The balcony is still open
I've grown quite fond of the work of film critic Richard Roeper over the past five years. His news column in the Chicago Sun-Times is a little too skewed towards the celebrity and soft entertainment news (even if he's frequently critical of it,) but his work with Roger Ebert on their syndicated movie review TV show is very entertaining. From the very beginning, I was impressed with Roeper's willingness to challenge his more experienced partner, which, of course, was a necessity of the position.
Now, more times than not, I find myself siding with Roeper in the hosts' critical disputes, and trying to convince myself that Ebert hasn't gone soft in his old age.
Roeper signed a new three-year, seven-figure deal with Buena Vista Entertainment this week to continue working on the show, and today's Sun-Times has an
interesting interview with one of their star employees.
I'm also happy to direct you to Ebert's
negative review of "War of the Worlds"-- proof perhaps that Roger hasn't gone completely soft, and that Gene Shalit is an idiot.
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Oh, what I wouldn't give... Well, not $150, I guess. That's the price of admission to the Whitey Herzog Charity Roast, Monday, July 18th, at Harrah's Casino in Maryland Heights, MO. The White Rat, former Cards' manager and all-around greatest and most colorful baseball man in history, will be feted by friends and former players at the 21 and over affair in the casino's Voodoo Cafe and Lounge. With the '82 AL Champion Milwaukee Brewers in town, the World Champion Cardinals of that year will be honored at the roast as well. The following night, the Rat will have a bobblehead day in his honor at the ballpark.
Tickets here, if you're interested.
You know you are.
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This General Motors Employee Discount Sale is all the rage, but I'm holding out for the company's Executive Perk Sale.
TV Show Survivor
OK, it's time to take the gloves off. I had this topic idea last week about the weakest casting links of the great TV shows. These actors might be part of great ensembles, even worthy contributors, but tonight, I'm forcing myself- and you- to choose. In almost every case, the results have come through a very competitive process of elimination. A couple rules only-- no kids, and they can't have been cast off the show because of their weaknesses. That's too easy. I've tried- but probably failed- to separate the fact that some characters were poorly written, and limit the blame to the casting agent.
In fact, some are great characters, and it may simply be my intrigue at getting the chance to re-cast the role that's at play.
The weakest links are...
Arrested Development- Jeffrey Tambor as George and Oscar Bluth
Cheers- George Wendt as Norm Peterson
Curb Your Enthusiasm- Jeff Garlin as Jeff Green
Deadwood- Powers Boothe as Cy Tolliver
Friends- Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribiani
The Golden Girls- Estelle Getty as Sofia Petrillo
Just Shoot Me- Wendie Malick as Nina Van Horn
The Mary Tyler Moore Show- Gavin McLeod as Murray
M*A*S*H- Loretta Swit as Margaret Houlihan
Newhart- Tom Poston as George Utley
Newsradio- Joe Rogan as Joe Garelli
Northern Exposure- John Cullum as Holling Van Couer
Seinfeld- Michael Richards as Cosmo Kramer
Sex and the City- Kim Cattrall as Samantha Jones
The Simpsons- Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson, Nelson, and Martin
60 Minutes- Andy Rooney
The Sopranos- Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
Taxi- Jeff Conaway as Bobby Wheeler
WKRP in Cincinnati- Gary Sandy as Andy Travis
According to Jim- Jim Belushi as Jim
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I drove to Iowa City over the weekend, and I pose this question. Isn't it contradictory to have a Confederate Flag decal on one side of the back car window, and "United We Stand" on the other?
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The feud between former Cubs broadcaster Steve Stone and the team's manager, Dusty Baker, continues to simmer. Baker indirectly referenced Stone Saturday when discussing public criticism of his decision to start Mark Prior against the White Sox Sunday without first sending the pitcher on a rehab assignment.
Though the story is no longer on their website, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Stone's claims Tuesday that the Chicago Tribune, which owns the Cubs, is protecting Dusty Baker. Specifically, a Tribune story referenced Stone as having been fired after last year, when, in truth, the broadcaster was offered a contract and refused it. Stone claims he talked to the writer, Paul Sullivan, and was told- by him- that a copy editor at the Trib changed the reference. The paper claims it was an innocent mistake, but I'm not so sure.
Regardless, your trusty blogger has put his investigative reporting education (albeit, at a state school) to good use. The
original story on the Tribune website now contains a notice about "corrected material." You'll find the "corrected material" in paragraph #9.
