Showing posts with label Daily Show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Show. Show all posts

August 19, 2009

Dude, Where's My President?

Watching the health care reform debate overseas, I have to shake my head in disappointment at the performance of the President and the Democratic Party. It's like, "Dude, where's my President? Who is this pantywaist who waffles on whether to have a public option or not? Where's 'Mr. Yes We Can and Yes We Will?'"

Kick @$$, Mr. President! You need to be the hammer to these DINO Blue Dogs. Too much for the rest of your term rides upon this moment. Who cares what the Republicans think? Work for the majority who voted you into office. You'll never get another opportunity like this.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Heal or No Heal - Medicine Brawl
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June 29, 2009

International Politics Links (29 June 2009)

Once again, sorry for the lack of Links posts last week. I was busy with other matters. This post covers June 22nd through today, June 29th. Not surprisingly, most of the links deal with the Iranian election aftermath; stories on Israel are also increasing, mostly due to renewed settlement in the West Bank. And the newest, hottest story is of the coup in Honduras.)

Americas:
Coup In Honduras

20 People Killed in Peru in Demonstrations


Europe:
Merkel Stands Besides Demonstrators - "in Iran" (In Germany, not so much.)

Russia Ready for Deep Nuclear Arms Cuts: Medvedev


Middle East:
Odierno: Iraqis Ready for Handover

Violence Erupts in Baghdad as Deadline for U.S. Troops to Withdraw From Major Cities Nears

Iraq After The U.S. Retreat

FBI Files: Saddam Hussein Faked Having WMDs (Old news, but worth linking to.)

Karim Sadjadpour Reminds Chris Wallace That U.S. Meddling in Middle East Politics is Not Productive

David Gregory Badgers Benjamin Netanyahu Over Whether Israel Will Take Unilateral Action Against Iran

Resisting Calls, Israel Insists on Building in the West Bank

Israel Deploys Troops Along Lebanese Border (Near Shebaa Farms, specifically.)

Barak Authorizes Construction of 300 New Homes in West Bank (American reaction? Nothing.)

Pakistan Navy Slated for Major Revamp


Iran:
Has There Been a Military Coup in Iran by the Revolutionary Guard in Iran?

Reza Aslan on Iran (His interview on The Daily Show.)

Neda: A Civil Rights Struggle

Obama: Neda Video 'Heartbreaking'

The Meaning of Neda

In Iran, Authorities Admit Voting Discrepancies

Rachel Maddow: Iranian Protesters Targetting the Basiji

Evidence Of Western Intelligence Meddling in Iran

Sunday's Protest March Broken Up; Rafsanjani Defers to Khamenei (Sunday referring to June 28th.)

5,000 March Silently in Iran

Washington and the Iran Protests: Would they be Allowed in the US?

Guardianship Council Rules out Annulment of Election Results; Reformists Planning Strikes, Mourning

Chatham House Study Definitively Shows Massive Ballot Fraud in Iran's Reported Results

More Details on Saturday's Demonstrations (This would have been Saturday, June 20th.)

An Interesting Detail

Iran Election Wrap Up

Has the U.S. Played a Role in Fomenting Unrest During Iran’s Election?

Iran: 'There is Very Little Logic at Work' (This was a very interesting personal essay. Must read.)

Obama Questions Legitimacy of Iranian Elections, Says It is ‘Up to the Iranian People to Decide’ Their Leadership.

Lugar: The U.S. Should Still Be Willing To ‘Sit Down’ With Iran For Nuclear Talks


Asia:
China Crosses the Rubicon

China-India Relations: An Unresolved Border and 60,000 Troops Deployed

Thousands of Anti-Govt Protesters Mass in Bangkok (Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra wants to come home.)


Miscellaneous:
Senegal: Islam, Democracy, Sexy

Indefinite Detention, Anyone? White House is Drafting New Executive Order

Obama Considering an Executive Order Allowing Indefinite Detention.

