Category: Uncategorized

I loathe Disney. I won’t go to Disneyworld, I have no trouble avoiding their increasingly awful children’s films and I think they are the poster child for the way in which corporate evil invades and destroys entrepeneurial creations like a cancer. Harvey Weinstein is not someone I hold in high regard, but it’s interesting to catch a glimpse into the deceitful operation of the most pernicious of the evil corporate empires.

When came the epic dustup over Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11. On May 12, 2003, a Disney executive sent Harvey Wein-stein a letter saying, “You cannot release this movie.” Four days later, another letter was sent. This one outlined why Miramax would not be allowed to release the film—it was a “restrictive picture” under the Miramax-Disney contract, it was politically partisan, etc.—and instructed Miramax to divest itself of its interest in the project.

Weinstein, all sides agree, went ahead and funded the movie anyway. And, according to Disney, Weinstein hid the $6 million budget in other projects. In this version, Eisner found out about Miramax’s continued involvement only when Weinstein casually mentioned that he’d like his boss to take a look at the film as the two men were strolling toward an elevator bank in Disney’s California headquarters.

The problem is, it’s not true. Costs associated with the movie weren’t hidden; indeed, quarterly budget reports sent from Miramax to Disney in 2003 include a line item for “FAHRENHEIT 911” complete with a film code (“M1621”), a date of first cost (“FY03 Q3”), and a tentative release date (“Oct-04”). Moore even said publicly the checks came from Burbank. (Disney never produced for me the reports where Fahrenheit 9/11 supposedly should have appeared but didn’t; a spokeswoman told me I was “naïve” and “in the tank” when I explained I’d need to see the reports myself.)

I would have thought it was naive to take Disney’s word for it, in light of how it contradicts the evidence. But Black is white in the new Disney. Keep that in mind the next time your child wants to see the latest talking animal film. They think of the children all the time, though not exactly in the manner in which a parent would wish.

From the Washington Times:

Perhaps the most comical moment in the liberal-media after-party Thursday night came on PBS’ ‘Charlie Rose,’ when Newsweek’s chief Democratic spinner, Jonathan Alter, mourned that Republicans have a ‘huge advantage’ after the debates because conservatives ‘control all of talk radio’ (sorry, Al Franken) and because there won’t be many on Fox News Channel speaking well of Kerry. By contrast, CNN and MSNBC and PBS all have the disadvantage of attempting to be balanced.

But it seemed from flipping past Fox after the debate that they had several Kerry fans on — from aspiring secretary of state Richard Holbrooke to Sen. Bob Graham. And what made Alter’s statement so comical was that he was sitting on a PBS round table with Charlie Rose, Walter Isaacson, Karen Tumulty, Mark Halperin and Michael Kinsley — all credentialed members of the liberal media elite who liked Kerry’s performance.

One of the things I despised about the blogosphere’s defense-by-silence of Michelle Malkin’s contemptible tome was that it was a direct imitation of a much-used mainstream media tactic. But in fairness, statements like this hallucinatory one of Alter’s demonstrate that there’s an awful lot of corrupting and self-deceiving to be done before King Log can hope to reach the depths of King Stork.

From Slashdot:

Before I worked at Microsoft as an intern last summer (I’m a college student), I was under the same impression about the amount of brainpower they had. I worked specifically for MSN Ads, and everywhere I looked (I also talked to my friends in other departments) I found sloppy coding practices, FUD, and general CYA-motivated B.S.

9/10 people I met didn’t know what they were doing, but they were too good at political maneuvering for it to matter. The people that knew what they were doing were extremely cynical and didn’t think things could change. Oh how I wish I could comment on specifics. Damn NDA.

I was really hoping Microsoft would be a cool place to work, but I was severely disappointed. Behind closed doors, I couldn’t find a SINGLE person who would actually recommend taking a job there. When they made me an offer to join after my senior year (this year), I turned it down.

This is particularly interesting in light of the fact that it is a comment made subsequent to a Bill Gates statement: “fast forward 10 years, the two leading OS technologies will be Linux and Windows.”

I know who my money would be on if it was necessary to spend it on an open source OS. Linux. Learn it now or learn it later….

Last week: 8-6. Overall: 28-18.

New York Jets over Miami Dolphins

Philadelphia Eagles over Chicago Bears

New England Patriots over Buffalo Bills

Baltimore Ravens over Kansas City Chiefs

Tennessee Titans over San Diego Chargers

Indianapolis Colts over Jacksonville Jaguars

Green Bay Packers over New York Giants

Denver Broncos over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Oakland Raiders over Houston Texans

Washington Redskins over Cleveland Browns

New Orleans Saints over Arizona Cardinals

Pittsburgh Steelers over Cincinnati Bengals

Carolina Panthers over Atlanta Falcons

St. Louis Rams over San Francisco 49ers

It turns out Bill Gross and Steve Roach were swapping notes on the global economy. The candid exchange took place over email during late August and early September and was posted at Morgan Stanley’s website. A reader forwarded us the thread…

“Bill, I don’t know about you, but I’ve lost confidence in the world’s fiscal authorities.” Roach is almost desperate. “[B]y fuelling the debt-driven super-liquidity cycle of the past several

years, they, too, have now become part of the problem, I fear.”

The bond man’s response: “While I would concur that monetary authorities have been drinking with reckless abandon without turning over the keys to a designated driver, there’s only so much I can do. What? Sell my bonds and accept their penal yield of 1.5% in short-term paper?”

“Central bankers used to be the tough guys,” retorts Roach, “and you used to be one of the world’s leading bond market vigilantes who held them accountable for doing the right thing. Where are the vigilantes now that we really need them?”