I honestly don't know why any Cubs fan would read the Tribune for an honest appraisal of the team's fortunes, but I guess one man's corporate propaganda is another man's corporate synergy.
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I hadn't worn my gold-colored watch for about three weeks when I put it on before work yesterday. I arrived at work before realizing it had stopped.
Now, there's nothing more annoying than wearing a watch that always holds the wrong time, but just to let you know what a clotheshorse I am, I kept it on all day, even after going home for lunch at noon. I had to, you see, because it went with my gold belt buckle.
That's not the dumbest thing I did, though. I counted six times during the day that I reset the time on the watch to match the proper time, knowing full well it would only be right for one minute.
I blame the heat for my behavior.
Total devastation
I don't know what horrendous thing Steven Spielberg said to his father in childhood for which he will never forgive himself, but he's been begging for Dad's forgiveness ever since.
No one has ever doubted Spielberg's skill with a camera or his ability to push an audience's buttons, but let me just also say that his fellow international superstar, Michael Jackson, has received a disproportionate amount of acclaim as possessor of Hollywood's biggest 'Peter Pan' complex. Arnold and Leah Spielberg's little boy is a worthy contender for the crown.
I saw an advance screening of "War of the Worlds" tonight, and I can safely report that if you've grown pleasantly accustomed to Spielberg's tales of paternal redemption smothered in the latest CGI special effects, you won't be disappointed. The movie is packed with 'splosions, aliens, death, and destruction. The world is collapsing before our very eyes, and Tom Cruise's character still can't get a hug from his son.
Peter Bogdanovich, an auteur and critic of the highest caliber, was on television this weekend saying that "The War of the Worlds" story always returns to the culture during times of great national peril-- World War II, the Cold War, the War on Terrorism, etc. It penetrates this time, he says, when a character in the movie asks the question, "Is it terrorists?"
Yet, I defy you to find any thought or emotion expressed in the film remotely relevant to current world affairs. It's devoid of any political expression or social commentary, and that's a remarkable waste, based on the timing of the film's release. The original work- the book by H.G. Wells- has been criticized by some as xenophobic, but the themes have shown a remarkable elasticity through multiple reincarnations, most notably the radio play in the 1930s directed by Orson Welles. Such as has always been his style, Spielberg has rid his film of any whiff of controversy or potential scandal. He has sanitized it, presumably, to add to his already staggeringly impressive box office legacy, and he's populated the picture with the top mega-watt star of the day, Tom Cruise, a man who's only been fascinating in his career for his ability to cultivate his own celebrity, and a man about whom critic Tom Carson once wrote, "Fundamentally, (he's) an entrepreneur; he'd have less to talk about with Brando than Bill Gates. And more to talk about with Barney than either, since he's his own product."
It says much about both Spielberg and Cruise that they both still go to such extraordinary lengths to be top box office draws. In their separate but equal desperations, Cruise chases young women creatively before the media, while Spielberg has turned to star vehicles more than ever before. The director who once cast neurotic Everymen like Richard Dreyfuss to play opposite his special effects creations now works almost exclusively with the Toms, Cruise and Hanks.
Like with "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan," Spielberg seems to believe that the choice of darker source material projects upon him greater maturity, but sadly, it's still that same little child of divorce behind the camera with each new theatrical release, arrested in development at 12-years-old and attempting to show the adult world what he can build with his new toys. In "Schindler," we never see the horrors of the Nazi gas chambers (except in a hideously dishonest scene in which the Jews are sprayed with water,) and none of the characters we're made to care about meet their mortality in the Concentration Camp. I won't give away the ending of "War of the Worlds" except to say there's a logic-defying family reunion very near the end.
Fundamentally, the largest problem with the film is it's implausibility. Not the aliens landing on Earth. I recognize that suspension of disbelief here being part of the fun. But little of the human behavior, outside of all the running, matches what would really happen, to say nothing of some of the continuity problems.
A teenage boy, for example, would not leave his family on "the battlefield" to fight attacking aliens. A scene in which hundreds of people attack Cruise's family's car is beyond preposterous, as well as description, and most importantly, Cruise's kids would let bygones be bygones with their Weekend Dad about two seconds after they've seen bloodthirsty aliens shoot lasers.
Perhaps, Spielberg felt he had extended license to stray from modern realism because his source material has the stature of being more than a century old, but the audience was hooting with disbelief at a couple key junctures.
