Thursday, November 17, 2005

Jerry Tonight

I am told by my secret spies that the just-taped Tonight Show — the one that airs this evening — is quite wonderful with Jerry Seinfeld delivering a very strong stand-up spot on weddings. Also on the bill is the great Shelley Berman. You might want to set the TiVo. And if you don't have a TiVo, you might want to run out, buy one and set it.

• Posted at 5:50 PM · LINK

P.S.

One other thought just popped into the airy open space of my mind, and I thought I'd throw it out here in case anyone else wants to ponder it. The Bush Administration is currently wrestling with two related scandals. One is the whole matter of who leaked the CIA status of Valerie Plame Wilson. The other is the question of whether the White House hyped, manipulated, lied or otherwise misrepresented intelligence on behalf of their Iraq war plans. Both scandals may ultimately have innocent resolutions but at the moment, they're crippling the administration's ability to make the case for "staying the course" in Iraq.

Bush isn't doing press conferences because, among other questions he'd rather avoid, he doesn't want to be asked if in light of recent revelations, he's going to make good on earlier pledges to dismiss anyone — Karl Rove, say — who was involved in the outing of Ms. Plame. Cheney doesn't want to be asked if he told Scooter Libby or Bob Woodward or anyone else. Neither prez nor veep wants to have reporters throw some earlier quotes at them to defend, like Cheney's line about Saddam reconstituing his nuclear weapons program. Two years ago, newsfolks didn't press such matters. Today, some would.

If there's a case to be made for continuing the current course in Iraq, it's not being made in the most effective manner, which would be Bush or Cheney fielding questions in a real give-and-take venue. They can't do that because of all these questions they don't wish to face. And when they make speeches about Iraq, as both have lately, the headlines and sound bites are all about their defense of pre-war intelligence handling and their attacks on their critics. Nothing about why pressing on in Iraq is a good idea.

If anyone can point me to a good article that does make the case, I'd like to read and link to it. I don't buy the argument that we have to press on because we'll look like Surrender Monkeys if we pull out. (If you buy that premise, there's no such thing as a war plan we shouldn't see through to its conclusion, no matter what it costs us.) I don't buy that Democracy is imminent in Iraq and that it's worth any amount of American lives and dollars to see that happen. I especially don't buy that it will dishonor those who have fallen to change the plan that's getting their fellow soldiers killed. But I suspect there is a better case for Bush's approach than we've been getting lately and I'd like to hear what it is.

End of political ramblings for now. The next five postings, whatever they turn out to be, will all be about show business and comic books and raccoons in my yard. You know...the stuff that really matters.

• Posted at 2:12 PM · LINK

Today's Political Thought

This morning, Congressguy John Murtha (D-PA) gave an emotional speech in which he called for the immediate pullout of U.S. troops in Iraq. Murtha is a Democrat but he's also a highly-decorated veteran with a history of supporting U.S. military action, so his position is not something that can be dismissed lightly. If nothing else, he provides a certain amount of moral cover for those who've backed the war in the past and wish to quietly move away from that position. Here's a link to the text of what he said and here's a link to a partial video.

Yesterday, I posted here that I thought the Bush strategy on how to defend itself against charges of lying was not an effective one. For some reason, about a dozen correspondents read that piece as if I'd written, "We must surrender in Iraq and admit we were wrong to ever think that Saddam Hussein had to go." I don't believe any part of that. Truth to tell, I don't know what to do about Iraq and we should all be glad I don't have to decide. I just think what's going on there now is a disaster with no light at the end of any proverbial tunnel and that we have to do something other than what we're doing. That a guy like Murtha thinks we oughta withdraw (a.s.a.p.) is worthy of attention. It hasn't completely convinced me but I'll bet it'll convince another 1-2% of the American people. And that, in turn, will convince a few more members of Congress who are up for re-election next year.

• Posted at 1:25 PM · LINK

Dead or Alive

The other day, I put up a birthday salute to Jonathan Winters. A number of people have written or told me that when they saw it, their first thought was, "Oh, no! Jonathan Winters died!" Sorry that you jumped to that conclusion and, yes, I know this site does run a lot of obits. I guess I need to acknowledge the living more often. Either that or title such pieces something like, "Jonathan Winters Still Alive!"

Which reminds me: I'm way overdue to check in and see if Abe Vigoda is still alive...

Yep. Abe's still hanging in there. If you view your Internet through the browser called Foxfire, it is possible to download an extension (add-on) that will monitor Mr. Vigoda's status.

A couple of folks have written to ask when I'll post some stories about TV producer-host Ralph Edwards, who passed away the other day at the age of either 91 or 92, depending on which obit you read. None come to mind at the moment beyond what I posted last year in this article. I only met Mr. Edwards once and all we talked about was the memorable time Laurel and Hardy appeared, quite against their will, on his show, This Is Your Life. It still ranks as one of the great uncomfortable half-hours in television history. If I think of anything else worth posting, it'll be up here.

• Posted at 12:51 PM · LINK

The Buffet Continues...

Every few days, someone writes to ask if I still have a parade of cats, possums and raccoons coming to my back door every night. So here's a photo taken less than fifteen minutes ago. I'm told that a possum living in the city rarely has a life span of over eighteen months so this handsome fellow could be the great-great-great-great-grandson of the first critters I spotted out there nibbling on the cat food.

If you'd like to see a gallery of some of the other creatures I've seen out there, click over here. And now, I must get back to work. I have a lot of mouths to feed.

• Posted at 1:39 AM · LINK