WDR Recommends: A Little Light Reading

We understand that many of you shape your entire worldview by solely looking at this blog. This makes you more knowledgeable than 94.3% of Internet users, and for that, you deserve a pat on the back (WDR Courtesy Note: before forcibly taking your neighbor's hand and placing it on your backside, it is best if you ask for their permission, preferably in writing). However, we feel that your education would be slightly incomplete if you solely rely on us, so we're providing some interesting links that we've come across.


The Right Has No Clue What To Do. Paul Krugman offers up a column that states clearly what I've been saying in private for some time now--the Right knows how to capture a phrase, but never follows through on their promises. All this talk of "small government" was en vogue during the 90's when the Republicans came into power once again, but we saw greater spending and greater deficits--you know, just like Reagan. And we're seeing the rise of that rhetoric once again, and just as repeated history dictates, we're seeing no actual solutions from the Right. Spending cuts sound like a good idea, until you try to figure out what needs to be cut.

Labeling a "Terrorist" Glenn Greenwald provides a scathing critique of the unwillingness to label the "Tax Protester" a terrorist, despite fulfilling every qualification for the term--except for being a Muslim/Arab. This looks at our nonsensical application of the word, from those who target military targets but are Muslim ("Terrorist") versus those that kill civilians, but are white ("Separatist" or some other term). You would think that this is important, considering that if you are labelled a terrorist you can be shuttled off to Guantanamo and be deprived of basic due process, even if you're an American citizen.

Milk Inspires Poetry A product review for a gallon of milk sparks creativity in the minds of Amazon users. Also check out this product that other users bought.

Other People Learn of the Brilliance of "Lady Terminator" A look at Indonesian exploitation films, and finally we have a reason why Lady Terminator exists and is nearly indistinguishable from a porno.

WDR Recommends This week, we recommend renting Black Dynamite. This is an absolutely hilarious film that examines the Blaxploitation era in a whole new light, and will have you on the floor laughing as you repeat back lines like "Now Aunt Billy, how many times have I told you not to call here and interrupt my Kung Fu!"

There's No Better Way To Sum Up This Day

Than to share this picture of my old room. This poster is fittingly taking the spot of my poster of the album cover of Rage Against the Machine's "Evil Empire".



Don't worry, I still have that poster at my new place though.

Politics, Movies and more!

Or: A random bunch of stuff that I should have posted earlier but didn't

It's been a while since I've published a blog here on account of my being kidnapped and forced to work on a Korean freight ship. But now that I've managed to make Shawshank-esque escape, I'm back to write for you once again. But I probably won't ever smell right again...

Here's a few items.

The Saddest Guy Ever

This could be an exaggeration, but let's look at it this way. Guy kills a couple on their yacht. OK. Now, this guy is a former child star. Ouch. But wait, there's more:

"Deleon, 29, is a former child actor who allegedly boasted that he was a star on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers but apparently had only a small part in one episode."



Wow. This guy sucks so much that he bragged about being on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. To me, this really negates the headline of "Former Child Star found guilty in yacht killings" (Headline on front page of CNN). I mean, this guy was NOT a child star. It's like me saying that I was a movie star for a small part I played in a student film. This guy is as much a child star as Karl Rove is human. I was expecting it to be somebody like one of the Savage brothers ("The Murder Years" or "Boy Meets Homicide" would be likely headlines).

Sarah Palin

I know that everyone has been talking about this woman and all of the strange shit that comes along with her, (The "If Canada and Wisconsin Had a Bastard Child" accent, an obvious lack of knowledge of important policies and documents, questionable firings and attempted book bans to name a few.) but I just want to say a little bit. First off, the VP debate was amazing. I took full advantage of whatever substances I could find before I watched this thing and it was well worth it. I'm fine with having her in the debate. I'm fine with her making brownies. Hell, I'm fine with her being the governor of Alaska. But I am not comfortable with someone like that being VP. We did it with Dan Quayle years ago and we don't need a female version of that. In a statement inspired by one of my favorite musicians, "All the drugs in this world won't save us from her."