I remember doing a version of Welles' radio play on stage in eighth grade, and without recalling specifics, the theme of the performance seemed to be the fears and the relationships between the people. (Also, Mr. Wichtendahl's production allowed you to imagine your own aliens-- for budgetary reasons.) In Spielberg's picture, only the supporting character played by Tim Robbins ever comes close to touching on some of these underlying themes, and even then, Spielberg derails the exchange between Cruise and Robbins, turning the encounter into an elaborate CGI hide-and-seek game between the humans and a probing alien.
Oh, but did I mention? Morgan Freeman provides the narration. That's a fresh idea. At the end, I expected him to tell me whether or not Tim Robbins ever tunneled out of his alien hideout. (Get it?)
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An additional note: Attending this advance screening was an education in Hollywood's modern fear of outsiders. On the day the Supreme Court reinstated a copyright-infringement suit against two on-line file-sharing services, all the attendees of tonight's film went through a metal detector and a pat-down. We were told to take our cell phones (camera phones or otherwise) back to the car or have them thrown into a bin to be picked up after the film. Then, during the projection of the picture, local security hired by Paramount and/or Dreamworks panned the audience with binoculars looking for violators.
What did all of this mean for me?
It means I had to work my ass off to get these
images.
That was a joke.
But seriously, don't forget to vote Albert Pujols onto the All-Star team.
Heat stroke
Aunt Mildred's Ghost, it's hot out there! 91 degrees at 7:30 at night, and 96 with the humidity. We're headed towards 94 and 101 tomorrow in Des Moines. That would be the hottest day in two years, and probably the reason I've been so cranky this week. It's hot in my apartment, too. Thank heavens
Dave Miley stopped by today and installed the air conditioner.
In my heat-induced stupor last night, I forgot to watch the AFI list of the 100 greatest lines in movie history. If I had a nickel for every time I advised readers to watch a show and then didn't watch it myself, I could buy a swimming pool filled with Michelob.
Thanks to the golden age of the internet, however, I found the list.
Here 'tis, with only the glamour and pageantry of television missing.
Though it got virtually no attention in the news recaps, I'm pleased to announce that our favorite writer/director, Billy Wilder, wrote three of the lines on the list, more than any other author with more than one movie on the list. His lines are at #7, #24, and #48 (with a shout-out here to his collaborators, Charles Brackett and I.A.L. Diamond.)
I'm tickled that "Airplane!'s" Shirley line made the list after I touted it, and
"There's no crying in baseball" is a great cinematic legacy for former Cardinals' great, Rogers Hornsby, even if he never really said it. I'm shocked that
"I knew it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart." didn't make the list, and I believe
"Here's looking at you, kid" should have been number one.
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I have to share this with you. I found this paragraph in Sunday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a story about Tony LaRussa passing Bucky Harris for fourth place on the all-time managerial win list. Rather inadvertently, I think, it contains perhaps the most radical use of parentheses in the history of journalism--
Asked about tying Harris, LaRussa laughed and said, "He's up there (heaven), and I'm here. The career win total is not the 2005 priority. We're not talking about anything but the chance to make it in October in 2005, and I'm definitely not going to disappoint them."Very existential.
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Until this month, the most narcissistic wedding proposal in human history was "Boston Rob" proposing to "Amber" on the 2004 season finale of "Survivor." Now it's that guy who proposed to his girlfriend during the taping of an E-Harmony commercial. Look for the results on a television near you.
A dark day for democracy
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin's apology earlier today for comparing American interrogators in Guantanamo Bay to Nazis and other repressive regimes is one of the most embarrassing and disheartening things ever witnessed in politics. Nevertheless, I'd like to briefly focus on the positive-- for one exciting week, it appeared that at least one member of our representative government in Washington gave two shits about democracy, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and basic human dignity. One Senator, having read reports of prisoners being chained to the floor without food or water in extreme temperatures, had the balls to say that this is wrong and there needs to be accountability. His only mistake was forgetting to add the fact that these prisoners have not been charged with a crime or tried in a court of law.
After a week of being drawn and quartered by right-wing radio commentators and pro-war advocates from both parties, including Chicago's Democratic Mayor Richard Daley (whose father knew a thing or two about police state brutality,) Durbin sobbed on the floor of the Senate today and apologized to any soldiers who felt insulted by his remarks. Which soldiers would those be? The ones with a clear conscience who know Durbin wasn't talking about them, or the ones with a damaged conscience or no conscience at all who feel the sting of truth?
