The Rhetorican

Updates from July, 2011 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• Jehuda 11:15 pm on July 31, 2011 Permalink  

  A debt deal has been reached. Just one measly trillion 2.4 trillion in cuts over a decade, but no new taxes. I guess you gotta start somewhere.

  How did we get here? You can blame the whole mess on cynical Democrats like Harry Reid, who could have raised the debt ceiling while in control of Congress last year. But they simply didn’t want to, preferring to play politics with the nation’s finances instead.

  Sounds like Harry Reid and the rest of the Dems on the Hill made a bet last year and lost it tonight. Maybe it’s good that they did, since they inadvertently forced to the forefront of the national debate a discussion that was long overdue. And measly cuts or not, Democrats and other advocates of the welfare state have ended up on the losing side of the issue. But just remember one thing: the Democrats knew what they were doing all along. They knew what they were getting into, but also what they were getting the country into. They chose to gamble with our collective future, just for a chance at scoring some political points…

  UPDATE: TOM links. Thanks!

  MORE: The amount of one trillion in cuts I wrote originally was correct. 2.4 trillion is the amount of money by which the debt ceiling was raised.

  About these ads
   

• Jehuda 1:28 pm on July 31, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Entertainment ( 1,342 ), Film ( 928 )   

  The Top 10 Comic Book Movies Hollywood Still Needs To Make.

  Good picks, but this evinces far too much faith in Hollywood, I think…

  UPDATE: Last link was bad. Just fixed. Sorry about that!
   

• Jehuda 4:34 pm on July 30, 2011 Permalink  

  Harrison Ford settles a feud.

  Video at the link.  I know it’s not exactly new, but I just got around to see it…
   

• Jehuda 4:19 pm on July 30, 2011 Permalink  

  Million-dollar knick-knacks: “One man’s collection of little cups, most of which were bought inexpensively in the 1970s, could now net him a cool $1.5 million”.
   

• Jehuda 1:01 pm on July 30, 2011 Permalink  

  Lawsuit of the week: ‘Second Life’ virtual animals end up in real-life federal court.
   

• Jehuda 2:04 pm on July 29, 2011 Permalink  

  Twilight of the Rubes: There’s a joke about Obama and all his 2008 supporters in here somewhere.

  That must be how Peggy Noonan feels right now…
   

• Jehuda 1:53 pm on July 29, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Entertainment ( 1,342 ), Film ( 928 ), The Arts ( 184 )   

  Forty Harrison Fords.
   

• Jehuda 1:22 pm on July 29, 2011 Permalink  

  I loved this short produced for the Powerline Prize competition:
   

• Jehuda 10:27 am on July 29, 2011 Permalink  

  You can now stream movies from Universal Pictures through Amazon Prime Instant Video.

  Press release here.
   

• Jehuda 8:58 am on July 29, 2011 Permalink  

  Johnny Marbles gets convicted.

  I’m not sure what his sentence will be, but he’s lucky stupidity is not a crime. He’d get life imprisonment for that offense (and that’s only because there’s no death penalty in the UK)….
   

• Jehuda 8:52 am on July 29, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Entertainment ( 1,342 ), Film ( 928 ), News ( 4,595 )   

  The Saddest Movie in the World.

  I’ve never seen it, but I remember my parents did – back in the late 70′s.  It launched Rick Schroeder’s career!
   

• Jehuda 7:35 am on July 29, 2011 Permalink  

  CRAFTING THE NARRATIVE: LAT editorial on Chris Christie: “Is America ready for a president who, frankly, doesn’t look healthy?”

  UPDATE: Just remembered: Yesterday I read about the NYT making an issue of Rick Perry’s health.

  So is that how it goes? If the potential presidential bidder is a Republican woman, we are to think that she’s either crazy and stupid (Bachmann, Palin)? If it’s a Republican man, that he’s frail and unhealthy?

  And when a Black Republican stands up for what he believes, he’s an angry black man?

  Just a few of the talking points on the MSM’s Alinksy Cheat Sheet, no doubt…

  MORE: Bad link for Rick Perry story. Just fixed it. Sorry about that!
   

• Jehuda 10:23 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  More on the 14th Amendment non-option…
   

• Jehuda 4:02 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  The Other McCain will be aggregating the Boehner bill vote coverage like a MoFo.

  Related: Some advice for Tea Partiers from George Will: Live to fight another day?
   

• Jehuda 3:47 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Entertainment ( 1,342 ), Film ( 928 )   

  Another sign of 3D’s impending demise?  I hope so: RealD Shares Collapse to All-Time Low, Lose Nearly 21% of Value.
   

• Jehuda 3:38 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Entertainment ( 1,342 ), Film ( 928 ), The Arts ( 184 )   

  Polly Platt has died.

  Many great movies owe their existence to her.  Rest in peace…
   

• Jehuda 2:59 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  21st Century Hitchcockianism: Hackers dupe British police into arresting the wrong guy.

  Not the first time something like this happens.

  Kinda reminds me of Minority Report, too.

  

  
   

• Jehuda 2:45 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  Tech: Can Anyone Out-Amazon Amazon?
  
   

• Jehuda 2:37 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  Goodbye to San Francisco’s anti-circumcision ballot measure?
   

• Jehuda 1:35 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  Nancy Pelosi becomes a Michael Bay movie character.

  Demagoguers 2: Desperation.  In theaters now.

