A Little Of The Old In And Out



(image via FoxNews via NYTimes)

In: Fox News. Power is the ability to compel people to do things they don't necessarily want to do, like appear on Fox News. One of the many unfortunate byproducts of Jeremiah Wright's "Negro Eruption" is that the Democrat Party must needs now pander to the Fox News demographic. And it works both ways: according to TVNewser, the Hillary-O'Reilly appearance garnered at least the best ratings since mid-November 2007.
From Politico:

"The nation’s top Democrats are suddenly rushing to appear on the Fox News Channel, which they once had shunned as enemy territory as the nemesis of liberal bloggers.

"The detente with Fox has provoked a backlash from progressive bloggers, who contend the party’s leaders are turning their backs on the base — and lending credibility and legitimacy to the network liberals love to hate — in a quest for a few swing votes.

"In a span of eight days, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY.) and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean are all taking their seats with the network that calls itself 'fair and balanced' but is widely viewed as skewing conservative."

(image via wired)

Out: The Gas Tax Holiday. The cheap "Gas Tax Holiday," schlepped by the McCain-Clinton candidacies, which mayor-mogul Michael Bloomberg rightly called a stupid idea, is toast. Thanks to "unofficial" Obama supporter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. From TheHill:

"The gas tax holiday supported by presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) will be dead on arrival in the House, Democrats made plain Thursday.

"It was senior aides behind the scenes who described the idea as 'DOA,' but the party’s topmost leaders were clear that they sided firmly with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the only White House contender who opposes suspending the gas tax.

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said 'there’s no reason to believe that any moratorium on the gas tax would be passed on to the consumer.' She has left the measure off the list of energy proposals that she may try to attach to the supplemental Iraq war-spending bill."

(image via startrek)

In: A Reinvented Star Trek. This blogger has never been a Trekkie. We just don't roll like that. But the idea of J.J. Abrams on board does make us think second thoughts about the franchise-in-decline. from Cinematical:

"While he didn't say much more than Simon Pegg or John Cho did, it was possibly enough to infuriate loyal Trekkies. In an interview with the Associated Press (via Empire), director J.J. Abrams swore he would reinvent Star Trek.
'I feel like this is so unlike what you expect, so unlike the Star Trek you've seen. At the same time, it's being true to what's come before, honoring it. I can say the effects for Star Trek have never, ever been done like this. ... I can only tell you the idea of the universe of Star Trek has never been given this kind of treatment.' (That is a lot of Star Treks in one paragraph. Don't blame me, he said it.)

Abrams has been adamant that he wants to capture new Trek fans, as well as please old ones. He pretty much has to -- the Trek fanbase has shrunk more with each series, the conventions a faint memory in most cities, the market of Spock ears all but gone. (I can say that, I went to my local Trek convention in the days of Enterprise, and it was just sad.)"

(image via hip-hopelements)

Out: Mariah Marries Nick Cannon. If only Andre Leon Talley's "guidance" of Mariah "Voices" Carey extended beyond the realm of fashion and into the management of her increasingly messy personal life (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment). Excuse us for being somewhat pop-culturally fascist, but some people ought not to be allowed to marry. That oily "Prince," Frederick von Anhalt -- Zsa Zsa's husband with the Swabian accent -- is one such dirtbag. Elizabeth Taylor clearly doesn't respect the institution. Mariah Carey, unfortunately,is one of those people. What the scattered Carey needs is not marriage but a year off from show business studying and concentrating on yoga and letting it all hang out with friends.

It actually confounds us that gay couples who actually love each other and respect the institution of marriage cannot, in most states, be wedded, and yet Mariah Carey, who is on #2 with a man she has been courting for just one month (and who is also on the affiance-rebound from another show-business relationship about 6 months ago) is granted legal married status.