It's another successful 'bait and switch.' Rumsfeld and our Clockwork Orange military leaders get to walk in the press, while Durbin weeps. Stop apologizing, Dick, and stop crying. Schwarzenegger was right-- nothing but a bunch of 'girlie-men.'
Every time our leaders ask us to stand up and salute the flag, they pick our pocket. And I'm sick of it. We sing the anthem. We pledge allegiance to invisible borders. For centuries, these reflexive practices have nurtured a large constituency of support for those in power, and it has meant mass murder for those without power.
I appreciate the sentiment that 'you can support the soldiers without supporting the war.' After all, it's also been said that the measure of intelligence is holding two opposing thoughts in your head at one time. But the gray area has been a gold mine for warmongers. The freedom to dissent against the war machine is too high a price, regardless.
I find it ironic that those who believe so much in America seem to have the least amount of faith in the endurance of its principles. Are we so vulnerable that we can't trust our neighbors? Can we not welcome diversity and make welcome "the huddled masses" to which we have promised so much-- and who have helped make us the power we are? And should we not hold our military to a higher standard than we hold our enemies? And then have the freedom and courage to say it publicly, even on the floor of the United States Senate?
I guess we can be grateful that Durbin's comments caused such an uproar. The pro-war advocates know these comments struck a nerve, and we'll see this bunch get more and more desperate still, as the war coalition continues to collapse and the situation in Iraq plunges to new depths.
Thought for the day
Shouldn't a community focus on banning phone solicitation into private homes before
outlawing solicitation on public sidewalks? I guess the homeless don't have the political pull that phone and credit card companies have.
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Any Emmy voters out there? Wednesday marks the postmark deadline for returning ballots to the Ernst & Young accounting firm, with nominees to be announced in Hollywood on July 14th. I learned all of this by reading Variety magazine's website.
Here's a link to a great article about television's best drama. Disregard the disruptive ad for an inferior network drama at the top of the page.
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I'm so hard up for romance I found myself earlier today considering Saddam Hussein's
dating advice.
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But
this is the story of the day. Free the grunters!
The Caped Crusader
I did my civic duty Saturday evening and helped one of our most lucrative national industries in its pursuit of the omniscient 'bottom line.' I attended the soon-to-be defined 'summer blockbuster,' "Batman Begins," and on its opening weekend, no less, which means my vote will definitely count this time, and we may now commence anxiously awaiting the Batman sequel/prequel/re-imagining that will inevitably arrive in theaters in about three years.
I'll give this latest flick in the Batman series high praise for its juicy script. There's a lot of social commentary to chew on for liberal-minded viewers-- dialogue about the social responsibility of the rich, compassion for the poor and the criminal, the evils of prejudice and fear-mongering, even a shout-out in favor of gun control and the outlawing of automatic rifles and armor-piercing bullets. (Though I'm almost certain I was reading too much into the big finale during which the hero's pimped-out, gas-guzzling Bat-Hummer wipes out Gotham's remarkably efficient public transportation system.)
Super hero flicks are what they are, and "Batman Begins" commits the usual genre sins. It pounds you over the head with dramatic music until you're nearly incapable of feeling any emotion for yourself, and it fails miserably at any attempt at humor. Still, the performances are winning ones, particularly Christian Bale in the lead, about whom I guess it can be said that he does the appropriate amount of brooding. Adam West remains the greatest Batman in the canon, but Bale rises above the heroes of the Tim Burton/Joel Schumaker franchise, who were routinely overshadowed by their criminal opponents. In time, all that will remain of the previous trilogy in the public's consciousness will be Jack Nicholson's campy and brilliant send-up as the Joker.
Christopher Nolan directs here, and you may remember him from a slick little picture called "Memento." The special effects are in overkill mode, of course, and Nolan frequently tries to amp up the action by pulling in too close, but what's there is impressive, particularly the bats. You never question their presence on-screen, and they never appear too slick. (The special effects have been the major fault of the Spiderman franchise, I believe. It was thrilling to watch Toby Maguire discover his powers and scale his first wall, but the moment he started leaping from building to building, it became a video game.)
