Posted 10:46 PM by Gene

Those fake-proscenium lighting contraptions at rock concerts scare me; they look as though they're held up with baling wire. Amazing they haven't killed more people. Why would you let a concert go on in a gusty storm in any case?

P. S. on 8/14/2011 at 12:14 p. m. Looking at the horrifying video here the people directly underneath never stood a chance. Plainly there was negligence here -- from the Indiana State Fair, the concert organizers, and whoever built a contraption that could not withstand gale-force winds.

For what it's worth this wasn't the first disaster at the site. This was far worse.

P. P. S. at 2:13 p. m. Two similar accidents have already happened this summer, both involving high winds. Thankfully there were no fatalities.

Posted 4:19 PM by Gene

I feel sorry for "the family business" too, and the chance for a better life for millions shriveling up, but technology is putting it out of -- along with its own self-inflicted incompetence.

Posted 3:56 PM by Gene

We are sorry to hear ESPNCORP PICTURES has ended production of The Lone Ranger; we'd have rather it spent the $250 million ($600 million after MARKETING) to construct a new BLACK HOLE.

Which raises the question: Why does Hollywood spend $600 million a pop to go to the toilet?

Posted 2:30 PM by Gene

It was far better to have died trying to breach the Berlin Wall than to have helped put it up -- and lived.

"It is our shared responsibility to keep the memory alive and to pass it on to the coming generations as a reminder to stand up for freedom and democracy to ensure that such injustice may never happen again," Wowereit said.

The problem is the West has vastly less courage even than the little it had in '61.

Posted 11:39 AM by Gene

ARCHDaily!



A $20 million barn -- with a PC roof!

But why would someone want to store a replica of the Hindenburg there? Or is that an overgrown Snoopy sticking out his nose?



Edward Scissorhands designs a building!

Posted 8:57 PM by Gene

More brilliant diplomacy from His Incompetence, for whom foreign policy is just another term for no-win situation.

Posted 7:59 PM by Gene

ARCHDaily!



Okay, that's a church on the right, but what's that outbuilding? A stable?

Okay, it's better looking inside, but from THIS angle it looks like a stable.

Posted 7:49 PM by Gene

QUELLE SURPRISE: Not only does cri-TIC-ALLY ac-CLAIMED teevee drama draw audiences that would shame a second division NFL team, they're so expensive they don't make money -- and they don't work in syndication because even the hard-core fans who hang on their tee-VEE cri-TICS' every word aren't interested.

Still, there may be hope -- from a leader in...satcom:

On DirecTV, "Damages" isn't interrupted by commercials, and DirecTV has no stake in the program's aftermarket sales (Sony is the production partner on the series). Instead, executives at the satellite-TV concern are counting on the program's appeal to high-income, highly educated viewers to make such folk feel more connected to their service. DirecTV used emails and phone calls to reach subscribers who had elected to receive such promotions to alert them to new "Damages" episodes, and also placed ads on its interactive program guides. The results? The first episode of season four of "Damages" reached 1.02 million viewers across four telecasts, a number the company said exceeded its expectations.

Which, if we had to guess, is maybe 2.5 percent of the audience Star Trek got on NBC in one first-run the season the 30 Rockheads canceled it.

Posted 5:59 PM by Gene

One of JPOD's sidekicks has to admit that not raising taxes under ANY circumstances may not be that neato of an idea.

Posted 11:53 AM by Gene

DOC-TOR KRAUTHAMMER says OUR SYSTEM WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let us not forget heavy-booted Richie Riches have more control over our government than ever. We got His Incompetence thanks in no small part to GEORGE "LET THEM ROT IN A CONCENTRATION CAMP!" SOROS; we got the Tea Party thanks in no small part to the KOCH BROTHERS. And zigzagging like Wall Street may be the sign of democracy in full bloom but it may not be the sign of a nation in good spirits. Our working system got us a health-care fiasco that hasn't been remotely repealed and an S&P downgrade (full of caveats). If this is democracy what is chaos like? "Notice how the loudest complaints about 'broken politics' come from those who lost the debate." Then why have we endured non-stop screaming from BOTH WINNING SIDES for what seems like the last three hundred years? That he's this boastful of messy democracy today makes us ask if he was so proud of it last year.

Some people have simply pundited too long. Why couldn't the Dr. have stared at his navel over yesterday's "debate"?

Posted 11:44 AM by Gene

U.S.'s worst mood since '80
Consumer sentiment has tumbled to 54.9 in August — its lowest level since May 1980 — from 63.7 in July, according to the gauge from Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan released Friday.

DOW ONE HUNDRED BILLION QUINTRILLION QUADRAZILLION!!!!!!!!!!