June 10, 2009

Faux News Hypocrisy (Again)

The Daily Show points out Faux New's hypocrisy, once more, when "Fox & Friends" complains about Sacha Baron Cohen dropping out of auditorium rafters and sticking his butt into Eminem's face on an MTV show. Yet, two days later, the same show unthinkingly airs a "lingerie football romp" on morning TV:

Sacha Baron Cohen's @$$ in Eminem's face on MTV at 9 p.m.: disgusting! Brian Kilmeade's @$$ on an underdressed woman's face at 9 a.m.: the best thing I've ever seen on television!

The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Fox & Friends' Lingerie Football Romp
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Update: Things are no better at Fox Business News, where a whole bunch of reporters are clueless:

May 14, 2009

Links for 14 May 2009

Politics:
What Obama Means when he says "the troops" ("People keep telling me that America is a better place since 20 January 2009. As with the claims of economic recovery 'right around the corner,' there is precious little evidence.")

Countdown's Worst Person: Your Not So Grass Roots Are Showing

RNC having special session to brand the Democratic Party 'Socialists' (I'll accept the "socialist" moniker as long as we can call the Republicans "Nazis.")

C&L's Late Night Music Club with Yusuf Islam (The website Crooks & Liars does a nightly music video, with tonight's video being Yusuf Islam's Peace Train.)

Daily Show's Jason Jones explores ASU's pristine academic environment (As an alumnus of Arizona State twice over (Bachelors and Masters), I find Jones' humor lame. As anyone remotely affiliated with the university would know, that's not the library. And the students he interviewed strike me as fraternity/sorority types; you know, not exactly the brightest bulbs on campus. BTW, Jason, what university did you graduate from? Ryerson University? Where's that?)

Did You Have Your Bowl of Cholesterol Drugs This Morning? (An interesting story developing between the FDA and General Mills: the way in which Cheerios, the breakfast cereal, is being marketed has caused the FDA to declare the cereal a drug. "General Mills may not legally market Cheerios unless it applies for approval as a new drug or changes the way it labels the small, doughnut-shaped cereal, the FDA said.")

GOP icon declares his party "brain dead" (The rest of us already knew this...)


Economics:
The Renminbi as the Reserve Currency? (There's an interesting thought! Not that it would happen anytime soon...)

China Expands Global Role


Islam/Muslim Blogs:
Of Life and Star Trek and Sex Education (Rozas' take on a conversation between some teenage Malay girls is rather interesting.)

The BNP is a threat to every Muslim

Just one in eight terror arrests ends with guilty verdict, admits Home Office


Miscellaneous:
A Space Shuttle Before Dawn (The space shuttle Atlantis, sitting on Launch Pad 39A, back in April, as it was being prepared for its launch a few days ago. Cool pic.)

INTERVIEW: C.J. Cherryh (CJ Cherryh is one of my favorite SF authors; she recently gave a brief interview in connection with her new novel, Regenesis, which is a sequel to her 1988 novel, Cyteen. Good news!)

382 – Two Eggs and a Kidney: Regional World Cities (Strange Maps is a blog I've been reading for quite a while now; check it out if you're unfamiliar with it. With respect to this map, I'm a little surprised LA isn't considered at least a major regional center, as Singapore and Hong Kong are. These latter two cities (S'pore and HK) do seem to be mirror images of each other in terms of being major regional centers, but I would expect people from Sydney might argue about whether they or S'pore has more influence in the southern half of the Asia and Oceania map.)

May 13, 2009

Links for 13 May 2009

Politics:
The Daily Show: Excuse Me Your Dick is Out

The Daily Show: Bill Bennett Finds Comedians More Offensive Than Waterboarding

Detainee-abuse photos about to be released, Fox's Smith and Herridge report (Abu Ghraib 2?)

Bristol Palin Has Miraculously Transformed Herself Into the Abstinence Fairy!

Colbert uncovers an Alpha Dog counting gonad wrinkles in Montana (Perhaps the dumbest person ever to try to get out of jury duty.)

Liz Cheney on waterboarding: It's not torture, and besides, the end justifies the means (You'd think some people would get the hint and lie low somewhere. Antarctica, maybe?)