Of course, it's very disheartening to see yet another talented young actress begin her slow decline into Hollywood's painful black hole for women. The loss of Kirsten Dunst will always be the greatest tragedy, but you can now add Katie Holmes to the list of expressive, interesting young women that Hollywood has absolutely no idea what to do with. It nearly makes one weep to see these women forced into girlfriend roles as their only chance to get A-list studio employment. Alas, soon Kristen and Katie will be replaced by younger, equally-attractive, but probably less-talented starlets, and they'll be left to forever look back at their teenage roles as the meatiest of their careers.
Which leads me to my final point-- while we're exploring all the other demons and motivations of our beloved American superheroes, it's time to get them laid. I understand that these films are pitched at teenagers, but what better reason to explore the sexuality of our caped and webbed crusaders. "Batman Begins" would have been that much more interesting if they had scrapped the whole George Lucas-neutered Jedi-Bat-Training sequence in the Orient, and given us a real adolescent dysfunction or sexually-themed story around which to rally. It doesn't have to be a gender identity issue. That's only the most obvious choice because of the tights and metal codpieces, and the thematic issues already in play. Maybe it could be some kind of kinky sexual fetish or something. Anything. Dunst and Holmes are great talents, but those talents are going to waste. As concerned girlfriends, they need something more interesting to push against.
It's no secret that these superheroes are both prodigious and vulnerable. For once, let's see these traits manifest themselves under the sheets instead of through the prism of the criminal justice system. With "Batman Begins," we now know how much Bruce Wayne loved his Dad, but how about his Mom? She was shot on the street, too. Didn't she cast a long shadow over young Bruce's life or maybe impart some dying wisdom? There's bound to be a 'virgin/whore complex' in the man's psyche somewhere, if we only bother to look.
On to bigger and better servers
My internet disconnects tomorrow so I won't be posting. I'm switching from the phone company's DSL service to the cable company. 'The cable guy' comes Saturday sometime between 8am and noon. We'll hopefully chat shortly after that, and in a more efficient manner than I've been accustomed.
Just a note-- the Baseball Show on KXNO moves up an hour this week. We'll start at 4pm Sunday night and lead into the I-Cubs pregame at either 5:35 or 5:45. Ballgame in Nashville starts at 6pm. Kerry Wood will be back on the hill. Feel free to stay tuned for that. That's actually what the website is for. Have a good weekend.
Lists- June '05
"Lists" is back for an encore!!! Giddy-up.
In honor of Father's Day, Salary.com has ranked the real-life salaries of 60 of the most popular Dads in TV history. List
here.
Five great Letterman guests:5. Sarah Jessica Parker
4. Bill Murray
3. Amy Sedaris
2. Steve Martin
1. Martin Short
Five terrible Letterman guests:5. Any New York Yankee
4. Any race car driver
3. Tom Cruise
2. Dr. Phil
1. Richard Gere
Updated from May 3rd post- 21 dignitaries who have torn off the numbers for the countdown of remaining games to be played at Busch Stadium:#69- Eric Shelvey, U.S. Marine
#68- Ray King, Cards reliever
#67- Andy Benes, former Cards pitcher
#66- Bob Pettit, former St. Louis NBA star
#65- Fredbird's mom
#64- Ken Boyer's family (Boyer was 1964 MVP)
#63- Bing Devine, former Cards exec, traded Ernie Broglio for Lou Brock
#62- Tim Forneris, groundskeeper who caught McGwire's 62nd home run ball in '98
#61- Billy and Adolphus Busch, sons of former owner
#60- Matt Browning, St. Louis police officer
#59- Joe Cunningham, former Cardinal, hit .345 in 1959
#58- Dr. Stan London, former team physician
#57- Darryl Kile's family, Flynn, Kannon, and Sierra (Kile wore #57)
#56- Frank Robinson, baseball Hall-of-Famer, NL Rookie of the Year in '56
#55- Jose Cardenal, former Cardinal player and coach- with a great name
#54- Kenny Wallace, NASCAR driver from St. Louis
#53- Andy Van Slyke, former Cards outfielder
#52- Lt. Col. Todd Robbins
#51- Ted Sizemore, former Cardinal infielder
#50- Joe Torre, former Cardinal player and manager, 1971 NL MVP
#49- Rick Horton, broadcaster and former Cards pitcher, wore #49
100 greatest movie lines of all time:Revealed in a three hour CBS broadcast Tuesday night.