Also, check this shit out. Too much fun...

G-Dub in da Whitehouse!

Like a good friend of mine, (who had me as a guest for the VP debate get together) I just saw the new Oliver Stone film W. There isn't a whole lot else to say that isn't covered in his blog, but let me just state that this is a great film that, most likely, is honest about the president. It's really the story of a guy who tries to do right but fucks up all along the way. I'm not saying that defends what he's done as president. But what I am saying is that a film like this can make you look at a guy like Bush and go "Holy shit; now I know how this guy became president." In many ways it's a scary film because it shows how so many terrible things happened. And most of the time they happen because the guy in charge is way too trusting of his advisers (like Dick "Vice" Cheney, played amazingly by Richard Dreyfus) and generally prone to making bad decisions.

It's a great film. Go see it if you haven't already.

I Bit Off a Bit More Than I Could Swallow

Also in movies, I recently saw Choke, the newest film adaptation of a Chuck Palahniuk book. Initially I was a bit skeptical about whether or not this film would be good because of the amount of sex in the book. I mean, the book is about a sex addict that isn't holding anything back. Still, I was pleasantly surprised to find that film was pretty faithful to the book and didn't leave a whole lot out. There were a few parts that were cut for the film version, but the parts that were cut weren't too important to the overall story.

The look of the film, I thought, was a bit too light for a Palahniuk story. I guess I was still thinking more along the lines of a David Fincher sort of dark, dank and saturated sort of look. I guess the clean and bright look of Choke was more appropriate for a comedy.

This is another one to go see. Also, look for Chuck in the film; he makes an appearance. Also, I loved that the film ended with Radiohead's "The Reckoner."

The Nintendo Wii is Way Too Much Fun

I've been playing a lot of Wii lately and I must say that this thing is amazing. It's a dangerously fun system and one that I might have to get my hands on when I have enough money to. This probably won't happen until I can get, I dunno, a job of sorts. But really, I never thought that playing a golf video game would be fun, but the Wii managed to make it so. TWICE! Also, Paper Mario is some trippy shit.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

I mentioned this in another blog, but it's worth bring back up because now the new season is on TV. I've only been able to catch a couple of episodes because I don't have cable, but I like what I've seen. Great stuff. And, I mean, I've got to give props to a famous UO alum when I can. Oh, and the third season is on DVD now, so that's also awesome.

Paul Newman

I don't know how this managed not to get mentioned a long time ago, but we lost Paul Newman. This guy wasn't just an awesome actor, but he also gave a shit load of money to charity and made some awesome popcorn (I mention the last part because it relates to the first). I think we should all celebrate the man by watching his films. I'm going to do my part and watch Cool Hand Luke again. Brilliant, man.

Obama, Bitches!

Yeah, we all know that the WDR crew is a bunch of Obama supporters, but now it looks like he'll actually win. By a lot. This makes me very happy. Initially I wasn't too thrilled about Biden for the VP, but he's grown on me a bit. Also, it's not like having Biden for VP was going to change my vote. But I'm happy with the direction things seem to be going.

The Economy

I don't claim to understand how the economy works. I didn't really pay attention in my economics classes. But I do remember my professors talking about how the market was controlled, in part, by methods to limit extreme growth/decline. This was some measure taken after the 1929 crash to ensure that such a thing wouldn't happen again. So, I kind of assumed (foolishly) that the people who keep track of the market were doing the right things. Then one day I find out that my bank was bought up. Then I hear that we're (by that I mean the government that we pay taxes to) setting up a bail-out for the ailing banks. I wish I got billions of dollars when I was out of money. Instead I get a $27 fee for not having enough money. Funny how this shit happens.

Anyway, let's hope that things improve. Like I said earlier, I need to find a job of some sort in the near future.

The End?

It seems we've made it here. I can't believe you've actually read this far. For this you are rewarded.



Enjoy.

Apparently black people and women are stupid

More political crap

So the conventions are almost over and it's almost time for the debates. It's almost finalized (minus some formalities) that John McCain and Barack Obama will duke it out for the presidency with the help of Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, respectively.

