Happy Friday!

Today is the annual March for Life. The media can only minimize our numbers if we let them. Be sure to mention the march to your family and friends and on Twitter and other social media.

Chairman Priebus had things to say about regenerating the GOP brand.

Jonah Goldberg on Sec. Clinton's testimony: "she outfoxed most of the Republicans with ease."

Gov. Jindal says the GOP doesn't need to change its values, just "everything else we are doing."

Microsoft must have missed that memo about the death of the PC. The software giant posted record quarterly revenue.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:47 AM | Comments (275)
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Snake-fascinated.

Posted by: Ace at 05:42 PM | Comments (129)
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Over the weekend, I became aware through some rather unsavory back channels there was a possible need for outside contributions to the Overnight Open Thread through this week. Naturally, after a few days of hoping all the slots would be quickly snapped up by a combination of other eager guest bloggers and maybe a cob or two, I jumped at the opportunity. After all, who knows when I'll ever get another chance to parade my haplessness before a mob of sadistic hecklers?

So, here it is:

Big rigs. Eighteen-wheelers. Semi-trucks. Tractor-trailers. Whatever you want to call them, if you were a red-blooded American boy at any point in your life, chances are you were infatuated with them for least part of it. They were big, loud, and often loaded with contraband. And, given the fact that women look for those very qualities in men, having command of such machinery makes you irresistible to them. They will do anything for you, including competing against large men in a pickup football game. more...

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 06:00 PM | Comments (641)
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Riveting stuff.

Responding last year to viewers who denounced the lack of racial diversity on HBO's Girls, its creator and star, Lena Dunham, told NPR, "I take that criticism very seriously... As much as I can say [writing four white main characters] was an accident, it was only later as the criticism came out, I thought, 'I hear this and I want to respond to it." She did just that in Sunday night's episode, choosing not only to cast African-American Community star Donald Glover as her character Hannah Horvath's new boyfriend, but also to address the issue of race as it manifests itself in their relationship.

Tell me more.

Glover's Sandy made his first appearance in the Season 2 premiere. A handsome, easygoing, responsible law student who doesn't go in for the awkward sex and excruciating mind games of Hannah's most recent ex, Adam, he has only one flaw (or what passes for a flaw among 20-somethings in Brooklyn): He's a Republican. His political orientation barely comes up in the premiere, but Hannah's roommate, Elijah, thrusts it to the fore in Sunday's episode, picking a fight with Sandy in the bathroom over his presumed opposition to same-sex marriage. Before the credits roll, Hannah is using his soft-spoken conservatism as an excuse to break up with him—although, in true Girls fashion, what's really bothering her is his dislike of a personal essay she's given to him to read.

Do they have a word for "too exciting"? Besides "too exciting," I mean. Because, I need that word to explain what I'm feeling right now.

It's in the midst of their final argument that Hannah and Sandy find themselves yelling at each other about race. "I also would love to know how you feel about the fact that two out of three people on death row are black men," she says.

This is amazing.

"Wow, Hannah. I didn't know that. Thank you for enlightening me that things are tougher for minorities," he shoots back.

It gets better. They soon deal with the issue of "exoticizing."

Soon, he's mocking her for exoticizing him—"'Oh, I'm a white girl and I moved to New York and I'm having a great time and I got a fixed gear bike and I'm gonna date a black guy and we're gonna go to a dangerous part of town,'" he scoffs. "And then they can't deal with who I am"—and she's feebly turning around the accusation on him. "The joke's on you, because you know what? I never thought about the fact that you were black once," Hannah says when it's clear the breakup is really happening, despite the fact that she's the one who introduced race into the conversation. "That's insane." Sandy tells her. "You should, because that's what I am." By the time he asks Hannah to leave, both have admitted they don't feel good about what they've said to each other. The viewer at home, witnessing such shrewdly observed yet ultimately unresolved racial and political tension, is bound to feel just as rattled.

I feel rattled just reading it! I felt the rattles all the way down in my man-box.

Holy crap. Holy crap. I can't believe I haven't been watching.

Just one question: If I put this program on, is there any danger of my television exploding? Like, are we sure that all tv's are able to handle this much power and excitement?

Is it only newer tvs that can handle the show? Do I need a special converter?