Posted 10:01 AM by Gene

"London and the rest of England is very much open for business as usual. Hotels and major tourist attractions are open and unaffected,” says David Leslie, a spokesman for Visit Britain. “Most people who do travel regularly have a reality of where things are. They don't think Westminster is being lit up, or Parliament set ablaze – that just doesn't happen.”

No? With that scum? With this nation?

Posted 3:36 PM by Gene

DOW'S UP 500 POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [Insane overemphasis added]

Posted 2:58 PM by Gene

Hmmm -- you don't think all those greedy CEOs think they can take their companies' assets with them, do you?

(Via Seeking Alpha)

Posted 2:50 PM by Gene

One of the saddest stories out of the UK rioting is the destruction of Sony's media warehouse. To be sure, a lot of junk was stored there, but so were a lot of dreams. This more than most anything else from the calamity proved the scum rioted for nothing.

Posted 2:41 PM by Gene

MEDIA MATTERS FALSELY CALLS RUSH LIMBAUGH A LIAR!!!!!!!!!!

Fellow di tutti Fellows Eric Boehlert asks if Rush Limbaugh lied when he said:

Well, he inherited a AAA credit rating, an unemployment rate of 5.7%. Does anybody doubt that this is on purpose?

Boehlert then tweets:

Hey cons, did Limbaugh lie about the unemployment rate again today? http://t.co/2L9XF7C #justchecking #Limbaugh #tcot

This links to a Media Matter For America article that clearly shows the unemployment rate in January 2009, when President Obama took office, was 7.6 percent. Details here.

But, no, Rush didn’t lie. THE FIGURE HE'S USING IS AN AVERAGE FOR 2008.

[Emphasis -- and overemphasis -- added]

TRANSLATION: LIAR LIAR BROCK knows how to use statistics to lie; so do his enemies. A PLAGUE O' BOTH YOUR HOUSES!

Posted 7:50 PM by Gene

BRANSON EAST is giving Porgy and Bess a happy ending -- and HERR DOKTOR SONDHEIM performs a public service by EVISCERATING IT!

For once we can say of Herr Doktor -- BRAVO! BRAVISSIMO!

(Via All That Chat)

Posted 7:38 PM by Gene

RePUBlicans who worry Sony's producing a FULL-LENGTH CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL!!!!! for His Incompetence next fall should keep in mind at the rate it's going Sony might not be around to release it.

Posted 7:31 PM by Gene

Though they're celebrating tonight NEWS HACKS should not count THIS as good news. STEVEDOM achieved its mythical status today because XOM TANKED more (no pun intended); and experience teaches us HOT!!!! stocks are often the COLDEST when the MARKETS FREEZE.

Posted 7:15 PM by Gene

AN ADMISSION FROM...

George Lopez' TBS TV show has been cancelled, but there's an even bigger story here -- that CONAN O'BRIEN is failing at the network.

TBS just announced the last show will air tomorrow night. It's been on the air for 2 seasons.

Now the bigger story. It looks like Conan did to George what Jay Leno did to Conan. You'll recall, when Jay Leno came back to NBC, his 10 PM show tanked and killed Conan's ratings.

Well Lopez had the 11 PM time slot for its first season, but then when Conan came to TBS a year ago he took over the 11 PM slot and Lopez moved to midnight -- meaning George was relying on Conan to deliver a good lead-in.

But when the change was made, George's audience plummeted 40%.

On Monday, Conan pulled in an anemic 0.5 rating in the key demographic (18 - 49) with 715,000 viewers -- and that's a pretty typical day. George's ratings hovered around 0.2, with 400,000 viewers.

Short story -- Nobody's watching. [Overemphasis added]

PEOPLE WARNER?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Posted 3:32 PM by Gene

altucher kudlow

NUF SAID.

Posted 3:23 PM by Gene

SHARON has exacerbated the social scientists' huge irritant factor with this one. Remember, JACK'S SOUP is as changeable as a zebra's stripes -- and that's exactly how the show-biz hacks want it, which is why their talk on this matter is so boldly two-faced.

Posted 10:35 AM by Gene

Now we have to pay attention to FRANCE.

Why DOES it have a triple-A?

Posted 10:21 AM by Gene

Well, the Koch brothers won, and so did their hack, but we get into problems when hacks win. We got Obamacare because hacks won, and we'll get government employees working minimum wage -- pardon, no wage because hacks won. Why must it always be one army of true-believing hacks against another?

Posted 10:19 AM by Gene

But in this time of poverty and strife, there'll always be a PEOPLE WARNER (perhaps) -- and there'll ALWAYS BE PEOPLE:

• Faith Hill dropped some serious cash – $506! – for a silk kimono from Nicole Richie's Winter Kate line while shopping with her daughter at Sofia Boutique in Chicago. The singer tried on various dresses – a combination of new and vintage – but left with the coral and sky blue kimono and a free T-shirt gifted to her by the boutique. She also signed the store's dressing room wall – and was "very pleasant and beautiful," a source tells us.