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar

Feingold says Cheney is wrong: ‘Nothing I have seen’ in the CIA memos proves torture was necessary.

Cheney: For diplomacy to work, U.S. must threaten to bomb Iran. (The man's a madman.)

Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter to speak at ‘anti-Islamist’ conference. (The man's a DINO.)

‘Smokey’ Joe Barton: Regulating CO2 Could ‘Close Down The New York And Boston Marathons’ (Remember, kids: If you're the dumbest one in your class, you can still become a Republican politician!)

Wilkerson on Cheney: He's Destroying What's Left of the Republican Party ("He's destroying what's left of the Republican party. I think the latest polls show we're down to 21% of Americans who identify as Republicans. ... I suspect that if Cheney continues it will be down in the low teens. He's destroying the party. There needs to be someone with some ahhh.. as we say in the Army some intestinal fortitudes, some guts who steps forward and tells this man to go home and shut up.")


Economics:
Tracking the recession

De-globalization and Development

Energy Update


Islam/Muslim Blogs:
Yusuf Plays First U.S. Gig In Over 30 Years

Bruthaz of Blogistan (Thanks for the link!)

Richard Pryor As President (Does the younger generation even know who Richard Pryor was?)

Busy (Take your time, dude. Baby and momma come first. Love the pic!)


Miscellaneous:
Rose is Rose

Digitigrade leg extensions will make you taller and let you walk like an animal (This one is very odd; be sure to watch the video.)

Harlan Ellison Rejects Hometown Prize (Good for him: "According to Cleveland.com, the author was offended that he would have to pay his expenses for the trip to the ceremony, apparently calling the award "a fraud and a sham." ... [S]ome members said they had never heard of Ellison, who will be 75 this month, Roberts said. The jury voted to give Ellison the lifetime achievement award anyway.")

May 6, 2009

Links for 6 May 2009

Politics:
The Daily Show: Republicans, the Lost Party

Countdown's Worst Person: Laura Ingraham

US Airstrike Kills Dozens; Christian Proselytizing in Muslim Afghanistan (Juan Cole has a number of links to the continuing controversy over American troops passing out Bibles as "gifts" in Afghanistan; moreover, that one of the soldiers had pulled the same stunt in Iraq.)

The Georgian Mutiny That Wasn't

You’re only a whore if you show nipple (This is one reason why I'm glad I don't live in the U.S., where the masses and the media obsess over truly trivial people.)

Limbaugh Mocks Recession During Speech To Wealthy Right-Wing Donors

Dodd: Torture investigations may need to go as high as Cheney’s office.

Q: Even if it goes up as high as — A lot of this stuff seems to point toward Cheney’s office.

DODD: You gotta go where you gotta go.


Business:
20 resumes and 40 business cards FREE from Staples (For everyone in the US unemployed during this recession, now might be a good time to go visit Staples.)

Branding: The Psychology of Color


Economics:
You Are Here (That second graph puts the whole stock market into perspective, doesn't it?)

James Galbraith remarks (A similar post about Galbraith's speech was posted on Economist's View on May 2nd.)

There is a difference between then and now?

What a shame we let ourselves be talked into the “creative destruction” of the rail system, an asset that represents $3.3 trillion dollars in unskilled wages. That's a lot of labor just gone. It represents a relative share of GDP bigger than our actual current GDP! It makes you think about who has managed their wealth better; the US? or Europe who did not creatively destroy their original investment, but built upon it and thus saved themselves from having to generate as much income as we have had to in order to have our now killing us (war for oil?, pollution, resource waste, etc), personal transportation system. I guess that is why we don't get to have 6 weeks vacation for all, we have to work to rebuild what we had.


Islam/Muslim Blogs:
What do you get (Naeem's amusing account about being on "The Road to Mecca." :) There's an interesting overhead photo of al-Masjid al-Haram from his hotel window.)


Miscellaneous:
Cosmos/The Matrix Mashup (Someone with too much time on their hands has overdubbed "Agent Smith" with Carl Sagan's voice from "Cosmos" in a scene from the first Matrix movie.)

