The FBI has declared the case of the 2001 Anthrax letters closed, and the media seem inclined to go along with it. The alleged perpetrator is Bruce Ivins, an Army microbiologist who killed himself at the beginning of the month as the proverbial dragnet was closing. No sooner had the case been presented to the public that the conspiracy theories started flowing like wine. And...
In one of the more peculiar editorial spreads of the election season, Harper’s Bizarre employed supermodel / talk show hostess / mother hen / fierce ferociousness Tyra Banks to appear dressed up as Michelle Obama in a photo spread depicting an Obama White House. I’m not sure if the ploy was to be an inspirational tool or some sort of sassy scare tactic, but either...
Amidst all the brouhaha that was caused by John McCain’s latest, Paris-Hilton-laden attack on Barack Obama, most people overlooked a smaller, equally questionable online campaign launched by the Republican National Committee over the summer. That’s right, in an effort to appear Internet savvy - or savvy at all - the people behind GOP.com launched BarackBook , a site...
One of the blogosphere’s favorite punching bags is Richard Cohen, Op-Ed columnist for The Washington Post . The supposedly Democratic Cohen is sort of like the Andy Rooney of the mainstream media: he’s criticized Stephen Colbert fans, denounced tattoos and, more troubling, helped pave the way for the Iraq war by falsely linking the 2001 Anthrax attacks to Saddam...
Vote for Yes We Can to be nominated for Video Of The Year! August 8 through August 13 MTV is allowing fans to participate in the 2008 Video Music Awards by giving them the opportunity to help decide this year’s nominees, creating a unique awards show with the music they want to hear and see. In addition, the Ballots for “The 2008 MTV Video Music Awards” were sent to an...
My father sends me lots of email. None of it is personal. Some of it is funny, some misogynistic (”What’s worse than a male chauvinistic pig? A women who won’t do what she’s told”) and much of it is political. I think I opened that can of worms five years ago when I jokingly sent him a copy of Living History , the boring and unrevealing book by Hillary Clinton, the woman my...
The modern fast food era was born in California, in 1940, when the first McDonald’s opened in San Bernardino. It is perhaps fitting that the beginning of the end may also come in California. Last week, the Los Angeles City Council passed a law barring new fast-food restaurants from opening in South LA. This area is commonly referred to as South Central, made famous by the...
Late last month, John McCain’s campaign released an attack ad on Barack Obama that essentially linked the Illinois senator to such celebrities as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. “He’s the biggest celebrity in the world, but is he ready to lead?” the commercial asked. Almost immediately, Obama supporters jumped all over the not-so-subtle implication that their...
One of the more recent memes bouncing around the press lately is, “Why isn’t Obama doing better?” Barack Obama would appear to have everything going for him: youth, charisma, money, and good press. Shouldn’t he be ahead by more than just a couple points in the polls ? Each of these articles cite the following statistic: Democrats are up by about 10...
Every few years, there seems to be a Republican politician who develops a reputation as a veritable gaffe-master — a person who cannot go more than three days without some sort of verbal mix-up causing him a landslide of ridicule. First we had Dan Quayle, whose infamous “potatoe” incident will forever haunt his Wikipedia page/life (they’re one and the same, right?) Then...