But the questions coming from the news coverage is something like this: "Are women ready to support Palin?" and "Obama gives black republicans heartburn."

I think the real issue is that these blanket assumptions are being made. There seems to be this idea that democrat women will throw all of their values out the window to support Sarah Palin because Sarah Palin has a vagina. Furthermore, it makes the assumption that black republicans will throw their values out the window and vote for Barack Obama because he's black. And I guess that black women are just REALLY confused...

Do we seriously think that people are that stupid? I mean, yes, some people ARE that stupid, but I would like to think that a majority of Americans are not that stupid and/or shallow. I would like to think that people take REAL ISSUES into account when they decide who to vote for. I'd like to think that maybe, just maybe, people will make the right decisions based on what really matters to them, not just gender and race.

Then again, maybe I'm wrong...

Either way, the end of this election will be something new: We'll either have our first black president or our first woman vice president.

More Proof That Americans Lack Basic Critical Thinking Skills

I'm burning diesel, burning dinosaur bones


We're pretty much in Campaign '08's silly season, with discussions about Paris Hilton and the ability to be a "secret Muslim" dominating the political discourse in the media. The one serious issue that actually has had some movement has been that of energy, mainly in the form of high gas prices. In the tradition of the Democratic/Republic breakdown of the party divide as being the party of no ideas vs. the party of bad ones, we have the McCain "solution" for the present high gas prices of offshore drilling for oil. And in the tradition of Americans not looking beyond the superficial merits of the case, we have the people supporting such an action by a 2 to 1 margin.

This is all despite the fact that:

1). The economic effect (at least in terms of gas prices) will be distant and minimal. What it boils down to is percentages and supply/demand curves not remaining static. Percentages in that the oil available offshore represents such a small percentage of world oil production, that it amounts to a negligible effect on world supply. As for supply and demand, one has to realize that the demand curve is only going to get sharper as other countries continue to develop (namely, China and India), so the effects of such a small increase in supply are negated even more.

2). Claims of "energy independence" are bullshit, because oil is sold on the world market. All that theoretical oil being pumped off of California or Florida is not guaranteed to stay in the US; it's just going to be sold to the highest bidder, regardless of location. So all this tough talk of not depending on the Saudis and so on and working on energy ourselves goes out the window.

3). The issue is not about drilling, it's about leases. As the Democratic leaders have tried to stress, there's no hold on drilling--it's just drilling in particular areas. Oil companies own leases to areas around the country that are double that of the area they're now angling for. Instead, the oil companies are taking advantage of the political situation, knowing full well that this is their last best chance to get their hands on these leases--because that's where the money is.

But that's not the part of the poll that bothers me. No, it's the fact that half of the people surveyed didn't believe that drilling would lower gas prices. That means there is at least 16 or so percent of people that are willing to drill for oil...without any potential benefit to them! The number may be even higher than that, since there are sure to be some environmentalist-types that are dead-set against drilling, even it provided such benefits.

Who are these people, and what happened to their brains?

McCain Needs To Quit His Bitching

John McCain's 2008 campaign has been quite the monument to sheer incompetence. But because America is a little slow sometimes (I mean, there is still a sizable population that thinks Dummy McChimp has been doing a bang-up job as President, despite ALL evidence to the contrary), he is still running neck-and-neck with Barack Obama. I mean, a candidate that has betrayed all previous appearance of principles AND has decided to back just about every single policy of a failed President (see: McCain's economic policy, his relaxation of his anti-torture stance, his reversal on oil drilling, etc.)--that's just what this country is looking for, right?

And if you ask John McCain, apparently being in a close race isn't enough--he should be winning this thing, daggummit. And he would be too, if it weren't for that goshdarn media being so in looooove with Obama! That's the problem. So last week McCain put on his sad puppydog eyes and played the victim as he complained about the media's coverage of Obama's trip overseas. "It's not fair that they're covering a trip that they basically goaded Obama into taking! Why don't you pay attention to me? P.S., I'm not a crackpot!"