Nine other great movie lines that won't be on their list, and one that will:10. "Yeah, two 'F's,' like in Philadelphia." - Fred MacMurray as Walter Neff, Double Indemnity
9. "Warren, does the Lonely Guy Store have Gene Hackman?" - Steve Martin as Larry Hubbard, The Lonely Guy
8. "So they call me 'Concentration Camp Ehrhardt...?" - Jack Benny as Joseph Tura, To Be or Not To Be
7. "Fuck me, Santa, fuck me, Santa..." - Lauren Graham as Sue, Bad Santa
6. "Let's take the bass line for a walk." - Will Ferrell as Ron Burgundy, Anchorman
5. "These go to 11." - Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel, This is Spinal Tap
4. "Check, please." - Catherine Keener as Maxine Lund, Being John Malkovich
3. "I am (serious.) And stop calling me Shirley." - Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Rumack, Airplane!
2. "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." - Mandy Patinkin as the Spaniard, The Princess Bride
1. "I'm still big. It's the pictures that got small." - Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, Sunset Boulevard
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Not a list, but I had to link to this. Esquire Magazine has published a new Declaration of Independence on behalf of Howard Stern. Feel free to
read, sign, and send to the FCC.
Always low wages. Always.
The Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. once described America's economic system as "socialism for the rich, and capitalism for the poor," so it's fitting that our political and corporate business leaders have taken full advantage of opportunities over the last decade to climb in bed with Chinese Communists.
I hope you had the chance to watch last night's "Frontline" special on the growth of Wal-Mart. Reporter Hedrick Smith, in a balanced report, profiled the company's sales, production, and import strategy. He traveled to southern China and witnessed the staggering growth of American-owned factories designed to serve "box stores" such as Wal-Mart.
In the late 1990s, President Clinton swung the door wide open for trade relations with China. He did it under the guise of opening up a large new market for American products-- "from commodities to chemicals to computers," but what he really meant was that he was opening up a permanent link between American corporate boardrooms and China's ready-to-use slave labor supply.
Almost a decade later, the results of free trade with China show record profits for many large corporate stockholders, and an influx of cash and political clout for China's oppressive government. Meanwhile, Chinese workers slave for 30 to 50 cents an hour (or less,) and American communities cope with the estimated loss of a million jobs to that one country alone.
The world was seemingly less tolerant of totalitarianism in 1989. We were horrified as we watched Chinese authorities massacre a pro-democracy student demonstration in Tiananmen Square. Seven years later,
Human Rights Watch (
www.hrw.org) still reported on-going rights abuses in China, including torture and the denial of medical treatment to political prisoners, yet the U.S. State Department rolled out the red carpet in Washington for a Chinese military delegation that included General Chi Haotian, "the butcher of Beijing" during the student uprising. During the General's visit, he made the preposterous statement, "Here I can tell you in a responsible and serious manner that at the time not a single person lost his life in Tiananmen Square."
Pay close attention to the phrase
at the time. I suspect, by that, he meant--
while the cameras were rolling on the street and the world watched.Today, American corporations like Wal-Mart fatten their purse strings on the backs of this regime that tortures political dissidents, incorporates prison labor, and applies total restriction upon speech and religion. By denying workers' rights and undervaluing their currency, the Chinese are in specific violation of their membership in the WTO, yet they enjoy full privilege in the secret, autocratic body-- just another reason why the organization needs to be abolished.
For Wal-Mart alone, Clinton and Bush 43's free trade relationship with China has meant $25 billion in annual imports. It allows the discount store chain to charge U.S. prices for goods, while paying Chinese wages. It has been a well-documented boon for Wal-Mart executives and investors while American Main Streets collapse, and a large percentage of Wal-Mart employees continue to toil at or below the poverty level, even as they file grievance after grievance with the National Labor Relations Board, and face stiff opposition from their employer to the collective bargaining process. (If they were lucky, though, they got rewarded with large court settlements because of the company's widespread corporate strategy of discriminating based on gender.)
As for Clinton's claim that free trade with China would open an unprecedented new market for U.S. producers...? The U.S./China trade deficit reached $150 billion in 2004.
Waiting on retraction
No more vacations. I'm badly needed in the on-line echo chamber.
A month ago, White House spokesman Scott McClelland and the Bush administration attacked and intimidated Newsweek magazine for an "errant" report about American guards in Guantanamo Bay desecrating the Koran in the presence of Muslim detainees. The report was blamed for rioting causing 17 deaths in Afghanistan, despite the protests of Bush's own chairman of the Joint Chiefs and the president of Afghanistan.
