jimmy's blog: June 2008

Monday, June 30, 2008

Jameson sings and plays

Our pride and joy.

It's never too early to encourage anti-social behavior.

And in other news, Texasyank officially wins the most active commenter award. It's nice when folks stop in and say hello.

Summer Gardening

Bell peppers

Banana peppers

Eggplant blossoms

Friday, June 27, 2008

Zuzu comes for a visit

Updated to add some photos.

More pics available in the june photo album at the side.

It's always such a pleasure. Wish she could have stayed longer, and maybe Grandpa will come next time.

Glennzilla vs. KO

Greenwald calls out Olbermann:

It isn't that difficult to keep the following two thoughts in one's head at the same time -- though it seems to be for many people:

(1) What Barack Obama is doing on Issue X is wrong, indefensible and worthy of extreme criticism;

(2) I support Barack Obama for President because he's a better choice than John McCain.

Olbermann counterpunches:

I think John Dean is worth 25 Glenn Greenwalds (maybe 26 Keith Olbermanns).

I am sure Greenwald will respond later today. My take is in the post below. I'm happy Olbermann is up to at least engaging in discussion, even if he is currently flaming, and even though he's being an idiot. If you want to read esoteric legal discussions of issues like this one, go to Balkinization.

Update: And here is Greenwald's response. It's a knockout. It is never a good idea to get into the ring with Greenwald, as he always makes you look foolish. I never expected to see someone like Olbermann going at it with him. The question now is whether or not Olbermann will retract his statements, apologize, and go on record, on Countdown, calling Obama's failure here what it is. I think he will. If he does, it will be an interesting footnote in the history of the relationship between internet and tv.

Update II: And the crowd applauds. Balloon Juice, Talk Left, Firedoglake (with a Dean response) and Buck Naked Politics. An amusing comment:

This is one argument Olbermann ain’t gonna win. It’s sort of like fighting a starving Rottweiler for a rib bone—with your bare hands. You might get the bone….but it’s extremely doubtful, and you’re definitely going to end up with something bleeding.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Erosion of the 4th Amendment

Here is Dodd's speech against the FISA bill. It's worth your time.

Here's a video clip from Rick Noriega, who's the dem running for Senate against John Cornyn here in Texas. It is hard to exaggerate the difference between Noriega and Cornyn.

Obama, on the other hand, is triangulating, moving to "the center", playing politics, selling out. It's as bad as Hillary Clinton's vote for the AUMF. Her vote there is what lost her the primary.

Non-profit media

Here is an interesting NewsHour story.

The story mentions ProPublica, Center for Investigative Reporting and Center for Independent Media. The first two are especially worth bookmarking.

This tweaking of the media structure has potential, and it appears to be off to a good start. The NewsHour guests argued the model will have to become commercially sustainable and yet keep its independence. This move is really dangerous, though I see their point. The problem is that independence goes out the window when the medium becomes an asset. News rooms fired their investigative journalists in the first place because they were expensive, not entertaining, and often in conflict with commercial and political interests. The direct link between this type of independent investigative journalism and TV/Print/Radio is vital, as the first priority of public discourse should be public interest. The failure of our public discourse is the cause of all of our problems.