Posted 6:31 PM by Gene

I was wrong about Chrysler; it's hired 9,000 since the bailout. We should know however it cost us a lot, and the company's only making money after accountants alakazoom the losses, and that Walter P.'s firm has zigged and zagged since long before the first bailout; and Daimler loved the company too, and God knows we've had these crushes before. And we fear most of its sales are still descended from Willys. Let's hope this time the determination sticks.

Posted 6:04 PM by Gene

Although it does seem odd Jo-NAH linked to Nobel Tantrum about how the economic wonders of Ronald Reagan weren't so wondrous, this despite the highly selective graph. Maybe Jo-NAH has had to admit to something too.

Posted 6:02 PM by Gene

And this "Lexington" is the perfect argument for The Econowiz ridding itself of its obsolete no-byline policy; then we'd know who the quacks are. Only the Republicans are responsible? ONLY? Poor hack should get decaffeinated.

Posted 5:55 PM by Gene

Above all, there is nothing provocative or daring in the antiheroic attitude right now; we are up to our necks in it, and to create more series in that image is no longer to fly in the face of convention but to coast along in its wake. It seems to me that the more radical choice at the moment is to look carefully at the ordinary lives of basically decent people and to tell those stories with the depth and art that animate a show like “Breaking Bad.” It’s not necessarily a recipe for success — Ray Romano’s wonderful “Men of a Certain Age,” about three normal guys at midlife, was recently canceled by TNT, but HBO’s “Treme” and underrated “How to Make It in America” are holding on. I have some hope.

Bob, you and every damned LALA hack and every other damned hack have plugged those antiheroic masterpieces without end. Why the revisionism NOW?

Clearly your rag needs more firings. It got rid of Tim Rutten, that fount of CW. Why not a few more?

Posted 10:28 AM by Gene

Will somebody PLEASE tell us why so many people take NIKKI!!!!! "ZEIGFIELD" FINKE!!!!! so seriously?

Posted 9:29 PM by Gene

Proof that maybe promotions can go only so far:

[Cowboys and Aliens director Jon] Favreau started stumping for the film early. As the Los Angeles Times reported in early February, he was even jetting into small Iowa towns, along with Cowboys producer Ron Howard, film reels in hand, trying to seed buzz for the movie.

A mistake; that's "they-don't-watch-our-movies-anyway" territory (as irksome a cliché as "IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, YOU CAN ALWAYS TURN THE TV OFF!!!!!"). Judging from this dud maybe the movee extruders can turn all America into such a territory.

Posted 6:04 PM by Gene

Moody's: No immediate downgrade if debt deal misses deadline

We thank the people who affirmed the health of our HOUSING BIZ for their strong show of support!

Pffffffffffffffffffffffft!

Posted 6:01 PM by Gene

No! NO! If MUG Whitman couldn't run for governor why should she run for veep? She'll be a lead weight around Mitt and would make both seem out of touch. Better SARAH!!!!! than her! No! NO!!!!!

Posted 2:29 PM by Gene

Hey, if Iran has a right to build nukes why doesn't it have a right to kill our soldiers?

Posted 1:29 PM by Gene

We're of two minds about this: we HATE government nannyism, and His Incompetence talks out of so many sides of His mouth every day He finds a new side; but let us not forget, we can't burn gasoline forever -- and the SAUDIS financed an event still holy to many of them nearly ten years ago.

Posted 1:21 PM by Gene

Today ESPNCORP NETWORK PUBLICITY sent out a video press kit on MR. FORMULA ONE's house-buying daughter, and one of the things a very pliant press agent let her get away with is that PARIS!!!!! is a BRILLIANT!!!!! BUSINESSWOMAN. We might question that given her name is her business, and she founded it with a sex tape; moreover her comrade Kim didn't exactly display WELCHIAN business acumen with her debit card. Anyway, we were so annoyed we Googled "paris hilton businesswoman" -- and wound up with THIS press release, from FT. This appears to be a new NEWS HACK irritant -- to call airhead female celebrities BUSINESSWOMEN. The next person who says FT.com or ANY news source is worth paying for should have this 2,362-WORD piece of bullhockey presented to his face as EXHIBIT A WHY NOT.