Well surprise, surprise. Two weeks later, on May 27th, a Pentagon report certified that desecrations of the Koran had indeed taken place. The Pentagon cleverly released the report at 7:15 on the Friday night beginning Memorial Day weekend. The story missed the evening newscasts and got buried in the Holiday newspapers.
I found the story in a column by Frank Rich in the New York Times, so the major media hit the story, but where was the follow-up on television and radio and the tenacity to match the original Newsweek attention. Collectively, the media failed the public on this story. Why? Because if I asked 100 people on the street today whether these desecrations had been verified, no fewer than 80 would say they hadn't.
Meanwhile, the bait and switch offensive continues as a Republican Congressman sows the seeds of American resentment and intolerance. California Rep. Duncan Hunter received extensive coverage for a photo op on Monday in which he claimed Guantanamo inmates have never been treated better. Holding up examples of food at the prison, Hunter claimed that prisoners there were eating better than some American soldiers. (Quick quiz: What was factually wrong with the previous sentence? Answer: Muslim detainees are classified as "enemy combatants," not "prisoners." This is because the U.S. government doesn't want them to be protected by the Geneva Accords on human rights.)
Of course, Hunter's assertions could be easily checked if the media were allowed access to the prison facility and its inhabitants. But then that would certainly degenerate into a chronicling of the prisoners' stories, and after finding out one or two of them are innocent, they'd all want their day in court. And how would that gel with American ideals?
In other wacky imperialism news, the American casualty total has now surpassed 1,700, and insurgent uprisings in Iraq have gotten so bad that U.S. and Iraqi officials have begun weighing the option of amnesty for Iraqi militants, perhaps even for those who have killed Americans. On the homefront, 59% of Americans now oppose the war in Iraq. But try telling that to the oblivious Democrats, who continue to fall in line behind the President, including the most visible leaders like Howard Dean, Joe Biden, and the party's likely 2008 Presidential Nominee, Hillary Clinton.
My baseball vacation postcard
It was a nutty week off. The Cards games in St. Louis provided memorable moments. Tuesday night's match-up with the Red Sox also held the distinction of being my 100th game at Busch Stadium. McGwire hit his 61st home run of 1998 in game #50, and #99 was the third game of last year's World Series. The Cards won in easy fashion Tuesday, but were shut out by David Wells on Wednesday. I know what you're thinking. Wells is fat. But in his defense, he only eats what he catches.
Wednesday's game was preceeded by a three hour rain delay, which means my friend and I had four hours to wander around Busch Stadium and reflect upon the old lady's 40 year history. The new ballpark is a sight to behold from the outer concourse of the upper deck, looking south. The new Busch will partially envelop the space occupied by the old so you're not looking at the exterior of the building during construction. You're standing now in what will in effect be Jim Edmonds' centerfield, and you can easily identify the future pressbox, the luxury suites, and the various seating levels from the old park.
For the record, I applauded Edgar Renteria his first time up both nights as a member of the Red Sox, but I remained silent and seated each proceeding time (no booing,) which I feel was the appropriate manner in which to greet this former Cardinal.
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I met Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller for the fourth or fifth time on Saturday. We interviewed him for a few minutes for our radio show, and aired the recording tonight. I took the liberty of asking him about his former Cleveland teammate, Norway, IA native Hal Trosky. He assessed him quickly-- good low-ball hitter, left-handed power, signed by the same "bird-dog" scout out of Cedar Rapids, good friend, died in 1966. According to info obtained at the Feller Museum, Trosky was also at first base for Feller's first no-hitter in 1940.
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Yes, the Cards have indeed claimed bragging rights over the New York Yankees by taking two out of three games this weekend and added to the legacy of their three of five head-to-head series dominance in the Fall Classic. It's difficult to fathom how the Yankees can have such a poor team with a $208 million payroll, but it's even more difficult to figure out why I had to listen to Saturday's game on the internet while our local FOX affiliate aired the Cubs/Red Sox game. Let me lay this out-- the Cardinals and the Yankees have combined for 35 World Championships since 1920, while the Cubs and Red Sox combine for one. The Cardinals host baseball's most successful and well-known team as both the defending National League Champions and the first place club in the Cubs' division.
And people wonder why football gets higher television ratings.
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I can't blog tomorrow night. I'm finally going to bust out my I-Cubs media credentials when Kerry Wood pitches in Des Moines. Media Dining Room, prepare to pleasure me.
A little summer vacation
This whole Brad and Angelina thing has worn me out. I won't be checking in for about a week. The blog turns six months old on Monday, and I'm feeling a bit tapped.