  Kabuki theaters, that is…

  It really seems more and more like that’s about the only “debt deal plan” Democrats have going: demagoguery.

   
   

• Jehuda 1:29 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  Pew Poll: Obama lead over generic Republican disappears.
   

• Jehuda 1:26 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  A Canoe That Can Fit Inside a Backpack.
   

• Jehuda 12:17 pm on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  Rep. Clyburn dreams of an imperial presidency: “Sometimes executives must order that things get done.”

  Yes, but Obama has no executive experience, remember?

  Via Insty, who notes that Brown v. Board of Education was not an Executive Order.  Not that Jim Clyburn would care about accuracy, since he is actually advocating for Obama to raise the debt ceiling under the fictional plenary debt-ceiling-raising powers granted to him by the 14th Amendment…or something…

  At least Clyburn allows us some insight into the Democrats’ plan to solve this on-going debt debacle: demagoguery.

   
   

• Jehuda 11:06 am on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  Your moment of Common Sense: Remembering Milton Friedman:

  Including Phil Donahue’s famous stupid questions…
   

• Jehuda 10:14 am on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  If booze came inside milk cartons instead of glass bottles.
   

• Jehuda 10:11 am on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  Hacking a car with…text messages?
   

• Jehuda 10:03 am on July 28, 2011 Permalink  

  The slow death of Old Media: Drop in movie ads results in layoffs at the LA Times.
   

• Jehuda 4:44 pm on July 27, 2011 Permalink  

  Twilight of the Rubes: Lawrence O’Donnell and Bill Maher lament a Democrat president with Republican policies:

  “I like Obama so much, I’m always trying to understand what he’s dealing with,” Maher told O’Donnell, explaining that he was “terribly disappointed” and couldn’t understand the strategy. “I never thought he would be caving on the revenue side of it, I thought that was his line in the sand,” Maher noted.

  Uh, there is no strategy, fellas.  And if the House GOP seems to be in control here (in the measure that it is in control of anything) it’s because the Executive is not executing much of anything.  But that shouldn’t be a surprise.  Obama has no executive experience, remember?

  And to which line in the sand might Maher be referring?  The one drawn a few months ago when Obama agreed to renew the Bush tax cuts?

  UPDATE: Breaking: Boehner has released a new plan (scroll down).
   

• Jehuda 4:26 pm on July 27, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Entertainment ( 1,342 ), TV ( 478 )   

  Some ‘Mad Men’ era commercials.

  Video at the link.

  Related: Mad Men is streamable on Netflix starting today.

  And it’s also on Amazon Instant video-on-demand:

  
   

• Jehuda 3:35 pm on July 27, 2011 Permalink  

  Hmm: China Says Aircraft Carrier Only for Research, Training.

  At least initially, I’m sure…
   

• Jehuda 2:22 pm on July 27, 2011 Permalink  

  Hot air for the higher education bubble: THR debuts its first ever list of Film School Rankings.

  I really believe that – even if you don’t borrow money to do so – there are better ways to spend your education dollar than film school.
   

• Jehuda 11:33 am on July 27, 2011 Permalink  

  More copyright news: George Lucas loses UK copyright case.
   

• Jehuda 11:16 am on July 27, 2011 Permalink  

  John Carney: Can The Treasury Department Really Run Out of Money?: “It can only run out if it decides—that is, if Secretary Geithner and President Barack Obama choose—to stop writing checks sufficient to pay all of our obligations.”

  So it’s up to the Executive Branch?  That’s not good.  Not as long as we have a never-let-a-crisis-go-to-waste White House…
   

• Jehuda 11:07 am on July 27, 2011 Permalink  

  Zev Chafets: James O’Keefe’s Greatest Hits.
   

• Jehuda 10:52 am on July 27, 2011 Permalink  

  WSJ: What’s wrong with America’s job engine?  “If employers were sure they could sell more, they would hire more. If they were less uncertain about everything from the durability of the recovery to the details of regulation, they would be more inclined to step up their hiring”

  Sounds like part of the problem is in Washington…
   

• Jehuda 10:05 am on July 27, 2011 Permalink  

  Congratulations to new dad Smitty and a big welcome to “the world’s youngest blogger”.
   

• Jehuda 10:02 am on July 27, 2011 Permalink  

  Frontiers of Copyright Law: Artificial Intelligence and authorship .
   

• Jehuda 9:11 am on July 27, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Entertainment ( 1,342 ), TV ( 478 )   

  Afghan TV’s version of The Office?

  Video at the link. 

  Still haven’t seen a single episode of either the American or British series…
   

• Jehuda 4:05 pm on July 26, 2011 Permalink
  Tags: Entertainment ( 1,342 ), Film ( 928 )   

  Bad news for the Hollywood studios: Study shows 3D displays cause ‘visual discomfort’.

  They needed a study to reach this conclusion?
   

• Jehuda 3:25 pm on July 26, 2011 Permalink  

  The closest thing to an Obama debt ceiling plan?   “Tell your viewers there’s nothing to worry about.”

  Video at the link…

  UPDATE: Oh, looks like we got ourselves an Underpants Gnome-In-Chief (Via Allahpundit, via Insty):

  After all the hemming and hawing from Carney over Obama’s so-called plan, we learn that he really doesn’t have one “because,” Carney said,” we want a result.”

  MORE: Related content from TOM, who links.  Thanks!