Private media does not get up in the morning and say what can we do to promote the values and ideas that the free Western nations believe in? It gets up in the morning and says they’re going to try to make money by selling whatever they sell… The way they decided to do that is to be dramatic and if it bleeds it leads is the common statement in the media today. They’ve got their job, and they have to do that, and that’s what they do.
Sounds like another government handout to me. We’d be better served by tax cuts for big media companies.
Tonight the Russians declare year of the rat. China waits until February 7. I think the rat rates 13 months!
This is a Pacific (or Polynesian) rat. This is the preferred species for baby new rat year pictures, as it’s cuter than the Atlantic rat, and lives closer to the international date line. Happy year of the rat!
From “Ghosts Of Christmas Past: 15 Mostly Forgotten Holiday Artifacts” at The Onion AV Club. You can hear the Mickey (but thankfully you can’t smell the Mickey).
Washington Monthly has a sad and fascinating story about Ken Kronberg, chief printer for perennial Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche. Since 2008 is the first LaRouche-free Presidential election in over 30 years, it’s a great time to look back on his unique political career.
“For thirty years, Ken Kronberg printed, and all the other members edited and distributed, everything that LaRouche wrote, whether anybody understood it or not. If, in the late hours of the night, LaRouche determined that 50,000 copies of his latest essay on the Treaty of Westphalia needed to be distributed around the country, his followers did their best to oblige. “
LaRouche used to spend a lot of money buying 30 minute blocks of TV time in the 1980’s. In case you missed out on these Lynfomercials, here’s a taste:
“TV commissioning editors were worried about the reaction from the sponsors of the event due to the controversial opinions the former TV sports commentator and footballer has.”
The show is sponsored by Kickers shoes, a company that does NOT offer anything in snakeskin. Coincidence? I think not!
Bonus: Channel 5 (UK) documentary on David Icke is available in its entirety from Google Video, both for online viewing and download.
The first 42 dishes in the Allen Telescope Array came online last week, and are now collecting data for SETI. The array is located in Hat Creek, CA, and will eventually have 350 dishes scanning for signs of extraterrestrial life. The array is also performing some traditional radio astronomy for UC Berkeley. There’s an official press release from SETI, and news coverage from the Redding Record Searchlight and the Daily Telegraph.
Seth Shostack (SETI’s senior astronomer) described the ultimate vision for the ATA:
“The Allen Telescope Array will be like 200 million Jodie Fosters sitting out there listening”
Paul Allen put up the initial $25 million to get the site up and running, and it’ll take another $41 million to get the rest of the planned dishes built. Any Jodie Foster fans got a few million burning a hole in their pocket?
So the other day I’m in my local Circle K buying beverages and smokes. Circle K in Phoenix in the summer typically has an assortment of beer in small coolers near the checkout, and this one is no exception. Typically 24oz cans of Bud, Bud Light, maybe some Steel Reserve High Gravity Lager or Mickey’s Bigmouth. But on this fateful day, there was a new cerveza en la ciudad: Chelada!
Bud Light and Clamato! How could I resist that magical combination of thin beer, tomato juice, and clam broth? More pictures after the jump…
From Wired’s coverage of the Network Centric Warfare 2008 Conference, Donald Rumsfeld breaks with conservative ideals and suggests there’s something the free markets don’t do well: promote American values!
Washington Monthly 
The first 42 dishes in the Allen Telescope Array came online last week, and are now collecting data for 