I start a week-long vacation from work on Monday, and this Sunday's "Baseball Show on KXnO" has been pre-empted due to a re-scheduled Iowa Cubs double-header in Memphis. I'll be taking in the graduation of cousin "Nick D," as well as a pair of Cards/Red Sox games in St. Louis Tuesday and Wednesday. Talk to you soon.
In the meantime, savor
this even-handed column by St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist Bernie Miklasz comparing Cardinals' managers Whitey Herzog and Tony LaRussa. There's no comparison, I agree, but not in the way that Miklasz means-- Herzog won two more pennants and a World Championship managing in a tougher division, and while cutting payroll. He also built the '82 World Champs as General Manager. It's all about the Rat.
Monday 6/6 Update- Post-Dispatch readers
chime in on the Whitey/Tony debate.
Tricky Dick 2005
There are four points I want to make in regards to the public confession of Watergate's "Deep Throat."
Point #1) Maybe now my crazy neighbor Dennis will stay out of my garbage.
Point #2) Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein were-- and continue to be-- the real heroes of this story. The two Washington Post reporters did the legendary legwork on the Watergate story, and had the persistence to stick with it through the President's resignation. Furthermore, they kept Mark Felt's secret for more than thirty years and even up to the very end. Some political operatives had suggested that "Deep Throat" never existed, or was simply a composite character in the newspaper's investigation. With the exception of a couple specific and regrettable incidents over the past decade in which the reporters flat-out lied to mislead the media about their source ("Deep Throat" was not a heavy smoker, for example,) Woodward and Bernstein acted honorably towards their source, and courageously towards their profession.
Like most of you, I had no idea who Mark Felt was when I heard his name Tuesday, and yet I don't think that's the reason the revelation of his identity has been such a major letdown for me. I think it's the presence of such tawdry details about the man's professional life. The former #2 man in the FBI apparently felt scorned after being passed over to succeed Bureau Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1972, and acted, at least in part, out of malice towards that end. Also, Felt had been guilty of criminal trespass himself in the early '70s, while investigating the Weather Underground, a militant student activist group. (He was pardoned by Reagan in 1981.)
By all accounts, Felt's role all of those nights in a Washington, D.C. parking garage was simply to nod and verify information Woodward and Bernstein had already collected in their investigation. The actions of the Post's reporters inspired a generation of young journalists, who have regrettably proceeded to take the profession straight down the toilet. But today, we can look back charitably at this historic journalistic endeavor executed with diligence, and committed to accuracy. We could justifiably cry ourselves to sleep tonight over the distant memory of a news-gathering culture that valued "getting it right" over "getting it first."
Point #3) It's unfortunate that Felt's story hit on the day that the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm in the Enron case. The court's ruling, for good or for bad, deserves a detailed look by the American news media, which has already committed several years of almost criminal inattention to these cases of corporate theft. The overlap of the two stories, though, did make me ponder how many of the effects of the Enron catastrophe could have been avoided had there been more whistleblowers like Felt high up within the company's corporate hierarchy.
Point #4) The best movie about Watergate is not "All the President's Men." It's a goofy and brilliant political satire from 1999 entitled "Dick." Who needs Hal Holbrook's shadowy "Deep Throat" when you have ditzy White House dog walkers, Arlene and Betsy, bringing down the president? "All the President's Men" captures Bob Woodward's book in exhausting detail and stands as one of the great movies about the journalism profession (an admittedly-weak genre,) but "Dick" benefits from a quarter century of reflection. The brilliant Dan Hedaya is twice the Nixon Anthony Hopkins could have ever hoped to have been in Oliver Stone's "Nixon," a meaningless 1995 bio-pic of the 38th president; and "Dick" is a laugh riot that is also surprisingly moving.
Wrote
Esquire's Tom Carson in '99:
"('Dick') may be Hollywood's first depiction of the scandal to capture what Watergate
meant, at least to the ordinary citizens who simply got punched in the stomach by what Nixon had done... The final scene, with Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams holding up their gleefully obscene sign while a maddened Nixon gives them the finger, can choke you up even while your grinning, because Hedaya's grimace hints at genuine pain, and the girls' exhilaration is also the dawn of cynicism."
I enjoyed the film's explanation as to why the 18 1/2 minute gap appeared on the White House tape-- and of course, the giddy roller skating in the Oval Office. Watch "Dick" with someone you love.