Actor, comedian Dom DeLuise dies at 75 (Below, Dom in Mel Brook's "Blazing Saddles" - The French Mistake:)

March 27, 2009

Kameelah Rasheed: I Am Not Asking For Your Approval

Kameela Rasheed has an interesting essay at Mecca.com in which she tells the world that she doesn't need their approval in order to wear hijab. In the middle of the essay is an anecdote about a "conversation" (really a monologue) she had with a South African man who tried to "reason" with her that by covering herself she was denying him his "need" to see her, her hair, her body. In this world, where scantily clad women are the norm for advertising, where cable news has become cable nilf, where even female politicians rely upon sex appeal, is it any surprise men "need" women to be "accessible?"

While most comments at this institution were reserved for private discussions, the college experience as well as my time in Johannesburg, South Africa provided an opportunity to understand what literally annoyed people about my Hijab. While in Yeoville, a hybrid inner-city/suburb of Johannesburg, I was approached by a man who was intent on liberating me from not only my gender oppression, but from my racial confusion. Apparently, 'I am not free' in Hijab and Islam is not an African religion. I had committed not only the ultimate sin of embracing a faith that 'forced' me to be modest; I had chosen a faith that had no roots in Africa. Let's not bother with the contrary historical facts, as that is the least of our concerns.

What I found of the utmost importance in this monologue (yes, because I was unable to get a word in edgeways) was that he conceptualised my channels of freedom via the ritualistic removal of my Hijab and his penetration or sexual conquest. I never knew that my freedom toolbox included an instruction guide - I will keep this in mind.

As he continued to speak in a series of poorly phrased insults, I realized that this was no longer about gender oppression or black authenticity; it was about the politics of accessibility to certain bodies. He repeated almost in a hypnotic fashion, 'I cannot see you… I cannot see your essence'. In wearing Hijab, it was his argument that I was making myself inaccessible to men, and particularly to him. Choosing to place myself off the radar was not a choice I could exercise.

In fact, I was required to make myself available and accessible to his gaze as well as the gaze of other men. Thus, the crime I had committed was not one of accepting my subjugation as a Muslim woman and 'confused African woman', but of refusing to situate myself in his myopic discourse of liberation that ultimately puts me at his mercy. If I was mistaken in this assumption, it was further validated by a number of men in Johannesburg and in America who have told me similar tales of my inaccessibility, as a reason why I should not wear Hijab.

They started with a narrative of genuine concern for my oppression and devolved into a shallow desire for a free pass to accessibility. It was not always about what was said, but the delivery of these diatribes. In many of these situations, these men used aggressive and paternalistic tones. They attempted to silence me by raising their voices. They worked to discredit my line of defense by telling me I did not know enough. Most of all they were surprised that I was able to put together a sentence and to give as well as I was given. It was a reminder that the covering of my head is not a covering of my mind or my mouth.

HT: my hijab = my *diamond* crown

March 14, 2009

Jon Stewart vs. Jim Cramer - The Interview

I'll have more commentary on this interview later, insha'allah. In the meantime, I'm presenting almost all of Thursday night's show; the three interview segments are the longer, unedited versions that are available from The Daily Show website; note that there is some mild profanity that wasn't bleeped out as it normally is.









March 12, 2009

The Daily Show on Earmarks (and Cramer)

I hadn't planned on putting up another video about tomorrow's appearance of Jim Cramer on The Daily Show ; however, because I wanted to put up the second video below, I thought I'd add this one to the post as well:



Jon Stewart brought up the topic of budgetary earmarks tonight in the show's third segment. I wanted to post this video because it brings up an important point about earmarks that I wrote about last September when John McCain tried to use earmarks as a campaign topic (see Economist's View: John McCain's "Big" Economic Plans). As I mentioned last year:


The NY Times also notes that "earmarks ... make up less than 1% of the federal budget.