NEUHARTHISM OF THE MONTH AWARDS TO NICK ".001" WATT -- AND EMMA!

Posted 10:53 AM by Gene

Speaking of art, a certain immortal has just visited suburban NoMoTown, and one of the local hacks had a hangdog look on his face:

[S]he's long since given up the illusion of singing live; she appeared to be singing during "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know," which was performed on a swing high above the stage, but elsewhere she appeared to be lip syncing and making no bones about it.

Well, if we paid to see this enchantress rather than getting in for FREE we might pick a fight, but then again the whole "concert" business proves the fools demand to be easily parted from their money.

Posted 10:44 AM by Gene

Biloxi, Mississippi, which thought gamb -- GAMING could save it from its deindustrialization and poverty, only to find it was still as glamorous as a certain Ghetto by the Sea, brought THE LEAKY STARCHITECT in to build it a kazillion-dollar AHT mu-SE-um. Well, surprise surprise surprise! (Did Gomer hail from Biloxi?) The BABBITTY!!!!! citizens, most of whom may actually be smarter than the geniuses who planned this production, and who thought this latest masterpiece looked like "giant crushed beer cans", aren't supporting it, and those beer cans are costing vastly more to keep ice-cold than planned -- you see, "[s]imply trying to keep the galleries below 30 percent humidity to protect art in a climate where the humidity can reach 90 percent costs thousands of dollars every month." AND the five-pack cost three times more than planned -- and it still isn't finished. Nonetheless hope springs eternal among the local RENDELLISTS, who seem to think MONEY springs eternal as well.

[T]he building and its collections have earned critical praise.

Hey you guys liked Stalin and Fidel too.

(Via the usual AHTSJournal)

Posted 8:18 PM by Gene

Soothing:

Report: 27 deemed as threats still hold FAA licenses
Scouring records to find terrorists still difficult years after 9/11 attacks

That and this suggest an almost willful ignorance.

Posted 8:17 PM by Gene

ARCHDaily!



I suppose this is "cute" -- it is in China -- but hasn't anyone heard of liability suits? Not in China, we suppose, which never seems to have heard of lead paint either. Interestingly ARCHDaily does not say how deep the hole is, which almost says it really might go to the earth's other end.

Posted 8:06 PM by Gene

We meant to comment earlier but to say rock is "dead' is like saying disco is dead, especially when our ears tell us otherwise: rock is immutable however much it's mutated, and the same with disco, which goes by other names to keep the rank smell out.

Posted 7:57 PM by Gene

Dick "SYNERGY!" Corliss stumbles and falls over an insight that mightn't have happened if this were made by PEOPLE WARNER:

And why is the ancient wisdom of Indian shamans always taken at face value? Modern movies usually mock a Christian's belief in miracles; yet the summoning of spirits by aboriginal Americans, here as in other Westerns, is shown as a certain conduit to another, higher world.

Posted 3:00 PM by Gene

We were annoyed enough to learn that our local KFC/Taco Bell raised the price of its $5 meals by ten percent, but insult attended to injury on the cup:

MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS!!!!! LIVE!!!!! 8.28.11 [SIC] 9/8C!!!!!!!!!! [Live overemphasis added]

Meaning YUM! BRANDS is using the money for more Hollywood schmoozing. The company that so assiduously cares for and feeds SETH MacFARLANE has no doubt been conferencing with SUMNERIANS non-stop for weeks imploring them to get a few F-BOMBS on the show, as if SUMNERIANS need be told. A price hike was bad enough; to have a price-hiking company spit it in your face that you're paying more to insult your intelligence is vastly worse. I'm writing a letter to YUM! BRANDS' top marketing honcho but I suspect that will merely get me a platitude from the vast BOWELS of its customer "service". A company that does this almost deserves what happened to Taco Bell.