Of course, irony is not McCain's strong suit. McCain may love to play the victim here, but doesn't realize if he got the "equal coverage" that he believes he deserved, we would have spent way more time going over his many mistakes, like his total confusion between Sunni and Shiite groups (happened during his Mideast trip in March, and kind of important in determining how our enemies operate), that he doesn't know who the leader of Iran is (kind of important, since we're talking about relations with a potential enemy), or that he still believes there's a country called Czechoslovakia (which happened during Obama's recent trip). All this, from a candidate who claims to be the expert in foreign policy.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think I would be glad that the media didn't go to town in picking up these kinds of gaffes. Unlike most of McChimp's fuckups of the English language, these "slips" just show a painful ignorance that is dangerous for a candidate to display. Of course, what can you expect from a man who in 2008 still does not know how to operate a computer.

Now, we'll have the McCain campaign respond with a message of their own:

We're Going to Miss You, Lil' Russ

As many of you are aware, a titan in the field of journalism left us in Friday. Since our resident journalist Mr. Zhuang has been taking this pretty hard (he hasn't left his dormicile since he heard the news, except to toss out a bottle of Jack and grab a bottle of Grey Goose), it's up to me to say something that makes this all worth your while.

I for one will always remember Tim Russert as the consummate professional, the man who did the research and backed up his questions with the hard facts. Simply put, the man did the job he was supposed to do, which frankly in this day and age is more than we can ever expect from his colleagues. He was not the kind of guy that would make random broad statements just to get attention, unlike say Glenn Beck (who hencewith shall be known as "Gleck") or Laura Ingraham, who despite graduating from UVA Law doesn't quite trust the Supreme Court to deal with constitutional matters like in Boumediene. But I digress, there's no need to inflict injury on Tim's good name by accounting for the sins of his colleagues. Let's just remember the man for his sharp wit, his incredible skill, and his joie de vivre.

It'll be strange not being able to watch the man on Sunday mornings (or, in my case, Sunday evenings during the Meet The Press reruns, since I'm not a fan of waking up on Sunday mornings). Which makes it all the more fitting that NBC's tribute to this titan was to leave the [his] chair empty this week. Dammit Tim, we'll miss you.

Oregon Matters!

The one (and only) benefit to the drawn-out Democratic Primary campaign has been the attention paid to some, ahem, lesser states. And Oregon certainly fits that bill. It's about time that people learn the finer points of...timber payments? And have the media visit such illustrious locales as...Albany. And Pendelton. Because THIS is America, fuck yeah.

At least we had a brief bit of national attention to our quirky little state. Granted, most of this occurred around 11 p.m. Eastern Time, but at least we got all the insomniacs on the up and up about the O-Regon. Everyone had a crash course in the total awesomeness that is the vote-by-mail system that we have in place; words like "sophisticated" and "efficient" were thrown around, especially as we had 50% of the vote counted within an hour, the kind of terms not usually associated with Oregonians. And we also had the great delight to hear CNN's John King refer to Salem as a "college town". Of course, people that are familiar with the area would probably call it a town full of old people and meth heads, but who's to quibble?



We also learned that even though Oregon is waaaaaaaay white, we are apparently "affluent" and "educated". This would be news to 97% of Oregonians, but then again, when you're competing against Kentucky, it's hard NOT to look impressive. And the fact that most rural, white, hard-working Oregonians voted for Mr. Obama means absolutely nothing, because Kentucky went so hard the other way.

That's the story of Oregon: Always overshadowed by Kentucky. Damn you, Colonel, and your delicious herbs and spices!

Why We Shouldn't Care About West Virginia

There's a reason why Deadspin always refers to The Mountain State as West Fuckin' Virginia (wait a minute, that's their nickname? Goddamn, that'll just about prove every point I'm going to make from here on out). And it's not a compliment, folks.

No, West Virginia is the kind of state where this happens. That's right, over 60% of the voters in West Virginia thought that Hillary's "Gas Tax Holiday" idea was a bang-up idea, good show, and all that. In West Virginia, they don't care that EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN ECONOMIST says it's a failure of an idea, and that anyone who has spent more than...3 seconds thinking about the idea also realizes this is the case.

