International Diplomacy

A snapshot regarding the state of global politics, starring apparent friends Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and former Russian President current PM Vladimir Putin (via Julia Inhoffe:)

Their favorite activity, however, seems to be holding joint press conferences. At one of their most memorable appearances together, in Moscow, in 2008, a Russian journalist named Natalia Melikova asked Putin about his apparent marital trouble and rumored romance with the young and indecently plastic gymnast-cum-parliamentarian Alina Kabaeva. When asked about the liaison, Putin's face hardened. "There is not a word of truth in this story," he said. Berlusconi, giggling, regarded the exchange. When Putin had finished answering, Berlusconi cocked his hands, and, imitating a gun, fired with a silent "Pow! Pow!" at Melikova. It had only been a year and a half since Anna Politkovskaya, an investigative journalist, had been shot in her Moscow elevator, and Melikova was reduced to tears. On the dais, Berlusconi laughed, and Putin nodded. 

Talk about wildly inappropriate.  That's pretty messed up.

The Turmoil Just Behind the Peace

"Here's to the precariously perched highways of life that intersect with ease from a distance yet are filled with an unbalanced commotion."

You can't make someone love you.  Those who have had the experience of realizing this through experience understand the innate pain and agony that accompanies that statement. While it's easy to say and somewhat simple to understand, its outright torture to truly realize.  There's that moment when you have to watch the other person walk away for last time, and while you look at them you suddenly realize that it's not necessarily the last time you'll see them, but that it's the last time you'll see them attached with a feeling of hope. It's in that small moment that the rational part of our nature makes its greatest stand, attempting to beat back the tide of sentiment, screaming in a symphony of lyric-less music—you can't make someone love you.  When that moment ends the memory becomes an instrument of agonizing pleasure, reminding you of why the best was so good and the worst was so bad, while doing its best to feed that small feeling of hope as it slowly makes an exit. It's a tough and bittersweet lesson to learn and indeed the most stubborn among us never fully accept it. You can't make someone love you.  Here's a song that captures the beauty within the sorrow of watching someone walk away, sans hope, leaving you to your memory. Here's a song that goes out to the eerie splendor after the storm. Here's to the precariously perched highways of life that intersect with ease from a distance yet are filled with an unbalanced commotion. Here's to trying to make someone love you.  Here's to finding out you can't. It's a strange peace wrought with inner turmoil.

“The Same Thing We Do Every Night Pinky…”

The race to take over the world has been getting interesting, and Facebook just pulled ahead. If you think Facebook isn't in the process of building a search engine, I think you're crazy. Last week Facebook launched its own messaging application, Facebook's own twist on email. Today, Facebook landed a major coup against Google in their competing bids to take over the world. Apparently Facebook has overtaken Google in web traffic, getting 3% more visits and unseating Google as the most visited site on the internet over the period of a week. Not only that, but Facebook accounts for 25% of all web traffic in the U.S. Wait, what? 

Should College Athletes Be Paid?

The Free Market is Going to School, And We should All Be Worried

(Auburn Quarterback Cam Newton; students no longer use 
sports as a means to attend school, many now use school 
as a means to play sports.)

There's a black market for athletes in college sports.   Auburn Tigers quarterback Cam Newton is the current star of college football and is in the conversation to win the sport's top individual honor, the Heisman trophy. There's just one problem. He's embroiled in an unfolding scandal of allegations that he or those around him solicited large sums of money, in violation of the NCAA's longstanding policy that prohibits college athletes getting paid or accepting favors. If Newton were alone his problems would be little more than an unfortunate scandal. However in late summer, Super Bowl champion and New Orleans Saints RB Reggie Bush was forced to give back his 2005 Heisman trophy after it was revealed he accepted money and gifts when he was a college athlete at the then National Champion USC Trojans. In fact, during the summer of 2010 the NCAA opened an embarrassing amount of investigations into a score of collegiate football programs citing similar cases of student athletes being paid. Whether they want to admit it or not, college sports has a crisis on its hands. It's because of that crisis that American institutions of higher learning are probably about to become beacons of free market capitalism. Which will be a crisis in and of itself.

Obama Saves GM

(Photo via Motortrend)

In Washington D.C., Barack Obama is the only grown up in the room and GM is just the latest evidence of that fact.  Many now admit he was right, but it may already be too late.  Palin 2012, anybody? (Updated)

Goldman Sachs is Robbing You Blind, But it’s Actually Kind of Funny

Last week the Federal Reserve announced it would engage a policy of quantitative easing. If you say the words quantitative easing (QE2) to me, my eyes glaze over. I have no clue what it means and I suspect most Americans don't either.  Turns out, it's all so simple it's actually kinda funny. 