If I watch on an 3D TV, will it literally kill me?

I need answers to these questions. And I need to watch HBO's Girls.

It's not entertainment.

It's HBO.

[Update JohnE.] As if you needed any more reasons to drop everything and start watching this show, there's this too:

I didn't really understand how often Lena Dunham was nude on screen, or how often she did sex-scenes. If you take that in with the sex scene between her parents, what you have is one of the most democratic--and everyhuman--depictions of sex to ever exist in pop culture. The more I thought about this, the more important it became to me.

Posted by: Ace at 03:40 PM | Comments (408)
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Oh, it's a doozy. No peeking.

Posted by: CAC at 03:15 PM | Comments (131)
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Candyland.

California has been a leader in renewable energy production, in part due to federal and state level policies that provide incentives for producers of renewable power. However, a new report found that CaliforniaÂ’s energy policies will raise state power rates and associated costs by nearly 33 percent.

Eh, good. Irresponsibility flows from a lack of connection between action and consequence. The rickety structure we call the Modern Liberal Welfare/Nanny State is built on a foundation of obscuring this connection from the populace.

Anything that connects the action to the consequence is good for politics and good, generally, for the lost art of human thinking.

thanks to @jtlol.

Posted by: Ace at 02:54 PM | Comments (213)
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I had a sidebar item about the new franchise yesterday, about them hiring the guy who used to do their poster-paintings (and the poster-paintings for the Indy movies).

Eh... I currently hate Star Wars but I suppose the fictional universe does still have potential. We just had to get What's-His-Name out of it.

So: J.J. Abrams.

One thing he can do is do a slavish imitation -- I didn't much like Super 8, but he did basically make a more Spielbergian film than Steven Spielberg, didn't he?

That ability of mimicry might result in Star Wars movies that sort of resemble the first three.

Eh. What the heck. Can't be worse than the prequels. And I did like Mission: Impossible 3. (The only one I actually liked. If you didn't like the first two, you should still give that one a chance -- it's good. It's on Amazon Prime, for free.)

Ultimate Sacrilege? Brian in NO links this quote from Abrams on his Star Wars gig.

This quote sold me on Abrams: "I frankly feel that -- I almost feel that, in a weird way, the opportunity for whomever it is to direct that movie, it comes with the burden of being that kind of iconic movie and series. I was never a big 'Star Trek' fan growing up, so for me, working on 'Star Trek' didn't have any of that, you know, almost fatal sacrilege. And so, I am looking forward more then anyone to the next iterations of 'Star Wars,' but I believe I will be going as a paying moviegoer!"

As another commenter observed, he already has a film's worth of practice at making a Star Wars movie; his first Star Wars film was titled Star Trek. You probably saw it. I loved when Luke/Kirk looked up to see the Enterprise/Twin Suns over the horizon.

So, I guess at least he does have a sense of why the first three worked, and why they were fun.

Whoops: Turns out that sidebar item was wrong-- Drew Struzan (the old poster-painter for Star Wars) hasn't been asked to do posters for the new ones.

"Disney" has said nothing to me and I expect nothing. That a couple of friends were wishing is only an expression of the hope that many are sharing but says nothing regarding the Studio itself. Even if 'they' did ask, which Disney has not, I'd rather leave the new films to the next generation to interpret. I've had my time and they were exceptional blessings for which I will forever be grateful.

Tomorrow is a new dayÂ…drew

Well, then let this turn out to be a happy accident: They should ask Struzan. If they're looking to get back some of the previous magic, they need to grab up as much of the old talent as they can.

Thanks for the correction to Dr. Buzz E... Yannoglanchie, or something. Who can keep up.

Posted by: Ace at 02:03 PM | Comments (218)
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I think he'll wind up tying Bush in some other metrics, too.

Like final job approval.

Anyway, Gallup says this is just the times we live in:

The list of most polarized years makes it clear that Obama's highly polarized ratings may be as much a reflection of the era in which he is governing as on Obama himself. The last nine presidential years -- the final five for Bush and Obama's first four -- all rank in the top 10. Thus, it appears that highly polarized ratings are becoming the norm, as Americans aligned with both parties are apparently not looking much beyond the president's party affiliation to evaluate the job he is doing.