Posted 10:14 AM by Gene

AP NEWSALERT!

WASHINGTON (AP) -- US military chief in Afghanistan says new strike has killed militants who downed chopper.

One little two little three little raisins....

(More here)

Posted 9:57 AM by Gene

"Going back into recession now would be scary, because we don't have the resources or the will to respond, and our initial starting point is such a point of weakness," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics. "It won't feel like a new recession. It would likely feel like a depression."

Some people won't notice.

(Via Yahoo! Finance -- which reminds us: In May ESPNCORP was over $44.00. Today it's $30.00. If the Wall Street Casino dealers didn't specialize in daydreaming would we have panics? Oh, and it's down about thirteen percent in part because of the crafty way UB IGER fiddled with the numbers at His flagship)

Posted 9:45 AM by Gene

A ROBOT WALKS:

14.03 Ed Miliband faced heckles during a walkabout in Manchester earlier, echoing the experiences of the Nick Clegg in Birmingham and Boris Johnson in Clapham. A large crowd gathered around him and his entourage as they toured the city centre. One man shouted: "All platitudes, Dave, as usual. You are all the same." Not clear whether he was mistaken for David Cameron or his elder brother, David Miliband.

Does it matter?

Oh, and...

13.43 Martin Chilton, our Digital Culture editor, reports that the launch of the Cultural Olympiad has been cancelled and theatres forced to close because of safety fears.

Going into hock for THE GAMES doesn't look so peachy now, does it.

Whatever the subatomic particles nominally running the UK now have to spend for their security will be a boondoggle in itself.

Posted 9:47 PM by Gene

Another EXASPERATING press release from social scientists. What's the point of gassing over JACK'S BOTULISM-INFESTED ALPHABET SOUP when you agree with its premise -- and worse, when you agree with the notion that "information" solves the problem? The London riots tell us that information can work both ways -- the rioters seem to be exceptionally well informed. These number-crunching clods have probably NEVER spoken to the likes of the slime Chris Dodd or to a movie executive, making their gassing even more self-servingly smelly. When they feel the urge to platitudinize why can't social scientists KEEP THEIR PLATITUDES SHUT?

(Via that press agency the ASSPress)

Posted 6:17 PM by Gene

I've said a variant on this before: It's great we have Cal Ripken, Jr. as a goodwill ambassador, but it would be nice if we had lots more Cal Ripkens, and we did once. [C]RAPPERS and SLASHER PORN stars do NOT goodwill ambassadors make.

Posted 5:21 PM by Gene

TRANSLATION: The IDIOTS who created a NEGATIVE PANIC yesterday created a POSITIVE PANIC today. This is NOT reassuring.

Posted 5:16 PM by Gene

The Beeb's Europe editor:

It is useful to compare the European approach to disorder with that in the UK.

Two recent conversations with UK-based TV producers surprised me. Both had covered protests in London. One was at a weekend when some demonstrators had got inside the Fortnum and Mason food store in Piccadilly.

Afterwards the producer described mobs attacking shops. The strange part was that for long periods no police were to be seen. The rioters had the streets to themselves.

A second conversation related to the day of student protests that resulted in a partial occupation and attack on political offices at Millbank. The police intelligence seemed negligible and for long parts of the afternoon they were outnumbered and ineffective.

I had been involved in the coverage of G20 protests in the City of London. They are remembered for the death of an individual at police hands. But leaving aside that tragic incident the approach of the police was to stand back, photograph incidents and then investigate later. The tactic was to contain rather than be pro-active.

In the current crisis many people are asking why the police stood by when violence and arson was happening around them?

The outnumbered can guess.

Posted 11:32 AM by Gene

Though the valor of the Blitz no longer qualifies as even a memory, a few Britons still care.

Posted 8:46 AM by Gene

Police prepare to use plastic bullets against rioters

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, NOW that zillions in property's been destroyed.

P. S. at 11:16 a. m. A victim of rioting the UK's subatomic "leaders" believe is victimless.

Posted 8:32 AM by Gene

Surprisingly in this book review EMMETT KELLY's writer does not refer to FDR and Eleanor as COMMIES. I know that's preposterous and insulting to the writer but such was EMMETT's defense of SLIME. At any rate, the Roosevelts were extraordinary people, and they make today's "leaders" that much more the Pygmies, and that's insulting to Pygmies.

Posted 9:00 PM by Gene

And a TRAGEDY to compound the DISASTER:

Tech Sell-Off Prompts Fears IPO Window Will Slam Shut

No! No Zyngas for $80 BILLION! NO FACEBOOKS FOR $2 TRILLION!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

And all so you McGraw-Hill guys could cover up for those CDO ratings. Anything else you could sell to HONORARY MAYOR MIKE?

