Here are two interesting articles, both Bush-related, in the current New Yorker. In this one, Hendrik Hertzberg discusses the State of the Union address and notes some of the same missing words that I noted here. And in this one, Joshua Micah Marshall discusses the concept of the American Empire. None of this, of course, […]
So far, our special mailbox for Julius Schwartz has received 188 "Get Well" wishes, six requests to help someone in Nigeria get money out of the country, seven messages telling him he's won a lottery in Holland and thirteen offers to sell him Viagra and/or enlarge his penis. I'm trying to decide which ones to […]
Andrew Sullivan attacks Bush's domestic agenda. What's interesting but only mentioned briefly in this piece is that Sullivan is a (generally) conservative pundit who has been a huge supporter of Bush's foreign agenda. He even swoons over the macho posturing. I link to this article not because I agree with most of it (though I […]
Here's another one of those cases where the headline may not quite match the content of the story… Howard Dean Says Iraqis Worse Off Now By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer MANCHESTER, N.H. – Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean said Sunday that the standard of living for Iraqis is a "whole lot worse" since Saddam […]
While everyone's looking at Bush's approval ratings, I find it more interesting to look at his disapproval ratings. I think politicians are not elected these days so much as others are defeated. The latest Newsweek poll has Bush at 50% approval which is not great but not fatal. At this point in their respective first […]
The other day, I set up an e-mail address for folks to send messages to the great comic book editor, Julius Schwartz, telling him we value him and hope his health improves. You might be interested to know that close to 100 messages appeared in the mailbox before this one arrived… I am Chief Otumba […]
NBC's early A.M. reruns of old Saturday Night Live episodes are finally reaching back to seasons not produced by Lorne Michaels. Tonight, they're running a 1983 show hosted by Robin Williams and featuring the cast that included Eddie Murphy, Joe Piscopo, Jim Belushi and others. Next week's is supposed to be the one that followed, […]
Every few years, the contract expires between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The former represents those who write TV shows and movies. The latter is the group that represents the major studios. The AMPTP makes deals with the talent unions of Hollywood and then the smaller […]
If you really want to know what's going on in the Democratic primaries, the best coverage you can get is over at Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo. Marshall is one of the best political webloggers around and his readers chipped in to send him along the campaign trail. It's an interesting wrinkle in news reporting: […]
Here, just to tie together two recent topics on this page, is the cover of a Little Golden Record of Captain Kangaroo…with Mitch Miller and the Sandpipers. And I thought I'd answer a couple of messages I received asking about famous stories relating to Bob Keeshan. This one is from Mark Skertic… Like just about […]
The Disney folks have lost another round in the big Winnie the Pooh battle. Here are the details. This thing will not end without some major changes in the Walt Disney Company. […]
As sick as I am of writing about the recently-deceased, I have to write about Bob Keeshan, aka Captain Kangaroo. I don't know if the formal obits will make it clear but Mr. Keeshan, with whom so many of us grew up, was an extraordinary individual. He had a capacity to talk to (not "down […]
Okay, it's set up. If you'd like to convey a Get Well message or a message of respect to Julius Schwartz, send it to schwartz@newsfromme.com. I will print 'em out and send them to the man himself. Tell your friends! Tell your neighbors! I just bought a whole case of paper from Office Depot and […]
The great comic book editor Julius Schwartz is back in the hospital again. He was in for pneumonia, then he went home, then he fell in his home and…well, let's just say he's not in great shape but he's still with us. Julie is 88 (here's Don Markstein's bio of him) and had been living […]
We don't hear nearly enough from Merrill Markoe, one of the smartest, funniest women I've ever encountered. Here she is discussing George W. Bush's proposals to improve the lot of marriage in this country. […]