Uh, no, it's not that. Obama doesn't feel the need to be president for all the people -- just his micro-targeted macro-payoff base.

That may indeed be part of the times-- Presidents may follow Obama's lead and nevermore consider themselves presidents of the entire nation -- but it's not the same as that being due to the times.

It's due to Obama's decisions.

Posted by: Ace at 01:33 PM | Comments (157)
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Ever notice that it's always the biological technology that's freaky? We have no problems with remote-controlled planes with frickin' laser beams but the second someone starts talking about organs it's weird. Technology is metal and plastic, not flesh, and when it's flesh, it's just strange.

At least for me. But videogame developers seem to agree (hey, we're going to freak you out with a biological gun that shoots out pieces of the user's bones) and so did (MACABRE/VIOLENT CONTENT WARNING) David Croenenberg.

Anyway, this is, I guess, potentially life-saving technology that just wigs me out.

Bio-printers, Wired reports, “have the potential to change the way medical research is conducted, even print living tissue and replacement organs, but they are expensive and highly specialized. They literally build living structures, like blood vessels or skin tissue, cell by cell, revolutionizing biomedical engineering.”

The bioprinters available today are expensive and extremely complicated to operate, but BioCurious may change that. A talented team of hobbyists and scientists, led by Patrik DÂ’haeseleer, who has worked at Harvard Medical School and the Lawrence Livermore National Lab, salvaged parts from ordinary printers and figured out how to print sheets of cells for experiments, all for about $150. One day, DÂ’haeseleer hopes, these printers will churn out intact human tissue.

Imagine the revolution in medical care if affordable 3D printers can make replacement organs on demand. No longer will the grievously ill need to wait months or years for one to become available.

Your Mouth

...is 77% complete; installing Dentation sub-routine.

Rumors, etc.:

Print is not dead!

-- Dr. Varno

Posted by: Ace at 12:58 PM | Comments (159)
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It's important.

I already mentioned the media's Hillary Tributes, but there's even more of it.

And I've mentioned this before, but I'm truly alarmed about it: What we are witnessing is the full and seamless fusion of media power with government power.

The media used to hide it a bit, in their actions; they would temper their scorn of conservatism, throw them a bone now and again just to prove they were capable of such a thing.

No longer. The media no longer hides it in their actions. They are fully fused with the Obama Administration and DNC. The only way in which they do hide it is by simply lying when confronted about it: They'll issue a snide denial, then go about doing precisely what it is they were accused of doing.

This is dangerous and unhealthy. I keep banging this drum but honestly, some patriotic billionaires do have to band together to purchase or build a media outlet. The outlet would be founded upon a simple premise: that it is dangerous and ultimately fatal for democracy for media power to fuse with government power, that the adversarial press is vital.

Fox alone isn't enough. For one thing, any venture needs competition; Fox doesn't really have competition, not for the audience it's targeting.

For another thing, frankly, look: Fox is often pitched too low to do any good with any but the already-alarmed. (Which I consider to be possibly a function of a lack of competition.)

The media considers its adversarial function to consist of serving as adversaries to critics of Obama and the Democrats; thus Terry Moran shaming himself by rushing out to ask what right a Senator has to question the Secretary of State on matters of foreign policy.

They do not consider themselves required to exert any adversarial pressure on governmental power itself (at least not so long as it is held by socialist Democrats; why sure, they'll rough up John Boehner!).

This is dark, and dangerous, and will lead to horrors. It always has lead to horrors before.

I wrote sarcastically on Twitter about this. I'm putting that below, just to have it in one place.

.@terrymoran, wouldn't you agree that it's a wonderful thing that media power has fused seamlessly with government power?

This is precisely what an advanced liberal society is supposed to look like, right? Criticism of political leaders is quasi-criminal?

It's a sign of a perfectly healthy democracy that the "Watchdog Media" fuses completely with the government power.

Nothing bad could possibly flow from this, a "Watchdog Media" fused in every way with the government power.

If you look at history, you'll find that most of the free, liberal periods occurred during a fusion of media power with state power.

If history shows us anything, it's that government functions best when it is vigorously defended and covered-up for by a compliant media.

