Eugene David
...The One-Minute Pundit

Saturday, February 26, 2011


Today for the first time we noticed something strange on the front page of our local Daily Nooz:

A publication of The Philadelphia Inquirer

In short, its new publisher, Philadelphia Any-Medium-But-Newsprint Inc., has finally admitted what its turnips knew instinctively for ages: the Nooz is but a tabloid edition of the StinkyInky. That it took decades for its publisher to admit it says that too many truths within and about the news biz are unspoken -- and despite economic indicators to the contrary it shows why the biz deserves more agony, even though in the end it hurts no one but the readers.


We did not wish to blather any more about THE CURE, but....

Oscars 2011: How the year's top films reflect the times

Many of this year's top movies portray dark themes or flawed characters. Why one culture watcher says they mirror this moment in history.


The culture watcher is Neal Gabler, and one can be sure he at least wears blinders. Okay Neal, riddle us this (in honor of The Dark Knight, the greatest film in history): Busby Berkeley greeted the Depression. Mickey and Judy greeted the conflagration in Europe. Those were among the darkest times for man. Yet somehow the moviemakers kept their chins up, and kept America's chin up. What is with you and the other hacks that movees must be as squalid as their times? You know the answer, Neal -- and you're too much the dissembling typist to admit it: the talent to make people forget their woes ISN'T THERE. So the masterworks of the CURE may better reflect the limitations and prejudices of their makers than the times -- and for this they truly pose a danger as they can become self-fulfilling.

One last bromide: Being hopelessly prejudiced and untalented the A-Ca-De-MY®'s members will of course vote for whatever picture the zeitgeist and the news hacks tell them to. Wouldn't it be something if they voted a longshot for the winner -- say, The Greatest Animated Film in History?

Of course that would mean it won where Snow White didn't, and posterity would laugh, but at least we'd thumb our very-well-fixed noses at the know-it-alls.


As the clock winds down to the rapturous opening of THE CURE FOR CANCER (aka THE SUPER BOWL® FOR WOMEN) we must reflect on two recent articles. Stefan Kanfer wrote a book about Humphrey Bogart that one of TINA!!!!!'s boys reviewed, and from our experience with his Marx brothers bio it probably isn't good either, but both the writers make an inescapable point: Bogie starred in movies for adults. "[O]f the 20 biggest grossing films of all time—all of them made between Jurassic Park (1993) and Alice in Wonderland (2010)—'Not one of these features can be considered a purely ‘adult’ film'." Of course if we go back to 1975 it's even more damning. "Puerile" overestimates the IQ of the films -- and of their fans. That Bogie is alive when movees are dead says we need heroes -- and we won't get them from tentpoles.

Then there's this story on ratings creep. We wouldn't pay it mind because anything on JACK'S ALPHABET BOTULISM BROTH will be disengaged and self-serving. But guessing how to solve an insoluble problem Timothy Noah backhandedly endorses a government-run ratings board -- and goes on to say this:

A likelier ultimate solution...is that American society will become more depraved and fewer and fewer films will receive R ratings. According to Waguespack and Sorenson, the conservative lament that MPAA ratings have become more forgiving of sex and violence over time turns out to be true. They don't quantify it, but "MPAA ratings have become progressively more permissive." Eventually Americans may let their kids see everything, and the MPAA ratings board may go the way of the National Legion of Decency. That would create problems of its own that would cause me to fret about my grandchildren. But MPAA favoritism would become a thing of the past.

Thankfully by that rapidly approaching time the movees already would be.

Speaking of JACK, where's ANGELO'S BOYFRIEND?


St. Warren tells another sacred fairy tale for His ever growing cult, insisting "our [SIC] citizens now live an astonishing six times better than when I was born." We know St. lives about six zillion times better than when He was born, thanks largely to investing in 1965. I think what God meant to say is to live life one day at a time; but when the world's divided among STS. and KOCHES and SOROSES and everyone else sharing the dregs the precept's a little harder to follow.

Friday, February 25, 2011


"[A]t the posh Boca Raton Resort and Club this week -- where Rolls Royce sightings were remarkably common", the knuckleheaded chauffeur-driven CEOs who run consumer products firms declared in suspicious unison that they'd raise prices and use the money to finance junk television. What a neat excuse to schmooze -- they can spend half their time in Hollywood (or Boca Raton if that ever gets dull) and blame it all on inflation! We will not be so impolitic to ask when these dimwits last shopped for themselves -- that would be like asking them how old they are -- but we will say we almost hope inflation proves so bad it might even hurt their wallets too, or shorten their tenures, which can't be short enough.


