Max of Lots of Co. points the way to these pics (and review) of the His Dark Materials play. Hmm. I must say the daemons look a bit…strange. Of course the real trick is how they move.
Month: January 2004
Freaks of the Industry.
Looking to bring on that slightly queasy feeling in the pit of your stomach? The Washington Post profiles conservative ideologue Grover Norquist as he and Pinky plan worldwide GOP domination once again.
Laying the Groundwork/Snoopy Come Home.
NASA sets its sights on an Apollo-based Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to replace the earlier space plane idea, and the Mars rover begins scrounging for water. Meanwhile, the search continues for the missing Beagle.
One-Track Mind.
While the Dem battle rages in Iowa (Dean’s up 8), aides portray Dubya as “intimately engaged” in the 2004 campaign. Hmm…perhaps that‘s what he’s thinking about during Cabinet meetings.
Same Old Republic.
In another endorsement news, and in yet another sad reminder of how far the once-proud mag has fallen, the New Republic endorses Joe Lieberman. Basically, they feel he’s the best representative of the “hawkish liberalism” that should define the party, as evidenced by his continual support for Dubya’s Gulf War II. That’s bad enough, but you have to read the article to get a sense of how utterly ridiculous it all is. Exhibit A, the opening lines: “Recall for a moment the political climate in the United States in January 2001. Ralph Nader and the Supreme Court had made George W. Bush president.” (My italics.) Give it up, y’all. Or, here’s another, “Liberals resent Lieberman’s moralism. But what they see as sanctimony, many ordinary Americans see as overdue concern about the toxic influences that saturate their children’s lives.” They do? Really? Are these the same Americans who’ve made Joe Millionaire and The Simple Life hit shows? I like some of the writers on staff at TNR — some of ’em are even my friends from the DC days — but let’s face it, Marty Peretz and Peter Beinart are to Democratic Party politics what Stanley Kauffmann is to film: conservative, condescending, and hopelessly out of touch.
Harkin to me/GitM for Dean.
In a week of minor stumbles (among them caucus-dissing — let’s face it, the Iowa caucuses are dominated by special interests. Ethanol subsidies, anyone? — and gubernatorial honoraria), Howard Dean pulls up another key endorsement in Tom Harkin. At this point, I’ll just go ahead and say that I hope the good Doctor takes both Iowa and New Hampshire and ends all the primary shenanigans sooner rather than later. It’s a safe bet to say that I like Howard Dean better than any of the other eight candidates, but that frankly isn’t saying much, and particularly given how Edwards, Clark, and Kerry have all underperformed.
I’ll be honest – I’m much less enthused by Dean than I was by Bradley last cycle. Dean has yet to make any policy proposals that I flat-out love, and I find him neither as progressive nor as inspiring as I’d like. In fact, more often than not, he kinda leaves me cold…But, of the nine, he’s the witch-king, so to speak. His occasional grouchiness and glibness does concern me, but no more so than any of the other candidates’ personality traits (And let’s drop the “unelectable” stuff…c’mon, this country elected George W. Bush. Anyone‘s electable. Oh, wait a minute, we didn’t.) In sum, Dean’s run a great campaign to this point, he’s got money and moxie to spare, and he clearly strikes a chord with many Democratic souls out there, so here’s hoping the party coalesces around him before we bleed ourselves to death solely to satisfy the big dreams of also-rans and the bruised egos of the DLC.
High Moon.
Perhap’s he thinking about the November election, or perhaps he just fell asleep in front of Outland the other night. Either way, next week Dubya will make the case for a moonbase and a Marshot. As y’all might expect, I’m all for it, although Bush, Sr. said much the same thing over a decade ago and it went nowhere. I’m also with the folks who agree that some sort of shuttle alternative may need to be in the works before we can seriously start setting up a lunar settlement…but, hey, let’s at least start thinking big again.
Smothered in History.
Hey y’all. Sorry it’s gotten so quiet in these parts of late…I haven’t fallen into an XBox Live hole, although I’d very much like to. In fact, I’ve actually been putting in 14/15-hour days all week on a freelance project and orals work, and I expect this monster schedule will continue right up until the new semester begins after MLK day. This freelance work is a beast, but fortunately it’s American-history intensive…basically involving composing short essays and links for an online textbook website. So, I may be light on interpretation, but at least I can tell the differences among the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, the Adams-Onis Treaty, and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, I know who lost the Battle of New Orleans, who won the Battle of Oriskany, and who died at the Battle of Shiloh, and I’ve even learned a thing or two about random foolios like I.L. Elwood, Ignaz Semmelweis, and Sir Ferdinando Gorges. That’s gotta be good for something, right?
Blockbuster!
Ok, let me apologize again to Isiah Thomas. While I’m a bit concerned about all the draft picks locked up here (to say nothing of losing Macej Lampe and Milos Vujanic, two possible big-time players in the not-so-distant future), the Marbury/Penny for McDyess/Ward/Eisley trade today has to go down as another impressive move by our new GM. Starbury has been a bit of a hit-or-miss head case on his first three teams, but it’s been his dream to play for his hometown Knicks, so hopefully he’ll make the most of it. Penny ain’t what he used to be, but I’d expect him to score points in bunches off the bench every fifth game or so. As for what we gave up, it’s kinda sad that the McDyess experiment never amounted to much…but it already seems clear that it’s going to take at least the rest of the year for him to play to form again. Charlie Ward had a good decade with the Knicks, but he’s been trade bait for so long that I doubt he’s surprised. And the sheer fact that Isaiah found a taker for Howard Eisley and his glutted contract is amazing to me. So all in all, a great trade here for New York, even if we may get burned in the long-run by all the disappearing draft picks and projects. Update: Aldridge weighs in.
Dollar for Dean.
Well, so much for that dream ticket: Clark says no way to serving as Dean’s running mate. In happier news for the frontrunner, Bill Bradley is expected to endorse Dean tomorrow (by way of Value Judgment.) I’ve been wondering when Dollar Bill was going to emerge from hiding…frankly, I’m a bit disappointed he hasn’t been more visible throughout this cycle. After all, barring something crazy happening in the next two weeks, the board is basically already set until Iowa…the only real question left is which candidate the anti-Deans will coalesce around, and most of ’em have sounded so desperate lately that even they seem to know it’s over. Update: It’s official.