Ezra Klein on a rather pathetic attempt by some parties to smear a twelve-year-old boy and his family who spoke out against George W. Bush's veto of the S-CHIP expansion.
I'll admit it was kind of a cheap political stunt for the Democrats to trot out an injured child to campaign for aid to sick kids...though no cheaper, and certainly more relevant than the endless stream of firefighters, soldiers and children that George W. Bush uses in his photo-ops. (Anyone remember what he was doing on 9/11 when the planes hit the buildings?) But the response in this case was just meanness and misrepresentation...and of course, they wound up proving the opposite of the point they were trying to score.
So I'm on the line right now to the Washington office of one of my senators, Dianne Feinstein. My call was answered by a recording of the Senator's voice telling me that all lines are busy and that I can either hold or call back later...but if I hold, my call will get disconnected after two minutes. What company makes a phone bank that works like that? Can you imagine a company that wants you to buy something from them having phones that hang up on you if they're too busy?
Wait. Someone coming on the line.
Okay, I'm back. I just told the person who answered that I am a voter in California and that I want Sen. Feinstein to vote against amnesty for the telecommunications companies involved in the FISA wire-tapping mess. He dutifully took down my zip code and said my opinion would be tallied. (Why I feel this way, I should explain, is that I'm always suspicious when someone claims they've done nothing wrong but need to be protected from accountability for what they've done.)
I wonder if any Senator or Congressperson has set up something that I would think would be very easy to set up. It would be a website where their constituents could register to vote on the issues of the day. I mean, as it is, I could have been living in Pennsylvania or Portugal and told the guy on the phone I was a California resident. What if there was a site where I could actually register and they could verify my Californianess (in my case), maybe by sending me my password via postal mail or checking my Mastercard billing address or something...and each week, they'd put up questions on which I could express my opinion? There could also be a little comment box where I could add my reasons in 100 words or less.
It wouldn't in any way be binding on my representative but I would think it would at least be a good p.r. move on the part of an elected official. Wouldn't you be at least a little impressed by a Congressperson or Senator who arranged such a thing? Especially if they promised to read all the comments that were submitted?
I don't know whether Al Gore will win the Nobel Peace Prize tomorrow or if it will do anything to jar him loose from his "I am not a candidate" position. But I do know what I'd like to hear him say if he does win: "Thanks...but I'm not accepting your award until you take back the one you gave to Henry Kissinger."
Here's a photo of two of my favorite people. The guy on the right is the late Jack Kirby. I've written at least ten million articles about how terrific Jack was, plus I have a real fancy book coming out in February all about him.
The fellow on the left, looking like he wasn't wild about having his picture taken, is Joe Simon. I've probably only written about five million articles that address the greatness of Joe so here's a brief summary. Joe was one of the true pioneers of comics. He was one of the first "Renaissance People" in that he could do everything. He could write, he could draw, he could letter, he could design, he could edit. Whatever it took to create a great comic book, he could do it. Kirby used to say, "Joe knows comics," and that was the highest compliment Jack could bestow on a colleague. He was especially impressed with Joe's ability to sell a comic — to conceive or recognize a saleable idea and then to know just how to design the cover, layout the book, etc. The comics created by the Simon-Kirby team were classics, every one of them, and that was in large part because Joe knew comics.
He still does. I'm delighted to wish my friend Joe Simon a happy 92nd birthday today. Hope there are many more of those to come.
NBC is announcing firm plans to close down some or all of its Burbank studio and to move operations to a new facility that will be built over on Lankershim across from Universal Studios. Apparently, the traffic over there on Lankershim is not quite impossible enough. It's still possible to get through there once in a while and they need to stop that.
The story also says that when Conan O'Brien takes over The Tonight Show in 2009, he will broadcast from a studio on the Universal lot. I think this is the first time they've admitted what everyone has presumed since the handover was announced; that Conan would not do the show from New York.
Looming over and under all of this, of course, is the question of what becomes of Jay Leno. He's lately begun doing jokes about NBC throwing away the one thing on their network (him) that's working well. There are rumors he's dickering with Fox about a competing late night show that might even start at 11:00, giving him a jump on Conan and Dave at 11:35. I suspect the rumors come from no source whatsoever; that everyone's just assuming that there are or will be discussions with Fox.
Because his ratings are still strong, Leno is in one of the best bargaining positions in the history of show business. He's like a star pitcher who has his best season ever just as he's becoming a free agent and can entertain all offers. The question is what, apart from the job he's been doing for the last umpteen years, the guy might crave. Once upon a time, NBC was in the awkward position with Mr. Letterman that they were desperate to keep him but unable to offer him the one thing in the world he wanted, which was The Tonight Show. It may be that the network is now in the same position with Mr. Leno. And just how embarrassing would it be for the network if Jay went over to Fox and did a show that beat Conan?
Woody Allen's first album of stand-up comedy may be all-time single funniest record of its kind. Every comedian of the generation after him studied and envied that album, especially a short, hilarious routine called "The Moose."
Our clip today is from an English TV show of the mid-sixties. It's Allen performing that routine in less that ideal circumstances. His timing is a little off and the audience isn't particularly receptive...and also, he decided he had to adjust a few lines, including the all-important last one. Still, footage of Woody Allen doing standup is rare and this may be the only footage ever of him performing this routine...
October 12, 2007
