last time I think I'll go to the library.

Posted 3:34 PM by Gene

HISTORY'S GREATEST SATIRIC NOVELIST has given up his NR column -- and con-SER-va-tives don't know. Actually we didn't even know he had a regular column; we thought he was too busy with Forbeslist and screenplays. Amazing what ingrates some people are after we relentlessly plugged their novels and movies; NR rolled GREATEST's log more than any other rag in history. Still the man has helped out in three campaigns this year. It should be interesting to see how many candidates he endorses next time.

And he has a very strong point about the movement in the third to last graf, but then he blows a gasket about Terry Schiavo, which says GREATEST is no social conservative, which also says too many conservatives -- of the GREATEST kind and the subscription-canceling kind -- blow with whatever wind pleases them.

And that includes Bill.

P. S. Rich Lowry says it was a guest column, and no hard feelings. Really, I'm tired.

(Via the usual Romy)

Posted 11:28 AM by Gene

Of course there'd be no room in this "library" for books. With all the "saw-toothed glass" and "conga lines" and "leaping arcs" where would there be room?

And who'd want books in there when the roof inevitably leaks?

(Via the usual ArtsJournal)

Posted 11:16 AM by Gene

Surge in Global Markets Reflects Growing Hope

Growing hope of what? G000,000GLE at $747 again? Turning a major major recession into a merely major one?

We are resigned to what governments had to do to get the financial markets out of their alternating lethargy and psychosis, but we don't delude ourselves; as they've already shown, when they want to screw up, they will -- and no one can stop them.

Posted 11:10 AM by Gene

We can think of a few defunct Web sites we wish were still around, like Vote.com or Inside.com. What would the world lose if half these sites went out of business? Second Life? Please!

(Via Portfolio.com)

Posted 10:57 AM by Gene

A co-editor of what has quickly become the biggest repository of CW this side of Zeitgeist looks into his crystal ball:

"We are on the brink of an Electoral College blowout, and there is a possibility for huge Democratic gains in the Senate, which means Barack Obama could be the most powerful president we've seen since George W. Bush in the years immediately following 9-11, or Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964," Mr. Harris said.

And while Romy is understandably excited look what these two lunkheads got us. If The Messiah is anything like them we're in for a rotten four (or eight) years, but John was so busy hugging himself he didn't notice. He wouldn't have, co-editing Politico.

Posted 8:49 AM by Gene

"Those banks have been nationalized, overtly or not overtly, which is something that hasn't happened before in the history of developed countries," Volcker said. "How to wean them from government support? That is the challenge of the future."

You said it, chairman.

Posted 8:23 PM by Gene

Because Stale.com gave us an inspiration to switch hed and subhed, now we get an inspiration to switch home-page hed and byline:

Jeff Greenfield
Sit Down and Shut Up

Posted 6:42 PM by Gene

A conservative confesses: not only is SARAH!!!!! an airhead, she talks like a "15-year-old" airhead.

Posted 4:46 PM by Gene

Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates said the U.S. economy is headed for a ``fairly significant recession,'' and that the unemployment rate may peak at more than 9 percent.

He's dissing XP ME too!

Posted 4:39 PM by Gene

What's with all the dumb baseball commentary on television?

It's the Thinking Man's Game, Stupid

Reversing the hed and subhed makes more sense.

P. S. While we soldier on, we're discouraged to see thousands of bloggers typing out hundreds of thousands of entries fixating on their hatred of Tony Kornheiser, among other things, and getting far more hits in a second than we'll get in ten years.

It would appear TV has no monopoly on obsessive, loudmouthed, DUMB commentary, whatever the sport.

Posted 4:30 PM by Gene

Okay, very good.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Posted 2:10 PM by Gene

ARTHUR GODFREY RETURNS!

Posted 2:04 PM by Gene

Four decades after its short run concluded in controversy, Patrick McGoohan's brilliant sci-fi miniseries The Prisoner remains one of television's most influential shows. But its speculative tentacles reach deeper, inspiring user-generated music videos as well as songs from superstars.

We can dream -- and we can only dream -- that SI-DOM were a public company, selling for $0.75 a share.

Posted 1:49 PM by Gene

The Lord proposes another rebate plus tax cuts "for 95% of workers and their families, plus seniors."

1. Dubya's muddleheaded rebate didn't work and 2. Minuscule tax cuts won't either.

Posted 1:35 PM by Gene

Hitchens [Mark R. Levin]

If you thought there was hope for this guy, reconsider.

10/13 12:55 PM

Aw shucks, does that mean we must never ever ever ever pay attention to this guy again?

Posted 1:25 PM by Gene

TRANSLATION: XP ME could not have come at a worse time.

Posted 1:23 PM by Gene

The imperial status of the mainstream media – the television networks, big metropolitan dailies and lofty commentators – has been shaken. The lay-offs of hundreds of US newspaper journalists are a symptom of a wider malaise. We are witnessing a shift in the balance of power towards new media, with wholesale repercussions for the practice of journalism.

LONG LIVE THE EMPIRES! LONG LIVE THE KINGS!

(Via the usual Romy)

Posted 1:15 PM by Gene

While the sacred ediTORial side of the house runs a fantasy rag with polls showing The Lord leading by forty points, the despicable publishing side of Zeitgeist (aren't the publishing sides always despicable?) devises "fantasy" mockups to make a seventy-five-year-old rag HIP.

TRANSLATION: The same old slant in MOD new clothes.

Newsstand sales down 17.3 percent in the first half of '08. Who needs readers?