There is absolutely no reason at all for the media to re-evaluate its short-term politicizing for government power and consider consequences.

Let's face it, the Adversarial Press is an anachronism. Modern times demand a press working hand-in-glove with the government.

As New York Times pundit Thomas Friedman so astutely observes, we can learn a lot from the Chinese government & their media.

A government that wishes Results and Transformations cannot deal with the niggling of press critics, or political opponents for that matter.

Certainly the media (and every other powerful corporation) should do everything within its power to stamp out the subversions of disunity.

Efficiency requires that all citizens, and of course all media outlets, vigorously support the five-year plans announced by the government.

If the American Experiment means anything, it's that we must all be united in the exact same system of beliefs and political desires.

...

Just to add to this: What we call "liberal" politics in this country has always been a mix of actual liberalism (one strain of it, at least) and outright leftism. (This W.R. Meade piece notes that liberalism began absorbing parts of socialism/communism/leftism in order to compete with those groups, when they threatened liberalism politically from the left.)

Liberalism is highly concerned with process. Both the liberal version of classic liberalism and the conservative version of classic liberalism consider process (fairness, equal access, and other such concerns) to be almost as vital as outcomes.

Actually, in reality, process is more important than outcomes, as far as the long-term health of a democracy, and all politically-minded people tend to put outcomes over process; we all do it, we all lapse. But generally we keep process firmly in mind, even if we don't quite give it the priority it deserves.

But leftism is a different beast. Leftism considers concerns of process to be a weakness, and indulgence for sissies and the faint-hearts; the only thing that matters -- the only thing that should be a concern for the properly-masculine, properly-indoctrinated New Man of the Left is outcomes.

Any tactic, fair or foul, is permissible in the quest for the Leftist State.

Now, until recently, liberalism had at least tried to give some lip service, and perhaps some actual consideration, to the faggy notions of process, fairness, access, and such.

But no longer. The press is actually not more nakedly liberal now; in fact, it's never been more illiberal, at least not since some press organizations romanticized fascism, Naziism, and socialist dictatorship in the tumultuous years of the thirties.

What it is is more unabashedly leftist. It no longer has any fears of qualms about government power (power, I mean, held by the Right Hands); it cheers it on, it coddles it, it encourages it, it nurtures it.

Consider: The government locked up a filmmaker because the filmmaker expressed his free speech rights in a way the president found politically problematic. Not only has the press shown no fears about this, they've actively campaigned for the man's jailing.

That's frightening. Even if you come down on the side that the guy did what he's accused of and all that... to have absolutely no trepidations about the government jailing people primarily for their Speech Crimes? That's something.

That's something.

I don't think I'm being alarmist. At every point in history when media power has fused with government power -- whether involuntarily or, for one of the first times in history, now voluntarily -- it has resulted in disaster and misery.

It has so resulted every time before. I don't see why now would be different. And I don't consider our new Media Masters "better" or "smarter" than the old ones -- indeed, these seem like the most incompetent, most callow, and most ethically challenged crop in history.

Among Many Good Comments... is this one, from rrpjr.

You're not being alarmist. It's the single most threatening development in my lifetime. It's hard to believe it has actually happened -- how did the graduates of the finest liberal schools in the world come to a shared conviction in the importance of their own professional corruption, to subvert the essential ethic of journalism and the First Amendment? Amazing, really -- every cautionary tale of the 20th century is at our disposal, right there to see both in reality and in our literature -- and all are ignored or sneered at in the name of ideology and power. What profound ignorance and arrogance.

The true source of Obama's power is completely overlooked (or willfully ignored) by the GOP, perhaps because it is too terrifying to contemplate, too awesome to engage: that he has completely removed an investigative and anti-authoritarian media (in Mencken's famous adage, one committed in part "to afflicting the comfortable") from the political dynamic. Obama operates with the most massive propaganda arm ever been seen in modern history. He is essentially invulnerable. At no point did Romney/Ryan come close to addressing this sick truth so dangerous to our society and freedoms. Nor do any other Republicans. Breitbart alone found expression for his moral outrage and developed a plan of counter-attack. Since he died, however, the game has gone back to carping and chronicling "media bias." We need a battle plan.

Posted by: Ace at 11:51 AM | Comments (484)
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