In news that America may not be changing for the better, MS. TRAVERS's favorite religiously selective hard-core satirical duo is apparently poised to have A SMASH!!!!!!!!!! in Branson East -- and the critics already have the raves programmed, as mocking such a superb act has a strong downside -- but we would say this: There was a smash satirical show back in 1937. It was called Hellzapoppin'. And that had a duo too: Olsen and Johnson. Anyone here remember them?

A comedy hodgepodge full of sight gags and slapstick, the show was continually rewritten throughout its run to remain topical; its opening scene was Hitler speaking in a Yiddish accent.

Sounds like our boys 74 years ago.


Speaking of the Census Bureau, DVFORBESLISTBLOG says America's becoming a different nation. Whether a nation that's further calcifying in the suburbs (and, we suspect, for all the talk of diversity, may be racially and ethnically calcifying as well) is truly any different is another matter.


Speaking of an annoyance from AHTSJournal:

Industry report: INTERNATIONAL BOX-OFFICE REVENUE SOARS IN 2010!!!!! [Soaring overemphasis added]

OR:

Although the number of people who saw movies was up 3% last year at 223 million...

...which is perhaps THREE PERCENT of the world's population....

...each person saw fewer movies on average -- six in 2010 down from 6.5 the previous year.

TRANSLATION: The hard-core movee fans are idiots -- and even they are starting to see the perils of their addiction.


And as the press agents who call themselves reporters bring their selling of THE CURE FOR CANCER (aka THE SUPER BOWL® FOR WOMEN) to a fever pitch they make us think: are we wrong? Should we go to the movies every weekend? Perhaps the movees ARE better than ever! Is something wrong with us? But then I think of the several stories that have slighted the Os-CAR® experience, and then there's this graf:

There would be some tweaking of his fellow celebrities, yes, but no low blows such as Jon Stewart intoning that Hollywood was "out of touch with mainstream America," or Chris Rock dismissing the Academy by saying that most people hadn’t seen the nominated films.

I suspect ED MURROW was in His critically-acclaimed IRONIC style, but if you add up the BEE-OH for all the nominees we'd guess maybe a fifth of America has been to see ONE of them, and that's generous. Therefore we shall remain ensconced in our ignorance.

P. S. at 6:23 P. M. SUPERNIKKI PROMISES "ANOTHER SNOREFEST"!!!!! Go get 'em, NIK!


CJR ties itself in knots trying to figure out how to justify the KLUMPH! KLUMPH! KLUMPH! KLUMPH! that GLOBAL WARMING CAUSES DISASTERS!!!!!!!!! But even CJR must admit it is human enough that it cannot be certain, and being certain one way or the other could exacerbate disaster. But JERNALISTS are so certain how GOOD they are we expect the KLUMPH! KLUMPH! KLUMPH! KLUMPH! to continue.

Thursday, February 24, 2011


As Koch Industries moves forward, both executives say, its leaders will be undeterred by criticism and remain involved in various business and political projects. “This campaign against Koch Industries has been going on for over a year,” Holden says. “Charles and David Koch are not going to be silenced. They are principled men and we have a principled company.”

REWRITE!

As George Soros moves forward, he will be undeterred by criticism and remain involved in various business and political projects. “This campaign against him has been going on for years,” an associate says. “George Soros is not going to be silenced. He is a principled man and we have principled company.”

SIX OF ONE....


Speaking of Starbucks, how do you know when an NBA team stinks? When it offers coupons on MICKEY D's tray liners!



Speaking of MICKEY D's, the company has successfully turned oatmeal into JUNK FOOD!


Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi blames unrest on al Qaeda, accusing Osama bin Laden of exploiting Libya's youth. [CNN International]

?!?!?!?!?!? The man who supposedly ordered the Lockerbie bombing blames a fellow terrorist?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?


If we had a TV this would almost be enough to entice us into thinking of watching the Os-CARS®. That flubs are the evening's highlight says either these mammoth talents don't know what they're doing, or worse, when they know what they're doing they don't know what they're doing.

