Passed away today. His first film was "12 Angry Men".

"Serpico." "Dog Day Afternoon." "Network."

Here's a scene from "12 Angry Men", when the racism boiled over. I watched what he did with the camera that the actors did when confronted with racism from a juror. They withdrew, pulled away. It's as if they didn't want to get it on them.

That was the thing I felt when I watched this, I have no idea how many years ago. And every time I watched it again.

via Andylevy on Twitter.

RIP. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 09:29 AM | Comments (63)
Post contains 101 words, total size 1 kb.

Here. Here's a baby red panda.

Cute ain't he?

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 08:19 AM | Comments (132)
Post contains 17 words, total size 1 kb.

Saturday morning open thread where we can talk about the government shutdown.

Or not.

Man, I was really looking forward to the debates over whether or not we should restart the thing.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 04:38 AM | Comments (472)
Post contains 40 words, total size 1 kb.

So here we are, on the eve of a potential government shutdown and I can't believe it's come down to either Planned Parenthood or a few billion dollars in cuts that amount to a week of spending out of the total budget. Just insane. For once, blogging at the HQ is gonna be like working in the military. All work and no pay! Heh. Well at least Ace provides val-u-rite and hobos (so I've heard). Well enough serious talk. On with the ONT!

Since it is Friday, I think this pic should be perfect. What happens if you crossed Marty Feldman and Rebecca Black? more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:40 PM | Comments (592)
Post contains 693 words, total size 7 kb.

Well, the crew of United 497 got to find out the hard way as they tried to leave Louis Armstrong Airport in New Orleans on Tuesday. The A320 was scheduled to head to San Francisco, but returned rather abruptly to New Orleans after the pilots reported smoke in the cockpit. They also subsequently lost their instruments in the aircraft (save for the magnetic compass and the attitude indicator), as well as their primary flight controls. more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 06:08 PM | Comments (65)
Post contains 415 words, total size 2 kb.

Yeah, as Allah notes, we're accruing new deficits of $50 billion per week. Per week. And that's not even what we're spending per week -- that's just the part we're spending but not paying for.

So, $39 billion? Whatever. I guess it's... not really a start. Sort of a hesitant first inkling at taking a shy look at a start.

Numerous GOP and Democratic sources on and off Capitol Hill tell National Journal that the outline of the deal is as follows: up to $39 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget, $514 billion in spending for the defense budget covering the remainder of this fiscal year, a GOP agreement to abandon controversial policy riders dealing with Planned Parenthood and the EPA, and an agreement to pass a “bridge” continuing resolution late Friday night to keep the government operating while the deal is written in bill form.

As bad as this is, it doesn't mean it's over; we can and should keep pressing for cuts whenever we have some leverage. Which will be frequently.

Posted by: Ace at 05:56 PM | Comments (384)
Post contains 180 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm beginning to think Harry Reid is running out of scary political rhetoric.

Well everyone understands the gravity of the situation now. Cherry blossoms are about to be furloughed on Monday.

Funny, whenever I think of AndrewR's poem I think of Harry Reid. And then I don't think I really feel like eating dinner anymore.

video tip via Beth Cleaver on Facechimp.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:42 PM | Comments (171)
Post contains 78 words, total size 1 kb.

Steyn: "unfit for office," and he'd like to know where the supposed brave champions of free expression are on this.

Oh, right. They're congratulating themselves for agreeing with Graham.

Iowahawk discovers a Lindsey Graham essay on the importance of politeness and good manners during wartime.

On this issue, I can sort of give Graham a Mitigating Circumstances point because he is very pro-military, and is looking out for our troops. But to suggest that Americans need to be "held accountable" for the free exercise of speech? Because of the behavior of foreign primitives?

The idea that we need to institute a law against blasphemy on behalf of an aggressive, violent, alien (version of) a religion -- to avoid hurting the feelings of monsters! -- is insane.

What are we fighting for? Do we have to destroy the village to save it?

Posted by: Ace at 03:21 PM | Comments (143)
Post contains 161 words, total size 1 kb.

Now that's a good negotiating demand, huh?

Why do I have this unsettling feeling that does not sound as ludicrous to Barack Obama as it does to me?

demand during a visit to the United States where he met with top officials including Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State.

"We insist on only one thing," he said of the nascent US-backed missile defence shield. "That we are an equal part of it."

"In practical terms, that means that our office will sit for example in Brussels and agree on a red-button push to launch an interceptor missile, regardless of whether the missile is launched from Poland, Russia or the UK."

Somehow I don't think we'll have red button control over Russia's strategic nuclear missile force.

What a farce. How absurd they should even ask.

But then, look who's running the show. They've taken his measure and they can smell the weakness and failure on him.

Posted by: Ace at 02:34 PM | Comments (128)
Post contains 196 words, total size 1 kb.

I sort of feel this way, I guess? But how do you actually do that?

Anyway, here's Dick Morris & Eileen McGann.

The electorate that impelled the GOP triumph in 2010 will not tolerate a breaking of the Republican promise to cut $100 billion from the budget. They will accept, of course, the pro-rated share of the advertised total -- $61 billion over seven months -- but not anything less. It is a simple matter of keeping one's campaign promises.

...

And why are Boehner and Cantor marching off the cliff? The Republican Party will win a government shutdown. It will be the defining event of the 2011-2012 cycle. Faced with a choice between more spending and less spending, the American people will back less spending. The lessons of 1995-1996 do not apply. Clinton won that shutdown (in which I was instrumental) because the fight was about Medicare. Had the battle been merely quantitative -- as this fight would be -- the Republicans would easily have prevailed.

Hmm. Well, maybe.

I know for a fact that's not what they're doing, though. We're already hearing all the chatter that there is no difference between $61 billion and $38 billion when you compare it to a $3.73 trillion budget, which is true, but that just shows we need to cut $250 billion. Not even less!

So, maybe Morris is right; but I know that is not what these guys are doing.

Oh, as I was writing this, Allah posted about all the GOP bigs now starting to sell the wisdom of a deal. Including people with some credibility on the harder right, like Bachmann and Coburn.

So yeah, this is not what they're doing. They're not going to hold out for $61 billion. When these... guys started the process at $61 billion, we knew, as a fact, that the final number would be well less of that.

All the more reason it should have been started at $125 billion. Or more.

Posted by: Ace at 01:57 PM | Comments (222)
Post contains 365 words, total size 2 kb.