I’m Still Here, Sarah Palin’s Alaska, and Jay Electronica

Joaquin Phoenix's documentary I'm Still Here catches me off gaurd, Sarah Palin may be hoping to catch all of America off guard in 2012, and Jay Electronica might be 1 step closer to saving hip-hop.   

The Best Podcast: A List of the 5 Podcast You Should Be Listening To

1. Uhh Yeah Dude
   "America through the eyes of 2 American Americans" is how host Seth Romatelli and Jonathan Laroquette (yes, he's the son of TV's John Laroquette (Night Court)) describe their show. What can be said about UYD other than it's the definition of a well done podcast, with a unique and hilarious perspective. In these crazy times that we live in Seth and Jonathan spend an hour each week chronicling the craziness, discussing news stories from around the country that reflect the worst and/or most unbelievable aspects of American society with a thick layer of humor. The only hurdle between realizing how this podcast is consistently good week in and week out, is the little voice in the back of your head that says, "I shouldn't be laughing at this"—it's likely you're already laughing before that happens. The best part about UYD is there are over 200 episodes stretching back to 2006 which means there's always a UYD episode to listen to.

Veterans Day

I just missed the 11th hour, the 11th day, the 11th month. Due to some technical difficulties with my computer I've been unable to post recently.  But I'm back up and running now and this weekend there should be an interesting post about fame, notoriety, youtube, our desire to connect, whatever you want to call it.  For now here's a belated Veterans Day memorial post complete with music.  Tune in. Turn on. But..yea, please don't drop out.  Still here.

  Bill Withers - I Can't Write Left-Handed 

Speaking Wealth to Power

"Mr. Paul you've just been elected United States Senator, what are you going to do?" "Well, Wolf, I'm going to stop this God awful war that's being waged against America's wealthiest citizens." We'll find out later this week he misspoke, I'm sure. American conservatives have been waging a philosophical war in this country since Ronald Reagan became president that is focused on letting the rich man run free and giving him a chance to spread his beautiful wealthy wings. Central to this war is the belief that government is smothering the invisible hand of the free market, capitalism, freedom of choice, I support the troops, God bless America, blah blah blah. ..The central philosophical strategy employed in this philosophical war were elegant terms developed in the Reagan administration such as "trickle down economics" and "starve the beast." Which in practice simply means cut taxes, particularly for the wealthy, allow the money of the wealthy to slowly trickle down to middle America and starve the federal government of money, forcing it to shrink in size. In practice none of this works. The government has at no point since and including Reagan shrunk in size, however conservatives have been masters at bankrupting the country. Reagan and Bush I quadrupled the debt, and we all know how W. Bush faired. Starving the beast amounts to nothing more than a magnificent way to make the government financially insolvent. The trickle down part? I'll let you figure out for yourself why rich people don't start "makin' it rain" on the rest us. 

Is it Still Cool to Like Kanye West?

 Last month Jay Z sat down for an interview with the American financial institution that is Warren Buffet and noted conservative money man Steve Forbes of Forbes Magazine. It was a far cry from the drug dealing project reared roots of hip hop's celebrated elder statesman. Last year President Obama invited him to the White House where Jay Z was given a private tour and snapped the now infamous photo of himself lounging in the situation room. Possibly Obama's way of thanking Jay after the President made an allusion to a line from one of his songs in '08, when then candidate Obama was fighting off Hilary Clinton in the nation's longest primary season (Man, I miss that Obama). As part owner of the New Jersey Nets, Jay Z is partially responsible for the future move of the NBA team to Brooklyn, the home of Marcy projects, the home of Jay Z, made famous by the artist himself. For much of the 20^th century the unofficial anthem of New York City was Frank Sinatra's crooning rendition of New York, New York. It served it's time well for decades of transplants, onlookers, outsiders, and natives alike, as the musical for the world's most dynamic city. But let's be honest it's a new century, a new millennium even, and New York needed a new anthem as the city has changed from the days of Sinatra. Jay Z provided that anthem last year, doing Old Blues Eyes justice with a beat backed anthem that recognized that the New York of this era is different than the Broadway sounds of New York's Sinatra past. This is the era that the boroughs birthed hip hop making it all the more fitting that Jay Z wrote the tune. For those of us on the outside life seems pretty good for Jay Z and he appears happy with whatever place he's reached in the cultural pantheon.