Posted 8:47 PM by Gene

And in a classic definition of "what's good for the goose":

McGraw-Hill shares fall as much as 8.5 percent

Posted 8:36 PM by Gene

Speaking of SYNERGY -- and NEWS HACKS who use snark to cover up their mammoth self-interest:

“Bad Teacher” star Cameron Diaz took her stage time to quite rightly point out that the film she was winning for was rated R (the same as fellow Teen Choice winner Ed Helms in “The Hangover Part II”) and thank the parents who no-doubt pre-screened her film before allowing their teens to see it. Her heart and mind are in the right place, but she has obviously never been the parent of a teenager.

NOR AN EXECUTIVE AT AN MPAA-MEMBER COMPANY.

The only solace is that the ratings were down more than Wall Street today for MPAA MEMBER NEWS CORP. (And 3.2 MILLION viewers -- smashing!) By the way, where's its chairman -- Mr. Magoo? Did Chase or Jim lock him in an attic?

Posted 7:55 PM by Gene

[C]riminal minded local youths seem to be taking advantage of the lack of police presence due to trouble elsewhere.

Daydreaming of THE GAMES and the days the bobbies could control things just by waving a billy club, the UK's nonexistent leaders will let this go a while longer before sense kicks in, just as their thoroughly PC former colony Canada did.

Posted 5:42 PM by Gene

A 2007 study by the American Psychological Association (APA) showed that the exposure to sexualized images of girls and young women (on TV, in movies, ads and toys) impacts girls' self-esteem by setting unrealistic body expectations, fueling depression and the kind of self-objectification that has been linked directly with decreased condom use during sex and diminished sexual assertiveness.

In other studies, college women were shown two commercials with clichéd portrayals of women later expressed less interest in math- and science-related careers than students who hadn't been shown the ads.

WILL YOU STOP WITH THE PHONY APOLOGIES, JEFF BEWKES!

Posted 5:34 PM by Gene

ARCHDaily!



A $5 million chicken coop!



A high-end water tower!

Posted 5:29 PM by Gene

“None of the banks we rate in the U.S. has an issuer credit rating higher than the U.S. sovereign rating. The sovereign downgrade does not alter the government support assumptions that we factor into our ratings on four banks.”

NOW S&P tells us!

(Via Seeking Alpha)

Posted 3:06 PM by Gene

Bernanke May Move to Boost Confidence

OH oh, what'll he do NOW for the Wall Street Casino?

Other options for the Fed include pledging to hold its key interest rate near zero until a specified date, which would strength its current promise to keep rates low for an “extended period.” The Fed could also reduce the 0.25 percent interest rate it pays banks on excess reserves parked at the central bank, a move that might spur growth by encouraging banks to lend.

TRANSLATION: He's loading his gun with blanks!

Posted 2:47 PM by Gene

Obama says U.S. will always be Triple-A

This from a prez who thinks in so many ways we're double-C?

Posted 1:47 PM by Gene

S&P Affirming U.S. Short-Term Rating May Prop Money Markets

TRANSLATION: S&P bows to public opinion without doing so.

(Via Finviz)

Posted 10:00 AM by Gene

TECHNOLOGICAL MARVELS like BLACKBERRY are at the heart of the rioting in Britain? GASP!

We are not surprised technology renders mobs more efficient than businesspeople.

Posted 9:51 AM by Gene

Syrian Deaths Spur Condemnation as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain Pull Ambassadors

STRONG condemnation!

Where have you been the last few months? Bunkering your heads in the sand?

Posted 9:47 AM by Gene

MR. JOURNOLIST says "Don't call it a recession", meaning when His Incompetence was more popular he called it a recession. No, we've known all along what this was: it was a recession, caused by the Wall Street Casino and their Babbitty banker friends going for broke. That it might be a financial crisis doesn't mean it's not a recession too.

Posted 12:42 PM by Gene

Oh, we forgot; you know what yesterday was: the sixty-sixth anniversary of AN EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVIL ACT. Maybe we were too busy petting our Eh-SUS but where were the lectures?

We're still waiting for His Incompetence to say I'm sorry on the spot but He's too busy with downgrades.

Posted 9:38 AM by Gene

WE -- that is to say, the USAOKAY!!!!! we -- are supposed to join in in the Lucille Ball worship. I can't; she never struck me as that pretty (I think it's the eyebrows; she had a good face otherwise), she had a duck-like voice, she plainly adored Chaplin, and she starred in a sitcom that wasn't that funny, but came at just the right time and thus defined its age. That the state press is pulling this gag is part of it; nor does it help when she's been worshiped by G000,000,000,000,000GLE, and as this blogger hints (caveat: it's EMMETT KELLY'S) here's yet another reason people have come to loathe the Miracle of Mountain View, which at its best is PC sanctimonious and at its worst hypocritical, and which seems to aim for universal domination whatever its mood.