P. S. Today the outlet had a party for its employees. They ate pizza -- and NOT from PIZZA HUT.

P. P. S. Fortunately YUM! has had declining sales. Unfortunately its chief salary hog thinks they can be improved with more Hollywood schmoozing.

Posted 2:43 PM by Gene

HAVE YOU NO SHAME -- SIRRRRRRRR??????????

To be sure this probably was hint-hinted through TPM or KOS or one of the LIBERAL villainies, but this fellow has no shame -- and may be marginally fit to call a SIR.

(Via Yahoo!, which has no shame, sir)

Posted 1:12 PM by Gene

AP NEWSALERT!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- US accuses Iran of `secret deal' with al-Qaida to funnel cash, people to Afghanistan, Pakistan

ASTONISHING!

Posted 10:03 AM by Gene

COMMENTARY OF THE WEEK, from a professor at Duke:

On Oct. 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his "Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences" on the door of the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg. We now think of this disputation as the "95 Theses"; the main objection was the hypocrisy of selling dispensations or indulgences.

Indulgences were "get out of purgatory free!" cards. Of course, it was the church that had created the idea of purgatory in the first place. Then the church granted itself the power to release souls from purgatory (for a significant fee, of course).

As Luther put it, in his Thesis No. 27, "as the penny jingles into the money-box, the soul flies out."

Luther would not think much of our current tax system, I expect. We argue about rates, the financial equivalent of purgatory. The Republicans in Congress are prepared to sacrifice our immortal debt rating to the proposition that not one penny increase is possible, even though almost no one actually pays those rates.

The Democrats in Congress like high rates, so that they can sell indulgences. A glance at the tax code reveals that Luther's antagonist Pope Leo X was a piker; we have categories within categories within subgroups, all at different prices, deductions or exemptions that release some elites from the published tax rates....

We need a Reformation. We need a Martin Luther to speak out and tell the truth. The Catholic Church reformed itself after 15 centuries; why can't we fix our tax system?

The indulgence business is just too profitable, too useful, to the priestly classes of both parties.

We are in a religious mood today so we can only say AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMEN!

(Via The Econowiz, which came up with an apt word of its own for the debt-ceiling ritual: "Blockheaded")

Posted 9:56 AM by Gene

And speaking of high finance, XOM, which has given more people heartburn than any other company, is suffering today because it's "producing too much gas."

(Ditto)

Posted 9:51 AM by Gene

God's Servants hoard aluminum, make a sacred cash cow!



Praise GOD!!!!!

(Via Seeking Alpha)

Posted 8:40 AM by Gene

Poor Sid Grauman must be turning over in his grave.

"Today(at)6pm in Hollywood (at)Mann's [SIC] Chinese Theatre. ME+BIG SPEAKERS+MUSIC(equals)BLOCK PARTY!!! RT! " [Multiple SICs]

OR:

"Everybody CHILL OUT!!! The cops are freaking out. BE SAFE AND LET'S HAVE SOME FUN!"

It takes a champion fool not to understand bringing several thousands uninvited partygoers together might cause...problems.

Posted 10:05 AM by Gene

BP's pawn -- still lives!

Posted 8:52 AM by Gene

A lawyer boasts how he brought the Smurfs "back", which should tell us movees aren't being made by starving writers in attics.

Posted 6:11 PM by Gene

Now I'm really rockin' today with -- ARCHDaily!



1. Woodwork to have an orgy by! 2. Does it ROLL?



Not ANOTHER 300-foot-tall dildo!



Not ANOTHER luxury prison!



Does that big black box cause people to lean -- or are they part of the architecture?



