February 8, 2010 archive

The Week in Editorial Cartoons – Mad Hatters and Tea Parties

Crossposted at Daily Kos

THE WEEK IN EDITORIAL CARTOONS

This weekly diary takes a look at the past week’s important news stories from the perspective of our leading editorial cartoonists (including a few foreign ones) with analysis and commentary added in by me.

When evaluating a cartoon, ask yourself these questions:

1. Does a cartoon add to my existing knowledge base and help crystallize my thinking about the issue depicted?

2. Does the cartoonist have any obvious biases that distort reality?

3. Is the cartoonist reflecting prevailing public opinion or trying to shape it?

The answers will help determine the effectiveness of the cartoonist’s message.

:: ::

Steve Sack

Steve Sack, Comics.com

America’s Cup

So what do I know about The America’s Cup?

And now you know that too.

You clicked the link and read it, right?

So this year’s below the radar challenge is Alinghi v. Oracle/BMW.  Partisan that I am I have to hope that Oracle wins and returns the race to it’s traditional Louis Vuitton Cup & Defender Regatta format that makes for interesting racing because he who holds the Cup makes the rules.

Except when they are challenged in court as contrary to the deed of gift, which this year has shifted the site from Abu Dhabi in the mine infested and aptly named Persian Gulf (and anyone who thinks we won’t lose a war with Iran is just stupid) to Valencia, Spain where at least we won’t have to worry about hostage taking or boats being blown up.

That was an Alinghi idea.

As is removing the Challenger series (a landlocked nation of Templar Bankers could hardly hold a Defender series).

One idea I agree with is removing design restrictions.  Formula 1 is a shadow of it’s former self in the name of parsimonious racing rules- no better than bumper car NASCAR and bettered by CART until the money ran out and they couldn’t get a TV deal.

Oh, did I mention it’s only available by streaming video on the internet?

But the money here is is limited only by your imagination and billions have been spent on both sides to produce their one off technological triumphs.

Alinghi is sporting a twin hull catamaran (a redundancy).  Oracle a huge trimaran (single hull, out-riggers on both sides) with the largest sail ever.

Or more correctly a semi-rigid airfoil.

In races like this the dominant technology tends to assert itself early and just pile up the advantage so it’s hugely boring to watch.  We should know actually on the first upwind lap and then have it reinforced.

I don’t actually know how many laps they have to make and there are only three races overall.  The only random factors are equipment failures, weather, and stupidity.

CupInfo.com

Streaming video at CupInfo

Streaming video at BMW/Oracle

Pakistan: Marxist victory in “Taliban territory”

Original article via Fightback:

In a Taliban dominated area of Pakistan a Marxist lawyer has defeated the candidate of the Islamic fundamentalists. In spite of a Fatwa being issued against him, comrade Ahad stood firmly on the ideas of revolutionary socialism and won the position of President of the Malakand District Bar Association.

Fire Under Their Seats – Pt 4: Progressives & The Democratic Party

This is the fourth and last segment of Paul Jay’s interview of journalism professor Jeff Cohen of FAIR and the Park Center for Independent Media.

In Part 3 Cohen talked about the struggle for power and direction within the Democratic Party from the days of the Viet Nam War to the present, and wound up with “Frankly… I would love to see a primary challenge to Obama when he’s up for re-election… Because unless you build a base through elections and then you hold the officials accountable, then you’ll never get anywhere.

Here in the conclusion of the interview Cohen expands on those ideas and fills in some of the outlines to draw a rough set of guidelines or roadmap of how to get from where things stand now with the Democrats as out and out corporatists to a world of the kind of progressive populism they have been well known for at various points in history, and how it is going to take a no more Mr. Nice Guy approach from progressives and a lot of very hardnosed and fearless aggressiveness, of the kind that I think  Muhammad Ali meant when he noted so many years ago “He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.



Real News Network – February 6, 2010

Cohen: Far right Republicans are dangerous, but also need to primary against corporate Democrats

Part 1 of this interview is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here.

Overnight Caption Contest

Your Superbowl Means Nothing to Me

So I will take this opportunity to outline my responses to the titles of wearechange.org articles.

The Boston Tea Party

The East India Company’s first corporate charter was granted in 1600 for a period of fifteen years. The company struggled to advance its trading and turn a profit initially but by 1609, business was picking up and King James I renewed the charter in 1609, for an indefinite period of time.

Imperialism worked like it always has and the corporation was able to expand toward many different places and grow bigger and richer. Thanks in large part to the stockholders and other rich people, deregulation of the company proceeded to occur over the years.

Monopolies were imposed soon enough. Another company was briefly set up by the government to try to compete, but they soon argued that there really was no strong competition against the company, so the companies merged.  

Sunday Train: Taking the Train to the Airport

Burning the Midnight Oil for Living Energy Independence

Disclaimer: Nothing said here should be taken to imply that airport/train connections are the primary transport task for either light rail, mass transit, conventional intercity rail, or high speed intercity rail. In other words, the focus of an essay in a regular weekly series on one particular topic does not imply anything along the lines of “most important thing”.

However, recently, I keep running into the issue of taking the train to the airport. I read an recent article in an air travel industry publication that focused on the airport connections associated with the projects funded in the $8b HSR funding. I read an older piece about the proposed intermodal station in Chicago that would allow our Ohio trains to get to O’Hare. And the proposal to terminate the California HSR at the redesigned Lindbergh Field came up as part of the discussion at the California HSR blog.

So with the Super Bowl coming up to distract things, I succumbed to what was clearly fate, and am going to discuss taking the train to the airport.

eat me.

eat me.

Jesus said it.

eat my flesh: he urged it, beseeched it.

because without it, he said, we will not live . . .

Super Bowl XLIV Liveblog

First of all, the only reason I watch the Super Bowl is for the Ads.

This year all the controversy is about future CFL washout Tim Tebow and the lies his mother told him about his birth.

Abortion is illegal in the Phillipines so it was never an option.

This year’s ads are not up on teh intertubz yet but here are some past years’-

  • 2009, cost $3.0 million per :30
  • 2008, cost $2.7 million per :30
  • 2007, cost $2.6 million per :30
  • 2006, cost $2.5 million per :30

Though I prefer the Bissell Kitty Halftime Show some of you may be interested in this year’s performers, Pete Townsend and Roger Daltrey- abused as a child and researching internet child porn for his autobiography and not at all guilty thank you very much.

A much better performance than you will see today-

Toronto 1982

Oh, and I understand there is also a game.

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