“So the world’s on my shoulders now?” retorts Gross, in an email back to Morgan Stanley’s chief economist. “My first obligation is to my clients.”

And meanwhile, gold has quietly increased from 250 to 420 in the last four years. Hmmmm….

An email I received today:

The [Florida] Secretary of State, Glenda Hood has noted that thousands of voter registrations are being turned in which are blatantly incomplete and those folks are not going to be permitted to vote. Secretary Hood is apparently really worried about what is going on. She notes that the number of such registrations in unprecedented in Florida history and is in sufficient numbers to make a difference in the election. The majority are in Maimi-Dowd and Broward counties. Surprised?

This may be a well planned program on the part of the extremists in the Democratic party. You know, the Michael Moore, George Soros, Al Gore wing.

If this is a plan, which, by the way would make Richard Nixons indiscretions pale by comparison, it would explain why the more radical democrats are already trying to convince the world that the republicans are engaged in fraud in Florida. It would also explain, more than anything else, why the Kerry organization recruited Jesse Jackson. This needs to be thoroughly investigated and exposed right away. November 3 is too late. If Kerry loses in Florida there is no doubt that the Kerry camp has a federal litigation ready to go on November 3 and disenfranchisement of the minorities will be its center piece.

If this is happening in Florida it may also be happening in other “swing” states. Its really a simple operation, operatives hit the streets to sign up voters but make sure that the registration forms are faulty. When the voters are turned away from the polls the case for a disenfranchisement conspiracy will get legs on November 3.

This needs to be given top priority, right now. November 3 will be too late. If it is not exposed, when the polls close the nation will be thrown into complete disarray with federal and state litigation and, most likely a move to impeach the president should Bush win the election.

Please get on this without delay and pour any and all resources available into it.

This MAY be… whatever. And what is the news, that the political system is corrupt behind the scenes? It’s corrupt on its face!

It’s interesting to note the increasingly defensive tone of the Bush administration and its defenders with regards to the Iraqi invasion and occupation. It’s equally interesting to note that this is despite the fact that the supposed opposition party, the Kerry-led Democrats, isn’t exactly on the offensive either.

Having a few more allies, as Kerry suggested was the primary deficiency of the Bush war effort the other night, makes little sense when one examines the military force at the disposal of the countries not already involved in the so-called Coalition of the Willing.

The German Bundeswehr consists of a mere eight divisions. This is not exactly their great-grandfathers’ Wehrmacht of yore, which consisted of 216 mostly battle-hardened divisions, especially considering that more than half of Germany’s troops are conscripts rotating through their two-year service. And considering how the French army’s 100 divisions were almost useless in 1940, it seems unlikely that their descendants would provide an adequate substitute for the U.S. Marines.

Only Russia, China, Vietnam and North Korea have armies large and well-equipped enough to off-load a significant portion of the US military burden, but it would be the height of irony, not to say idiocy, to ask a Communist army to help free a people enslaved, assuming that is in fact the goal. And it is unlikely that Belgian paratroopers, with their prediliction for roasting teenagers over open bonfires, could be the one significant element that is missing.

Kerry, it is clear, is only emitting these typically bizarre assertions because he cannot remain silent on the matter and still hope to win. This is not to say, unfortunately, that Bush is any more sensible on the subject. I am extremely skeptical of his suggestion that the occupation of Iraq will succeed because the Iraqi people want to be free, considering that here in America, the overwhelming majority would trade freedom for perceived security in a heartbeat.

Given that the popular revolution in next-door Iran was the one that brought the mullahs into power – a group not widely known for favoring either freedom or democracy – and the strongly adverse relationship between secular democracy and Islamic law in Algeria, Indonesia and Turkey today, the President’s assertion appears to be as fact-free as his challengers.

I don’t have a solution, other than to decry the logic of imperialism of any kind. Some problems do not have solutions and it is not true that it is always better to do something than nothing. That is likely to prove to be the case in the Middle East, where the nation being built is unlikely to fit the model envisioned by the builders.

Bane drew my attention to this:

An Iraqi man with suspected links to terrorism had a computer disk containing crisis planning information for San Diego and other school districts when he was arrested by U.S. authorities in Iraq, 10News reported. The man’s intentions were not known, and there was no indication that schools in San Diego or any other district were targets for terrorism, according to San Diego law enforcement officials.

The public report, “Practical Information on Crisis Planning, A Guide for Schools and Communities,” was downloaded from the U.S. Department of Education Web site.

The arrest was reported to the San Diego FBI office and the San Diego Unified School District last week. Parents and schools were not informed because it was determined there was not a threat. “The clear message is that your children are safe and our schools are very well prepared, as well as our school district,” San Diego School District Police Chief Don Braun said.

San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne echoed the sentiment that public notification was not necessary.

If that’s the “clear message” that the police chief drew from the news, I may have to rethink my career options. There is evidently a good living to be made from petty crime in San Diego.

I did not watch the debates last night. I have been amused, however, to read the follow-up discussions. As you’d expect, the Democrats are insisting that Kerry won, while most Republicans – not all – are asserting that Bush won. My take is that Kerry did well enough to eke out a close win, which is nowhere nearly enough to get him back in the race.

As always, George Bush will benefit from low expectations. Kerry is supposed to be smarter and verbally skilled, so anything but the total destruction of the President or a complete meltdown on his part are unlikely to have any serious effect on the race.

The failed vote on the marriage amendment will also help Bush; it may be an irrelevant and short-sighted idea, but it is a very popular irrelevant idea and getting many Democrats on record opposing it is a winning strategy. I expect it may prove to have far more effect on the Senate races and perhaps the Presidential race itself than the three debates, barring any significant change between last night’s performance and the subsequent two.