What most people don't realize is that these Republicans and media hacks (*cough* Faux News *cough*) who complain about the cost of so-called "pork" are using a minor issue to score cheap political points. One million dollars here, two million dollars there, it sounds like a lot of money, but in the larger scheme of things (the US Federal Budget in 2008 is nearly three trillion dollars ($2,979 Billion, to be more precise)), those earmarks turn out to be a drop in the proverbial bucket. Moreover, as Jon mentions in the clip, "It's not pork when it's a project in your state."

But that doesn't stop hypocritical politicians like Lindsey Graham (see the video) and David Vitter from complaining about earmarks publicly while using the system to insert their own earmarks into the federal budget. As President Obama noted:

Now, let me be clear: Done right, earmarks give legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their district, and that’s why I have opposed their outright elimination. I also find it ironic that some of those who railed the loudest against this bill because of earmarks actually inserted earmarks of their own – and will tout them in their own states and districts.

March 11, 2009

Jon Stewart vs. Jim Cramer

Jon Stewart at The Daily Show has continued to criticize CNBC over its stock-picking "prowess." While original target Rick Santelli waits for the storm to blow over (don't visit Sacramento any time soon, Rick), Jim Cramer decided to take on Jon. Big mistake! :)



The next day, Cramer appeared on several programs to complain about Stewart's segment of him. Stewart once again responded. The even better news: Cramer's scheduled to appear on The Daily Show later this week. That should be an interesting interview. ;)



Here's the Moment of Zen for March 9th...



...and the Moment of Zen for March 10th:

March 6, 2009

The Daily Show on the Financial Crisis

"If I had only followed CNBC's advice, I'd have a million dollars today, provided I'd started with $100 million."
-- Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

All of Wednesday's show was devoted to the current financial crisis. The first segment is the best (and several of the political blogs I read have put up this video as well). Idiot Rick Santelli of CNBC recently ranted about the possibility of "loser homeowners" getting financial relief on their "underwater" mortgages while conveniently forgetting that the financial industry has received over $2 trillion in bailout money. Stewart rips CNBC a huge one when Santelli "bailed out" of appearing on the show.

The second segment is on the stupid right wing meme that President Obama is somehow responsible for the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been plummeting over the past few months, once again conveniently forgetting how much the stock market had plunged in the last year (especially in the months of September and October) of the Bush misadministration. I did have a good laugh at the idea of a stock ticker running over Obama's eyes. ;)

The last segment is an interview Stewart has with Joe Nocera, financial columnist for The New York Times. Overall, I must say that I'm surprised that The Daily Show took as long as they did to cover the nonsense spewed at CNBC; a number of blogs on economics and politics that I read have been criticizing CNBC for a couple months now.







Update: As Think Progress reports, CNBC and Rick Santelli are clamming up, trying to wait out the storm created by Jon Stewart and The Daily Show by declining comment. In the meantime, Stewart appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and discussed the situation a little more:

March 5, 2009

Rush Limbaugh: Ugly Bonehead Eastern European Gangster

Is Rush getting all the skewering he deserves? I don't think so. ;)




February 26, 2009

The Daily Show: Hypocritical GOP Governors

Warning: While the video is very funny, it's more profane than usual (I'd give it an "R" rating).

Stewart: Yeah. That's Bobby Jindal. Louisiana Governor, rising star in the Republican Party, and a leading anti-stimulus voice. His state has been offered $3.8 billion in federal aid. But Jindal has said, "No!" He's only agreed to take... a little over $3.7 billion.

January 24, 2009

The Daily Show on the Closing of Guantanamo and Faux News

Both of these are pretty funny. Enjoy!

The prisoners at Guantanamo could go to prisons within the US, to allies abroad, or to synchronized dance squads.



Faux News is really scared about what might happen, and oblivious to what already has.

January 11, 2009

British vs. American Journalism

What makes this interview so refreshing to watch is not just seeing the Israeli PR flack squirm as he gets grilled by the UK's Channel 4 reporter Alex Thomson, although that's immensely satisfying by itself. No, what's so great is the fact that here's a journalist who's doing his job, asking difficult questions, not allowing the interviewee to squirm off the hook. You know, real journalism.



As opposed to the American variety of "journalism," as captured so well by the crew at The Daily Show: