Here's a nice story about the megalomoniacal freak that runs the Ringling Brothers organization. This guy has a real screw loose and some very, very, very bad things he's covered up. Looks like the whole thing is coming unraveled. Look out below in the next few years. This is one of those stories that spawn four or five tell-all books, each more horrible than the previous. Hopefully someone will pick up the ashes of the circus when it's all over and keep the entertainment rolling, but the shine is off this one.
- posted by levinson @ 8/30/2001 07:47:00 AM

 
An article in Salon taking us behind the scenes at TRL. As scripted and vacuous as everything else that MTV has become in the last decade. Best of all though is that no one involved seems to mind. The goal is to get on TV. Everything else is incidental. Least important of all is the video or guest the show is promoting at the time. Two of my favorite exchanges:

"Back in the guest-list line, Nadine and her friend Vicki are trying to figure out who the other musical guest is. "Wilma? Willa something?" she wonders. "Willa Feared?"

'Willa Ford,' says a girl in front of her, an angelic blond wearing a pink tank top. 'But she's a motherfucking bitch. You know she beat up Nick? From the Backstreet Boys? Fucking skank.' (Hating Ford is a popular activity among some teenagers.) She rolls her eyes, which are covered in purple glitter, angrily. 'And I don't even know who Aaliyah is.'" [This was several weeks ago, before Aaliyah died.]

Exchage 2:

"Hi, my name's Michelle, I'm from South Carolina and I like Backstreet because I love their music and their new video rocks!" the teenager says on cue.

"Mmmm. No," says the staffer, sighing heavily. "First of all, you forgot your 'Woooo!' You have to 'Woooo!' at the end of your shout-out. Don't ever forget to 'Woooo!' Now, which Backstreet is your favorite?"

"Um ... Nick!"

"How about Kevin? Can Kevin be your favorite?" Nick is so pass�.

"Sure, OK!"


What I find most amusing is that this has taken all of its cues from radio. It's exactly the same set-up as trying to get your "request" played, and "your" shout-out aired. A fun article all around. And remember, don't ever forget your "Woooooo!"

- posted by levinson @ 8/29/2001 07:42:00 AM

 
I guess this answers the question for one mother.
- posted by levinson @ 8/28/2001 02:11:00 PM

 
Now here's something interesting. A lot of hay has been made in the media over Condit's remarks that Mrs. Levy may have misunderstood him and may not recall their conversation precisely. To me this is plausible. I don't much like or trust Condit, but I'm not willing to believe everything from one side and nothing from the other. Howler today points out a piece from Sunday's Washington Post on the Levys and how they're trying to manage with the disappearance of their daughter. Towards the end, the article talks about the couple and their individual and combined histories. In the context of the frenzy of Condit's supposedly disgusting and outlandish comments about the sainted mother not having a clear memory of what was undoubtedly an emotional conversation:

"Sue struggled with a learning disability to become an art teacher. She says she suffers from auditory dyslexia: Sometimes words and conversations get mixed up in her mind. This appears to contribute to her disjointed manner of speaking. She flits from topic to topic, her ideas connecting at right angles instead of in straight lines."

That being the case, I would say neither Mr. Condit nor Mrs. Levy is reliable on their phone conversation.
- posted by levinson @ 8/28/2001 10:04:00 AM

 
A while ago I came to my own conclusion that local government has four distinct responsibilities. Its ability to fulfill those four responsibilities determines how successful it is. Public Safety, Roads, Public Education, and Sanitation. Any local government (state level and below) can prioritize those as they see fit.

This comes up today as Krugman's Op-ed talks about Social Security, the federal budget and W's promise to restore honor and integrity to the Office. W's tax cut and his cooking of the books to say that he's not raiding SS faster than anyone, including Krugman, suspected are not honest nor does either posess the slightest bit of integrity. That W and his administration are liars and would never make good on their promises is not news to their political enemies and is probably not a shock to their supporters. After all, they're politicians and we don't expect much from them. When they make pledges to behave enitirely differently from the rest, we raise our eyebrows and wait for this lie to confirm that, yes, all politicians are liars.

All of this has set me to determining what, if any, the responsibilities of a national government are. In economics there are concepts defined as public goods. An example is national defense. By default, a government provides public goods since no one in an economy can profitably supply them on their own. I usually start with public goods as benchmarks for what a government must provide to be successful. I know that honesty and integrity aren't responsibilities of a government (except when they promise to provide it). I don't think that Social Security or a balanced budget are responsibilities either. I think a government ought to provide all three, but they're not basic responsibilities. Of course, not being required to supply doesn't mean you can welch on a promise to supply after the fact and not expect people to get in a huff.
- posted by levinson @ 8/28/2001 07:46:00 AM

 
This is the article in the Washington Times that Somerby references. Long and interesting especially considering the official updates we've been getting from the regular news media. There's certainly a lot that's suspicious in this case and less and less of it has to do with Gary Condit.
- posted by levinson @ 8/27/2001 12:51:00 PM

 
Few people chew the fat on the media better than Bob Somerby and his Daily Howler. His reporting not only on the facts of national issues, but on the media's handling of those issues is quite refreshing. He's one person I'd like to see host a show and pin pundits down on their innuendo and how much research they've done on a certain issue before going national with their blather. Today's Howler is on the fact that Chandra Levy had some odd romantic habits and wasn't pregnant when she disappeared; more importantly, it covers the media's lack of noticing of these salient points.
- posted by levinson @ 8/27/2001 12:43:00 PM

 
The first paragraph of this article on Intel is interesting to me:

"Intel Corp., the world's largest maker of microchips, said on Monday it had begun selling a Pentium 4 processor that runs at two gigahertz, or two billion cycles per second, doubling the speed of its computer processors in only 18 months."

Funny, isn't that what one of their board members predicted 36 years ago? In fact, Gordon Moore revised his theory in 1995 to say that capacity would double every 2 years. I just found it funny that Reuters led with this paragraph witout noting Moore's Law at all.
- posted by levinson @ 8/27/2001 12:05:00 PM

 
Krugman firing away again. The much publicized destruction of the US Budget surplus and the distortions about it is today's subject. While many news organizations have disected this issue, I prefer Krugman's analysis. Always short, to the point, but lucid and specific. Herein we find the kind of essay our Professor's always wanted us to write. I guess that's while prof.'s like Krugman ask us to do it.
- posted by levinson @ 8/24/2001 07:01:00 AM

 
For pure comedic value, this headline takes home today's gold star. "'Smiley the Clown' Found Guilty of Sodomy" Just says it all. Never knew Smiley, certainly never knew and didn't want to know about his sexual habits. Now, however, I know that Smiley likes sodomy. Yikes.
- posted by levinson @ 8/24/2001 06:53:00 AM

 
And thus, the re-election campaign of Gary Condit begins. I, for one, expect that he'll win as despite being a reprehensible human being, he has proved an adept congressman. Since there has yet to be a shred of evidence to come out that he is remotely connected with her disappearance, I think he'll be back in the house come 2003. Certainly the performance tonight will have to be good. Hopefully Chung will press him on tough questions that I'd like to see him answer (his last conversation with Levy, etc.). Also, I'd like to see the transcripts (if any exist) of his interviews with the police. I'd like to see if he was asked if he had an affair with Levy and how he answered.
- posted by levinson @ 8/23/2001 09:56:00 AM

 
Looks like this weekend is going to be all Gary Condit all the time. CBS on Thurs. night, People on Friday's newsstands, and undoubtedly a full compliment of Condit coverage on every Sunday morning talk show. I'll be interested to here his side of the story, but hopefully this will be the last gasp, until Monday when the media begins to analyze itself and the quality of its coverage.
- posted by levinson @ 8/22/2001 02:28:00 PM

 
All I have to say is that from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, I'm going to eat nothing but McDonald's food.
- posted by levinson @ 8/21/2001 01:08:00 PM

 
I find everything about this story fascinating and I hope there's an in depth piece on it from beginning to end in the near future. A truly incredible achievement in science, medicine, and engineering. Hopefully this will be the groundbreaking that opens the door for replacement organs.
- posted by levinson @ 8/21/2001 11:20:00 AM

 
Been taking some time off from the Blogger. In honor of W's trip to Crawford to vacation from DC, I went to DC to visit friends.

On a totally different note, apparently surfers are unfazed by the rash of shark attacks in Florida. Interestingly, on Discovery Channel's Shark Week, they pointed out that there are fewer shark attacks this year than last year. Just another media frenzy. Since Condit's gone away, I guess they're a little strained for gripping stories. Speaking of the congressman, it looks like Connie Chung bagged this interview. I'll be interested to see this one since I've never heard him speak and only seen him in profile as he walks past the cameras.
- posted by levinson @ 8/20/2001 03:24:00 PM