I think the fact that West Virginia not only voted for Bush once, but TWICE, should indicate the level of intelligence of the electorate there. But for once, Bush has the right words to say about that kind of thinking:

The Down And Dirty That Is Oregon Politics

Having grown up in Louisiana, I am no stranger to shady politics and backroom deals. Hell, we invented dirty politics, folks. But when Louisiana-style politics come to Oregon, well that's a story. Hell, these kind of tactics would make Huey Long blush.

This year in Oregon we have a particularly contentious race in the 5th Congressional District, which happens to be my home district. In 2006, I was a volunteer coordinator for the incumbent, Darlene Hooley, and sure enough we defeated her challenger, one Mike Erickson. But with Darlene's retirement at the end of her term, the 5th is once again in play. In an area where party registration is nearly equal, both sides are eager to get their hands on the seat.

Whereas the Democratic side is filled with a laundry-list of no-names, there are two heavy hitters for the Republicans. There's the aforementioned Erickson, who managed to at least get over 40% of the vote, and longtime Oregon politician, the infamous Kevin Mannix. Oregonians know well of his shenanigans over the years, but lately has been a big loser in the state-wide offices he sought. Even though he lost state-wide, he managed to win the area of the 5th each time, meaning that the race was going to be competitive.

And it's been neck-and-neck for some time, which means it was time to get dirty. Mike "Because I'm a Cowboy"* Erickson lobbed the first volley, playing the old "you voted to increase taxes" card, which in GOP circles is almost as bad as gay-marrying a terrorist (*the "Cowboy" reference is an inside-the-campaign joke that we had--it really means absolutely nothing, but is fucking hilarious anyway). How does Mannix respond to these fairly benign charges? With this letter.

This letter has it all: Affairs, Abortions, Cocaine, and...HOUSEBOATS?!?!



That's right, a week before ballots are due, Mannix pulls the old "my opponent paid for a secret abortion and had wild houseboat cocaine parties card". I think Buddy Roemer pulled that one in '88, except the houseboat was a pirogue in his case. And since blanket denials by the press secretary of the Erickson campaign isn't enough, the local papers are all over this like flies on shit. Proof? Who has time for that! Of course, the most amusing part about the coverage has been the focus on the secret abortion, and not the wild COCAINE PARTIES ON HOUSEBOATS. How is that NOT the most interesting part of the letter?

Man, leave it to the press to miss a good story entirely.

God's Limited Set of Blueprints: Campaign 2008 Edition

We're big fans of politics around here, so we spend a lot of time checking out the coverage on the various cable news outlets. Often times this leads to righteous indignation (see our post on the coverage of the Pennsylvania primary), and justly so. But this is not always the case.



One of the bright spots of the campaign coverage has been the introduction of Chuck Todd, MSNBC's resident number-cruncher and Delegate-Guru. He knows his stuff when it comes to how the delegates shake out, but he also realizes that this isn't a big deal--it's really not all that hard to plug in a couple of percentages and getting a delegate count. In other words, he'll lighten up on occasion and realize that when he's expounding on the meaning surrounding the numbers, it's generally bullshit.

But during his time on the air, I couldn't help but wonder where did this guy come from, and where had I seen him before. Then during Tuesday's coverage, it hit me.



Chuck Todd is clearly just a pseudonym for Dante Hicks. I for one am glad to see that he's advanced beyond Clerkdom and has left the world of Mooby's/Quick Stop for the glamor that is MSNBC.

The best part of this realization was that as Tuesday's coverage continued into the late night, Chuck was clearly getting pissed. At some point during the night, especially during the goofy lounge setup of the After Hours segment, he had just about enough. As Joe pointed out, we were about two seconds away from Chuck exclaiming "I wasn't even supposed to be here today!" Only then would this abomination of a campaign have been worth it.

Deconstructing Pennsylvania

Once everyone forgot about it...