1. Sideways mechanical face sticking out from an attempt at a hockey mask, or 2. Lllllllllllllllllllllectric Shave!

Posted 5:16 PM by Gene

Having seen this at least twice on Web sites and now learning it's appeared on dozens of mostly con-SER-va-tive sites I gather PILLHEAD has gloated:

Friends, the DEMOCRAT!!!!! Party would have you believe half of America is living in DIRE POVERTY. Well the good folks at the Heritage Foundation have done a -- REPORT, and this -- REPORT shows the great and tragic privations the truly impoverished among us must -- ENDURE. So with a heavy burden suddenly upon me I must give you statistics of societal catastrophe that are not for the faint of heart. FOR INSTANCE, did you know:

(Cue music: "Hearts and Flowers" or the kind of industrial strength sad contemporary Muzak that would have blended in well at PILLHEAD's confab -- wedding)

ONLY 87.9 percent of the poor have -- A MICROWAVE.

ONLY 84.6 percent of the poor have -- AIR CONDITIONING.

ONLY (here He gets really excited, as though beholding LOWSY MAYS running Heaven) 79.1 PERCENT OF THE POOR HAVE -- CABLE!!!!!

ONLY 76.3 percent of the poor have -- A CELL PHONE.

ONLY 68 percent of the poor have -- A PC.

ONLY 60.2 percent of the poor have -- INTERNET SERVICE.

ONLY 58.3 percent of the poor have -- A DISHWASHER.

And here -- yes, ladies and gentlemen, here my heart BLEEDS like any LIBERAL'S -- ONLY 42.9 percent of the poor have TWO OR MORE TVS!

AND ONLY 27.5 percent of the poor have BIG-SCREEN TVs!

Friends (here He pretends He's going to cry), a ruinous CALAMITY is being visited upon us when the truly IMPOVERISHED must suffer so. And for this reason I implore our grand leader, BARACK INSANE OBAMA,

(Cue music: Napoleon XIV and "They're Coming to Take Me Away! Ha Ha!")

that only he, that Superman among leaders, can bring the poor out of their dire poverty; and to this end I propose BARACK INSANE OBAMA start a NEW spending program -- that would guarantee the poor would never ever have to pay for MICROWAVES, AIR CONDITIONING, TVs, PCs, CABLE -- they would get government GRANTS for these VITAL NECESSITIES that WOULD STIMULATE THE ECONOMY! AND LIFT THE POOR OUT OF THEIR SLOUGH OF DESPOND! AND LIFT BARACK INSANE OBAMA TO THE TOP OF THE PANTHEON OF GREAT LEADERS! AND --

(Assuming His natural tone of voice)

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

(Sounds of hellfire and destruction)

A few points: 1. Not all these contemptible souls own such items; they may lease them through the glorified scam of Rent-a-Center, or else their landlords own them -- certainly with washers and dishwashers. 2. If they can afford them -- and most of the items here are not that expensive, and many can afford them -- these are a few monthly payments. They are NOT the continuing cycle of food and housing, costs one must pay to live. 3. A lot of these luxuries have grown much less expensive -- and a big reason they've gotten less expensive is that Japan and China and the People's Republic of Walmart caused America's white-goods and consumer-electronics businesses to disappear -- as have their JOBS. 4. And though it's cheaper to buy a TV it's getting more expensive to live, something PILLHEAD and the WELL-FED at the HERITAGE FOUNDATION probably wouldn't know. 5. Many poor lack health care as they work dead end jobs, which led His Omnipotence into the farce of Obamacare. And medicine can be expensive. 6. Even the AYNISTS at Heritage must admit owning the above luxuries does not mean being able to afford their upkeep -- like putting food in the luxury microwaves.