We'll be following the sacred ceremony through blogs, which is far more entertaining.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011


SPJ scolds Buffalo Beast for call to Wisconsin governor

Romenesko Misc.
The Society of Professional Journalists says “this interview was underhanded and unethical” and “credible news organizations should be cautious about how they report this already widely reported story, and must realize that the information was obtained in a grossly inappropriate manner according to longstanding tenets of journalism.” Full release after the jump.

Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) release

SPJ: Remember ethics in wake of fake phone call with Wisconsin governor

INDIANAPOLIS – The Society of Professional Journalists, through its Ethics Committee, strongly condemns the actions of an alternative online outlet this week when an editor lied and posed as a financial backer in a recorded phone call with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

Ian Murphy, editor of the Buffalo Beast, represented himself as billionaire businessman and conservative activist David Koch, a financial supporter of Gov. Scott Walker, so that he could gain access to the governor by phone. He spoke with the governor under these false pretenses. Read a full account from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

During the phone call, Murphy, as Koch, baited the governor with questions about liberals in the media and the Democrats who have vacated the statehouse to prevent a vote on a collective bargaining bill. Near the end of the call, Murphy tells the governor that once Walker crushes the unions and their Democratic base, he (as the pretend Koch) will fly Walker to California and “really show you a good time.”

Walker responded: “All right. That would be outstanding.”

“This tactic and the deception used to gain this information violate the highest levels of journalism ethics,” said SPJ Ethics Committee Chairman Kevin Z. Smith. “To lie to a source about your identity and then to bait that source into making comments that are inflammatory is inexcusable and has no place in journalism.”

The Buffalo Beast website was down as of Wednesday afternoon.

Though the Buffalo Beast purports to be an alternative news site with heavily slanted views that are neither fair nor objective, the fact remains that this interview was underhanded and unethical. Credible news organizations should be cautious about how they report this already widely reported story, and must realize that the information was obtained in a grossly inappropriate manner according to longstanding tenets of journalism.

SPJ’s Code of Ethics clearly states that journalists should “be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting news.”

The Code also says to avoid “undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public.”

SPJ President Hagit Limor said what happened represents “a new low” for anyone claiming to be a journalist. “This may be how Hollywood portrays reporters, but no journalist worth his salt ever would misrepresent his name and affiliation when seeking an interview. Murphy should be ashamed not only of his actions but of besmirching our profession by acting so shamelessly.”

Journalists and news organizations should take note to carefully explain how this information was obtained and take measures not to engage in similar unethical practices.


TRANSLATION: Every last news hack was dancing on his, her or its desk.


The Great Recession and the slump that followed have triggered a jobs crisis that's been making headlines since before President Obama was in office, and that will likely be with us for years. But the American economy is also plagued by a less-noted, but just as serious, problem: Simply put, over the last 30 years, the gap between rich and poor has widened into a chasm.

Gradual developments like this don't typically lend themselves to news coverage. But MOTHER JONES MAGAZINE....
[Not-so-gradual overemphasis added]

The current battle between knee-jerk news hacks and their followers and hard-core con-SER-va-tives shows why the truth has become an impossibility on the Web. This is just a variation. Sure as there is a God in Cupertino NRO or AmSpec could shoot back with their own version of the truth. Occasionally partisans of both stripes can admit their side is less than 100-percent right, but it so decreasingly happens as to make many Web sites permanently suspect. And however well intentioned we suspect Mother Jones is trying to make A POINT rather than a case -- and the dreadful thing is we suspect it's right.


HENRY HONEST! is EXCITED!! because WALL STREET is EXCITED!!! because it saw VIDEO of GREEK RIOTERS THROWING MOLOTOV COCKTAILS!!!!!!!!!!

This is just another excuse for the algorithms and UNCLE BEN sending stocks zooming up for no good reason.


Great idea, Gov -- replacing collective-bargaining agreements with LAWSUITS!

The best-laid plans of MICE...

Somebody lay me odds this goes to the Nine Fingers anyway.

(Via -- oh well -- NPNTR)


France urges EU sanctions on Libya

There goes the European oil biz! PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!


Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White this morning asserted that yesterday’s sell-off in [Stevedom] has given investors a chance to get into the stock on the CHEAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Cheap overemphasis added)

BONO! TURN OFF THE WEB SITE!




We wonder -- how much has the Gould-Fisk revival helped recruiting in the luxury news suites that are largely union-controlled?

Please hacks, promise you'll never ever ever again talk about objectivity?


Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s chairman and chief executive officer, warned against raising base salaries on Wall Street less than eight months before his own more than tripled to $2 million.

Thus saith THE LORD!


(Via Seeking Alpha)


In the midst of its big Jay Gould-Jim Fisk kick someone at NRO has actually noticed Libya, and has further noticed with Muammar gone the world might face a Somalia on the Mediterranean.


The NEW! IMPROVED!! ADAGE!!! reports that Kraft Foods is finding the best of two worlds: raising prices on the peons and spending the money for more schmoozing in Hollywood!

Do I hear a few wallets closing?

Churches tithe ten percent for holy work; Kraft tithes ten percent for junk TV. IDIOTS.


This astonishing list of all the pahties celebrating the Os-CARS® makes us wonder whether the select crowds are celebrating for all their genius or celebrating from it.


Run, Sexy, run!

This would be almost as much a gift to Democrats as SARAH!!!!!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011


Though any number of dead and injured is way too high the fact that the casualties in Christchurch remain relatively low for a city its size suggests a smart and alert citizenry.


With this second PEOPLE, INC. executive leaving the building we could say these guys have a reason for leaving -- a reason that, naturally, they will never share with the peons, a reason reflected in the fatness of People and the skinniness of a certain NEWSRAG.




Justin Bieber’s Haircut Was ‘Calculated Move'

Gee whillikers! You really think so? Honest to gods how would we have known without the intrepid Hollywood Reporter?!?!?

Of course we did a little experiment with G000,000,000GLE News which NEWS HACKS totally aced: how many of them mentioned when Mary Pickford went to the barber's?

She played a reckless socialite in Coquette (1929), a role where she no longer had her famous curls, but rather a 1920s bob; Pickford had cut her hair in the wake of her mother's death in 1928. Fans were shocked at the transformation.[17] Pickford's hair had become a symbol of female virtue, and cutting it was front-page news in The New York Times and other papers.[citation needed] Coquette was a success and won her an Academy Award for Best Actress,[18] but the public failed to respond to her in the more sophisticated roles.

Despite that deadly "citation needed" we can believe this, far more than we can believe the hacks' gushing twaddle over this latest talent-free heartthrob.

"The tools of ignorance is a nickname for a catcher's protective equipment: catchers mask, chest protector, and shin guards." For the news hack the tools of ignorance are a computer, a pliant outlet, and the vast emptiness between his ears.


The news hacks have a new thing: SILENT CLARENCE. We know, guys, we KNOW -- HE'S A NAZI. Be up front: if he yakked on the bench you'd be over him for that TOO. In this Finger's defense we'd point to the news hacks, who yakyakyak and say nothing. Maybe Clar is being stupid. Or maybe he's thinking -- or best of all, maybe he's showing up the yakyakyak that has overwhelmed our society and that news hacks so ARDENTLY espouse.


After this kind of a day and Walmart and HP entering the slough of despond how can the tooth-fairy inspired GEKKO KUDLOWS boom the markets tomorrow?

Never underestimate the power of positive thinking -- from POLLYANNAS.


A municipal worker can hardly be dispassionate on Wisconsin. Look, we all know why the GOP's pushing this -- to do to big labor what Democrats have tried to do to the likes of SLIME. There's no way around it; it's political. How odd that the same con-SER-va-tives who screamed of totalitarian government under Babs and Whiny are silent when a Republican-controlled state government rams through their dream legislation. Odd, but hardly unexpected. But this is where half-a-dozen of the other kicks in with the infantile (and possibly illegal) tactics of the unions and their lackeys. Conservatives would be on firmer ground if they centered the argument on money. Rubber rooms cost money; preposterous grievance procedures cost money; generous overtime costs money. Putting it that way the unions would truly be defending the indefensible. But Gov. Walker has reminded us why the party of Lincoln is the party of Jay Gould and Jim Fisk, and he further reminds us that in the end it's just a matter of whose back is scratched. And we must view the party that brought us THE PATRIOTIC TRAITOR and THE RED-STATE SCORPION with PERMANENT suspicion. The unions must make sacrifices more than their lack of courage will permit; but they must not be for the kind of permanent reelection campaigns Democrats perfected, and which Republicans are trying to ape.

Monday, February 21, 2011


Well this is very bad but at least New Zealand has the stuff inner and outer to pull out of it, unlike Haiti, condemned to its misery.


Shenanigans like this are why we're ready to call Him His Incompetence again.