(Via MediaBistro)

Posted 10:17 AM by Gene

Finally, four years after telling us we were on the cusp of a NEW DAWN IN COMMUNICATIONS, the hacks admit it: Harold -- Sloane is finished.

At last! I got his name right!

"He took radio, which was akin to the used-car business, and made it a vital part of the entertainment business."

No no -- LOWSY MAYS took radio from the used-car business into the NEW-CAR business.

And look where it got CHEAP CHANNEL!

P. S. We are in dangerous territory here: what with the proverbial second acts in American life and NEWS HACKS it may be premature to write off any of their cretinous favorites as "finished"; but I can just see him trying to get back on the radio. "Herbert -- who"?

And all the teens will think him an overaged hippie or a dirty old man.

Oh jeez, his name IS Herbert.

P. P. S. from a disciple:

“Radio today is so bad, it's embarrassing.”

Look at it this way, Horace: you're embarrassing in private.

HORACE!

(First link via IWantMedia)

Posted 10:13 AM by Gene

[H]is most consistent applause lines came every time he talked about what he would do as “president of the United States of America.” Clearly, in places like West Philadelphia, there are a lot of people who still can’t believe what they’re hearing.

We couldn't believe President Reagan; we couldn't believe President Bush, we couldn't believe President Clinton; we couldn't believe President Bush (ditto). What's one more name?

Posted 10:08 AM by Gene

Another true believer -- scorned:

Bailout, North Korea ... [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

... is this all an argument against second terms?

10/13 09:34 AM

Posted 10:00 AM by Gene

What has this world come to? Boobs mentions capital gains tax cuts and it doesn't move the faithful.

In the back of their puny heads, maybe con-SER-va-tives have come to realize the time for lying down and dying for the hyperrich has ended -- for now.

Posted 9:44 AM by Gene

Odd that these two things appear on ST. WARREN's paper's home page:

Poll: Obama Up by 10 Points

A Deserved Dose of Humility

That deserved dose of humility is for losing a football game. We can't imagine any hack applying such a hed anywhere else. We've seen enough public clowns in our lives who deserved humility and never got the demand for it from news hacks like the Redskins.

And of course news hacks deserve no humility for constantly trying to win elections for their candidates by pounding the table with their subtly rigged public-opinion polls. The continuing economic crisis in their business brings them no humility. The thought of their co-workers being escorted from the news suites by security guards brings no humility. They themselves could lose their jobs and it would bring no humility. The news business is perfection, even as the one perfection it successfully strives for is its work forces and stock prices approaching zero.

Posted 9:41 AM by Gene

Candidates Silent On Immigration

This means two things: 1. It's not a hot-button issue this year and 2. On any important topic neither candidate has any courage or sense.

Posted 9:37 AM by Gene

More brilliance in television: the TWXSTERS and UA are turning the Pink Panther into a teenager.

TRANSLATION: Another stock in single digits pairs with a company with a false identity to fill air time.

Posted 9:29 AM by Gene

While The Messiah's money raising is surely impressive, it is not as impressive as the money shredding that will assure His Throne in the Hea -- Washington.

Posted 9:23 AM by Gene

So -- "conservative" families -- "or at a minimum traditional and nuclear, consisting of a heterosexual married couple and at least two kids" -- were to blame for the home mortgage rout!

See, the hacks act as if they can be smug forever. They will not budge even as thousands of their colleagues lose their jobs and whole companies stand on the verge of bankruptcy. So when they cheer The Lord's Ascension in their luxury news suites, the sound will be slightly hollow.

Well, that's all right -- stocks are going up today.

Posted 9:18 AM by Gene

Okay INVESTORS, now that GUVMENTS are paying YOUR way will YOU see to it not to take the money and RUN?

Posted 9:09 AM by Gene

Now PINCH will NEVER shut up: His paper has won the Dynamite Memorial ECONOMICS PRIZE -- for the hack PAUL KRUGMAN!

See, not ALL Americans are bad.

Posted 3:46 PM by Gene

Some former TV personality who writes for this local high-school paper called The Bulletin has a thought:

US Headed For Demise Under Democrats, Obama

We'll see about that.

Posted 3:41 PM by Gene

If Speaker Babs would really like to shorten The Lord's great revival she will definitely call to pass the Fairness Doctrine. This, we predict, will be PILLHEAD's last hurrah, as He gathers the forces into one mighty armada of phone calls and e-mails, and maybe stages a protest rally to rival any Messiah service, and we're certain He'll win, but after that it's all the younger guys. The future of conservativism does not lie in Palm Beach, literally or figuratively.

These next few months I would not like to be one of them Blue Dogs. How far can you go to uphold The Truth without being unelected?

Posted 3:34 PM by Gene

ANOTHER BRILLIANT IDEA FROM LORD STRINGER: What's the difference between this two-disc set and this three-disc set? Oh, only $86, the word "deluxe" -- and a "book". The two-disc set gets lots of raves (evidently people still think the word "bootleg" means something); the three-disc gets only two-and-a-half stars. If this is the future of the recorded...SOUND biz it may as well give its product away.

Posted 10:17 AM by Gene

Roll your eyes again: Lehman paid $100 million in bonuses to five top execs days before it went bust.

The good news: They're creditors just like everyone else.

(Via SeekingAlpha.com)

Posted 10:14 AM by Gene

Heck, even a prime member of the Music Cri-TICS' Chamber of Commerce must admit to the unadmittable: modern AH-per-RAHS STINK.

Posted 10:13 AM by Gene

Who wants to wager The Messiah will fire at least one general for insubordination when He rushes us outoutOUT of Iraq?