It is usually best to analyze events once a certain amount of time has passed, so that one can fully take in what has happened and process it. You know, gain some perspective. Of course, this flies in the face of the mantra of Cable News and Media Punditry, who thrive in the world of Insta-Analysis and Whiplash Judgments, so the idea of "perspective" may seem crazy to some of you. But here at WDR, we thrive on the crazy, so we're bringing you analysis...two weeks later. When everyone is concerned about two other states.

The immediate story that everyone picked up on was the fact that with a double-digit win in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton had proven that Barack Obama is an intrinsically weak candidate who was destined for failure, and that she had the keys to victory in November. The momentum was now moving in her direction, and we had a new game on our hands. Of course, this was a narrative that while interesting, didn't really mesh with what happened in reality.


First off, Clinton did not win by double digits. Since the media doesn't seem to understand the principles of rounding numbers, most didn't realize that by rounding Hillary's numbers up and by rounding Obama's numbers down, they artificially inflated the distance between their numbers--turning a 9.2% victory into a magical double-digit 10& victory. There's a huge psychological difference between winning by double digits versus single, and Hillary shouldn't have been able to play that up in the days after the primary.

Clinton also loved to play up the underdog angle in Pennsylvania, and the media was willing to eat it up. While in terms of national numbers (and in the progress of the entirety of the campaign) this may be true, that was definitely not the case in the state itself. Nearly two months before the primary, Hillary's lead in the state was mammoth, somewhere in the range of 25%. The fact that Obama was able to chip it all the way down to 9%, during a time in which he was hammered from all sides on various controversies, says more about the failings of Clinton than it does of Obama.

The other overlooked aspect of Clinton's initial advantage in the state was the support that she had by all the top party brass in the state. She had the support of Governor Ed "Eddie Rendazzo" Rendell, an incredibly popular figure in the state, and the support of the Mayor of Philadelphia, among others. This built-in advantage was a key factor in her win, and was too much for Obama to potentially overcome.


The other big story was the issue of capturing the "white working-class vote". Who knew that White Men held any power in the United States? That sure caught me by surprise, boy howdy. Why couldn't Obama latch onto these voters? This of course overlooks the fact that Obama did well in such locales known for their diversity, like Idaho and Maine. The reality is that Obama does not generally have a problem with whites per se. It is just that Hillary Clinton is like the Andromeda Strain of race politics--she only can work within a narrow range of minority populations. The real problem demographic that Obama has had trouble with is voters over 65--if you look at the results across the nation, he consistently loses by huge margins to this group. Of course, when he actually brought this fact up, it was dismissed. Nothing like letting the facts get in the way of a good story.

But perception is often reality, and Hillary was able to use Pennsylvania as a jumpstart to her Quixotic campaign, at least in the media's eyes. We now had to see what the problem was with Obama, pushing the story that "he can't close this one out". Of course, this discounts the fact that Obama's opponent is an incredibly able politician with millions of people who support her--it's difficult to turn off a faucet that powerful, in other words.



In the end, we'll forget all about Pennsylvania and these two weeks leading up to Indiana and North Carolina, as we realize that all along Hillary only had Joementum, not momentum. And Joementum is no way to win a campaign.

Exercies in Political Discourse

I got this video from esteemed contributor Von Bookman, and there was no way that I was not going to put it up here. Now, I can't stand anything that has to do with RPGs or text-based nonsense games, but I'll tell you wha, this is some clever stuff right here.

The Presidential Race in less than 90 seconds:

He never struck me as a quitter...

More time to smoke those cigars, I guess.

Yes, it seems to be official: Castro is no longer El Presidente. Yes, you might have heard it here first.

I would think that if I were "President for Life," I'd at least ride it out to the logical conclusion. Then again, he's been in pretty rough shape the last few years, so maybe this is for the best.

So what does this mean for U.S.-Cuban relations? How the heck should I know. I think our resident political expert Nic Ouzo will weigh in on this when it seems the right time to do so. As it is, I'm not going to say much of anything because I don't really know.

Let's just hope that now we can get our capitalist hand on some of those primo cigars we've been denied for so long. Sure, I could just get some in Canada, but that's beside the point.