Speaking of Hollywood villains, we could not do better than this comment:

Chris Dodd is one of the most corrupt, cynical and hypocritical American politicians I have seen in my lifetime, and I say that as a life-long Democrat. Now, he will put those qualities to work lobbying for Hollywood producers, some of the most cynical, greedy people on the planet. Glad to see he has found his niche in the private sector.

Hey Mr. Mortgage! Plaster that on the wall behind your desk! You've arrived!


Record U.S. Cattle, Hog Prices Seen on Shrinking Herds, China

But say, you think there's a chance Uncle Ben and His constituents could go a bit too far?


Crude oil jumps 6% as Libya protests spread

More good news for Uncle Ben's constituents!


"The bellman told me this was the handicapped room. DO I LOOK [BLEEP]ING HANDICAPPED TO YOU?????" [Bleeping overemphasis added]

In our eyes, Faye, yes.

(Via NEWSER!)


Calling Muammar a madman used to be a mere figure of speech. Not anymore.

"Military planes are attacking civilians, protesters in Tripoli now. The civilians are frightened. Where is the United Nations, where is Amnesty International?" al-Warfali told Reuters.

Where they always are -- permanently bunkered.


DVFORBESLISTBLOG and P-Ulitzer-Prize winning fashion cri-TICS get down to the pressing issue of SEXISM in the FASHION BIZ!

BONO! Sell the whole thing and spend the money on ADVERTISING -- and SAFETY EQUIPMENT!


That Jeff "I AM NOT A MOGUL!!!!!" Bew-KES and CHICKEN ZAKARIA are the stars of this Commentary plaint over the lack of free speech at Yale underlines BIGMEDIA's central hypocrisy. As we've said too many times to count, when BIGMEDIA screams First Amendment grab hold of your wallet. And the "rights" they'd grant themselves they wouldn't grant others. Plainly JEFF is a cipher and CHICKEN is a coward, but that does not lessen their culpability, or their disgrace.


The reason noble things like getting kids to eat better school lunches may not work is that the way government choreographs them they're a mix of impractical idealism and brutal dogma. We don't want the young eating SALT! NO SALT! NEVER!! So we don't put salt on vegetables, meaning they taste terrible, meaning the kids don't eat vegetables. Common sense would say it should be possible to make healthy foods taste good. This sort of national-nanny stupidity is why we can never trim enough fat from government and why Wisconsin's public-worker unions are on the losing side regardless of the GOP's true plans.

Sunday, February 20, 2011


Good news for Richie Riches who want to help the environment:

Rolls-Royce to Make All-Electric Phantom


If it's Sunday it must be Big-Double-A-Scribble Time:

If THIS doesn't get all American broadcasters to pinch themselves and thank gods they're alive: The auto-insurance biz has granted them a permanent subsidy selling products most people don't know from Adam. Who's to blame? "Warren BUFFET" [SIC!], for making "funny" ads. Also the Web, for allegedly spawning competition. But you can always be sure when advertising kicks in -- it's gotten one money waster to burn some green on the proposed LA NFL taxpayer boondoggle...and:

There are no fewer than 11 major TV campaigns on air, running the risk of consumer confusion.

Plainly these morons are hoping people get so confused they can steal business -- and possibly steal it in ways other than mere advertising. We wouldn't try that, St. WARRENS -- your biz is REGULATED.


[T]he art markets of 2007 and 2011 are very different. Nicolai Frahm, who speculates on contemporary art, sees the market as more selective now. “Artists come in and out of fashion very fast,” he says, “making it very difficult to predict what will happen.” Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby’s chairman of contemporary art Europe, explains: “What defined the boom for me is that you could buy one season, sell the next and make a profit. Things are different now. High prices are being achieved but you can’t turn the work around so quickly.”



Oh really?


Nascar is buoyed by some early successes this season. A landmark deal with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. began this week, while Fox’s ratings for last weekend’s action — Saturday’s Budweiser Shootout race and Sunday’s qualifier for the Daytona 500, both at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. — were up over last year. Advertising revenues are also rising.

“There’s an excitement level around the sport right now that we haven’t seen for some time,” said Eric Shanks, president of Fox Sports, which will broadcast 13 of this season’s 36 races.

Fox, like MarketWatch, is owned by News Corp.


This is EXHIBIT NUMBER 283,742,910 in why people do not trust news hacks anymore.



A NEUHARTHISM OF THE MONTH AWARD TO SAM!

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