We'd ignore this as so much knee-jerk lock-step partisan foot stomping but it only barely disguises an ulterior motive. As we said before liberals don't want a more fair executive at News Corp. -- they want to ABOLISH FOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NEWS. Likewise con-SER-va-tives have got it into their concrete-encrusted skulls that THE RICH SHOULD PAY NO TAXES. We cannot go by the kindnesses partisans profess to believe, as platitudes are the easiest lies, and mom and apple pie's the easiest dessert to bake, but must look to what the extremes of both sides would do if they had the fantasy power, and with the last century's Communism and Nazism we have ample evidence. We can only hope the long stink from this vast national breaking of wind will soon pass, and will not lead to worse misery for anyone.

Posted 3:03 PM by Gene

The Postal Service is shutting 3,700 branches -- and here's why in a nutshell:

[Postmaster General Patrick R.] Donahoe said he e-mailed a video to all Postal Service employees about the changes Monday night [SIC]

Posted 10:17 AM by Gene

Dad: Breivik should have killed himself

Good idea -- and he should have done it before he killed anyone else.

P. S. at 10:53 a. m.

Norway attack: prosecutor says killer could get 30 years

Well, he could still kill himself and save Norway the embarrassment.

Posted 10:07 AM by Gene

News Corp. should split the roles of chairman and chief executive officer now held by Rupert Murdoch and make other changes, according to the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, which represents about 300 organizations with assets of more than $100 billion.

Actually, with members like the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalists, the National Council of Churches and the American Friends Service Committee (and lots of Catholic groups -- guess they don't like the Pope either), we can gather what they really want: to shut down FOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!News. Another right thing for the wrong reason.

(Via I Want Media)

Posted 8:38 AM by Gene

D.C.'s solution: Another committee

I've got an idea! Let's form a committee to fix all the committees in Washington!

Posted 8:29 AM by Gene

New regulations from -- liberal Democrats? forced George "CONCENTRATION CAMP!" Soros out of the hedge fund biz?!?!?

INJUSTICE!

(Via TINA!!!!!)

Posted 10:57 PM by Gene

From this story it's plain the Norwegian catastrophe combined the worst of the recent Vancouver mayhem with the worst of Munich in '72: a police operation so "bungled" as to approach malevolence.

You could also think of J. Bruce Ismay and the lifeboats.

Or to put it another way:

Norwegians consider arming their police in light of massacre

TRANSLATION: They were living in a fairy-tale land.

Posted 10:15 PM by Gene

Apparently though nobody will be able to say David Wu's name without laughing.

Posted 10:07 PM by Gene

I only hope it will still be possible to say the word psoriasis without laughing.

Posted 5:46 PM by Gene

ARCHDaily!



Big brother is...too easy.



A tampon overdosed!



OR:

Posted 5:22 PM by Gene

Pop psychology for a pop star:

Despite her young age, Winehouse had a long history of alcohol, drug abuse, eating disorders and other health problems. Of course, abuse of alcohol, drugs and food are often symptoms of self-loathing. Even if one blessed with enormous talent (as was Winehouse with her singing voice) sometimes it isn't enough to overcome such feelings. Needless to say, Winehouse could not handle fame never mind cope with day to day living.

We wonder. Lots of young stars do "handle the pressure". The flameouts seem worse now because their lives are less private; I'd guess the tale of Judy Garland only got widespread notice with Valley of the Dolls, although the in crowd surely always knew. No, this tragedy may owe less to a lack of internal fortitude than to just being born screwy, and being in a screwy business, and especially in a screwy business that worships drugs.

Posted 5:14 PM by Gene

NETFLIX is MORTAL?

You don't suppose that valentine to its customers helped?

Posted 5:02 PM by Gene

The up-and-coming loudmouth JENNIFER and "Murrow" Fallow have picked the kind of fight pundits will fight when they're looking for more newshole, a fight to see who is EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL. Well -- it ain't US! We're pretty sure Jennifer thinks she's always right. We know MURROW thinks he's always right. Two people are thus ALWAYS right. How many ONES are always right, let alone twos? And how many such duets can ALWAYS be right when they totally disagree? In their cry-baby behavior we see the Republic in a microcosm. Congress is dysfunctional because its 535 members are ALWAYS right. CEOs have become job-destroying zillionaires because they're ALWAYS right. Our Union deserves its ruination when it's run by people who are NEVER WRONG.