Commence the Economic Recovery

The one bit of good news that can be taken from this week is that I think the economy is now likely to begin picking up.  The overwhelming majority of the money in America is now on Wall Street and in the highest income levels, and after they caused the financial crisis I think there was a genuine fear that the general public was going to institute "wealth spreading programs" aimed squarely at creating more economic balance.  Similar to what happened after the Great Depression.  Business, and banks, have been raking in profits for the last year, but they've been holding out on the fear that the freshly impoverished American citizen was coming after their money, with various taxes on the rich that would provide people with free healthcare, pay for some of these wars, etc...Obama had the unique ability to do what FDR did the last time wealth concentration brought the system down, but alas he didn't.  And now more importantly, given the make up of congress he can't.  The money will begin to trickle down to the rest of us again, now that we can all be sure the bulk of it is safely secure at the top.  The healthcare debate taught the American public a valuable lesson.  Concentrated corporate wealth will determine what and how much the general public deserves, not the other way around.  If we even debate tinkering with that system, 1/5  of us will be unemployed while the wealth concentration at the top financially rewards itself at record levels.  But that threat is over with so the economy will now begin to recover, from the top down of course.  The larger point: we're all poor now so we'd all be wise to start acting like it.  There is no middle class pathway to the top anymore, just get there however you can.  I don't know what you're doing, but my album will be dropping next month. 

Republican Party Wins Big in 2010 Midterms!?!

George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party. Correction. George W. Bush nearly destroyed the United States of America and the Republican Party was more or less collateral damage. However you choose to arrive at that conclusion it's fairly clear that whatever it is the Republican Party is selling, it's unwanted by the American people and maybe even more important it just doesn't work. More than doesn't work, after eight years it actually produced negative outcomes. Thus President Obama was handed a country in uniquely perilous economic conditions and he has attempted throughout the beginning of his presidency…….Wait a minute, what? ....Uh,……this is awkward….I guess the Republicans are back.

The Time I Went to a Haunted House

Now that Halloween is safely behind us, here's a story about the only time I've ever been to a haunted house and the reason why I'll never go to another one again.

Social Network, The Founding of Facebook, and The Minds Of Silicon Valley

 "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies." First of all, something tells me if I had 500 million friends I'd be more than alright having a few enemies. That's a sentiment that I'm sure that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of Facebook identifies with. Second, the enemies of Zuckerberg as portrayed in the movie Social Network all eventually see a handsome payday so how villainous can they really be—plus I bet they all have a Facebook page. Third, nothing discussed above really has anything to do with the larger story, the deeper narrative, the fascinating tale that is Facebook and the way social networking is changing the world, so what was the point of the movie? The point isn't that the world is changing because of the mind of Mark Zuckerberg and that's a problem.

Dylan Ratigan: It's Complicated

Dylan Ratigan’s really good “rant” should make us all think.  How is it that the entire foreign policy of the most powerful country in the history of civilization is directed around the actions of a small and scattered group of people tucked into the mountains and deserts in the Middle East? You want the short answer or the long answer?

Out of Touch

Lebron James is out of touch. Since announcing his decision to leave the city of Cleveland in an hour long televised spectacle aptly named “The Decision,” Lebron James has demonstrated exactly the degree to which he’s out of touch. In fact it’s clear that he’s been out of touch for some time. Those who’ve had the pleasure of discussing this topic with me over the previous 7 years are well aware of my opinion/criticism of the man, which has centered on the very idea that King James has been walking around wearing a crown well before any actual coronation ceremony. There can be no ignoring the fact that Lebron is an outstanding basketball talent and easily among the best players in the NBA, but he has yet to be and may never be the best of his era or of all time. Yet both the media and James’ behavior led many people to believe otherwise, and in turn that’s exactly what caused the basketball superstar to use an hour of America's time so he could take his talents to South Beach.

Artistic Abstraction

Ever wonder what happened to realist art? That is, art that depicts real people or real situations etc... Probably not. Nevertheless, what did happen to it, and why do we live in a world dominated by abstract art. The art many people look at and think, "a child could have painted this." The art that draws the reply most people think of when they think of art nowadays,..."I don't get it." Well we live in a world dominated by abstract art because the CIA made it that way. There's no political point here, just a fascinating story. Something to think about the next time you happen to be looking at an abstract piece of art and the person next to you is raving about how it makes them feel, or is proffering their deep intellectual insight to the beauty of some abstract piece and how it *ahem* speaks to them. You don't have to feel bad if you don't get it. Maybe it has less importance as a work of art, than it does as a symbol of history. After all, much of the works of the Renaissance say just as much about the Catholic Church during that era as they do about art as an art form. If that last sentence (like abstract art) even makes sense. Fascinating.

The Ideas Department: Female Crash Test Dummies

Who would have thought that a female crash test dummy would be a good idea?...40 years after someone should have thought that a female crash test dummy would be a good idea? I don't know the answer to that question, but I do find it strange that the Transportation Department made through 40 years worth of meetings without anyone bringing this up. Sorry ladies.