And sure enough, Jeffrey Goldberg pops up on TheAtlantic.com to issue what amounts to an institutional mea culpa:

The question arises, then, why did Jennifer Rubin make this outrageous assertion about jihadism and Norway?

Well, perhaps it was because she was reading the Atlantic.

TRANSLATION: This big fight was as such big fights usually are -- for nothing except speechmaking fees.

P. S. After Fort Hood I posited a screwloose ultra-right-winger. It's impossible not to use snap judgment when extremists of all hues share the same m. o. I know one thing: on 9/11 I knew who it was. Sometimes snap judgment is right.

P. P. S. at 10:03 p. m. I'm retracting a good chunk of this because I didn't know what the hell I was talking about. Jennifer made a snap judgment, and "Murrow" Fallow screamed. This is not quite two total idiots, although Murrow is progressing to that stage very nicely and Jennifer has the stuff to make it there too if she's not careful. The next time I write about something I really should get the facts first.

Posted 3:08 PM by Gene

Get ready for some CEO DANCING ON DESKS!!!!!

Oh well, the AAAAAAAAAAAAATTITUDE LEAGUE won't settle. Better half a loaf.

Posted 1:32 PM by Gene

Hassanal Bolkiah, whose net worth has been estimated to be upwards of $20 billion, has one of the most extensive car collections in the world. The royal family is estimated to have some 5,000 cars, and, since many of them are directly ordered from manufacturers or custom-made, it may almost be impossible to estimate the value of his collection of Ferraris, Rolls, Bentleys, and more. His brother Prince Jeffri, who also has a massive car collection, spent $475 million at Rolls Royce alone.

TRANSLATION: Luxury-car makers are the friends of tyrants.

Posted 11:14 AM by Gene

David Gritten grits:

I’m bemused that Hollywood studios spend tens of millions of dollars on advertising and marketing their “tentpole” films, and yet many of their trailers are such rubbish. [Bemused overemphasis added]

Maybe that's because so many of the...oh, never mind.

(Via the usual AHTSJournal)

Posted 8:42 AM by Gene

You Can Be Two Places at Once if One of Them is New York

We thought New Yorkers liked to boast because they can be 160 places at once.

Posted 6:29 PM by Gene

Yesterday I mentioned "the Nuremburg Rally of show-biz". Consider: Nuremburg drew tens of thousands of maniacs who dressed funny. So does Comic-Con. These same people did funny salutes. So do the Comic-Cons. Nuremburg had Leni Reifenstahl. Comic-Con had KING JAMES. At Nuremburg the masses saluted evil. At Comic-Con they salute people who...look evil. At Nuremburg they obsessed over supermen. At Comic-Con they obsess over Superman. Nuremburg had all sorts of behind-the-scenes types who weren't nice, like Goering and Goebbels. Comic-Con has all sorts of behind-the-scenes types who aren't nice, like SLIME and SUMNER. We intend no slander to the Comic-Cons, who would as soon think of mass murder as they would think; but when people start exclaiming en masse no good's likely to come of it.

Posted 10:41 AM by Gene

Did you know -- I did not know -- that 844 people died on an excursion in the Chicago River 97 years ago? That was only over 11 years after the Iroquois Theater fire. Some of us know of the steamer fire in the East River that killed over a thousand at the turn of the last century, and only because the site was so close to the WTC. Given Friday's calamity in Norway we must ask at what point does time make grief irrelevant? A few of us must remember these things sometime, so that such awful events cannot fully leave the memory.

Posted 10:29 AM by Gene

Gen. John Shalikashvili, who ably led America's forces despite the first term of Slick's small-minded humanitarian foreign policy, which often meant going where our forces didn't matter (Haiti) and willfully neglecting everywhere else they should have been, has died. RIP.