HorsesAss.Org

A great post showing Hollywood’s thickheadedness.

So Elaine and I scored some advance passes to “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” tonight, 7 PM, at Cinerama. She left work a bit before 5 to get in line and hold our place; by the time she arrived, the line was already down the block, and the show was clearly going to sell out.

I got downtown from work around 6:15, joined her in line, and we spent the half hour chatting and catching up on the day.

So the line moves, we’re at the doors to the theater, turn in our passes, get our hands stamped, and then they want to look through our bags for camcorders, etc. I take off my backpack, open it. It’s all work stuff – binders and folders and notebooks, really – and then I open the front pocket, which has my wallet and my iPhone.

(Which is off.)

The woman’s got a flashlight and a little stick that she’s using to do security screenings, and, once she sees the iPhone, says, “I’m sorry, you can’t go in.”

I blink. “Excuse me?”

“No cell phones allowed.”

I point out that it’s off, and she says that doesn’t matter. “The rules are clear. No phones.” She then suggests I leave it in my car.

“I don’t have a car,” I tell her. “I just came from work. On the bus. All my stuff is with me, and I don’t have any place to put it.”

“I’m sorry,” she says, in a very I’m-not-at-all-sorry-voice. “The rules are clear. No phones.”

I blink, look at Elaine, blink again, shrug, and then we leave, walking past the hordes and noticing that replays of this conversation (“What? It’s my cell phone. I have it on me all the time…”) are happening all over the place.

So now Elaine has wasted two hours of her time, we’re not seeing the movie, and the studio (Warners) clearly doesn’t give a hang about it. I understand the need to combat piracy – I really do – but pissing off honest moviegoers with ridiculous (and ridiculously ineffective) rules like this is insane.

Be warned. Leave your phone at home.

As for us? We’re planning to rent something on DVD … and preferably not made by Warner Brothers.

The studio told the theaters, “no cell phones”, because some phones can record video. Never mind that cell phone video quality is awful, movie execs are freaking out industry-wide over piracy. Hollywood seems content to put their own anti-piracy responsibilities on their customers. Bad move. Seems similar to the RIAA suing teenagers for downloading songs.

Cell phone searches will likely end when the movie is released. Still, theaters nationwide should use readily available technology to fight piracy. Night vision goggles are great at spotting illicit recording, and I’ve seen them used effectively. Seems like a better plan than turning people away.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. What better way to beat the heat than some icy cold beer, and… um… air conditioning?

Not in Seattle? Liberals will also be drinking tonight in the Tri-Cities. A full listing of Washington’s eleven Drinking Liberally chapters is available here.

UPDATE:
Almost forgot… King County Prosecutor candidate Bill Sherman will be dropping by tonight. I would publicly endorse him tonight, but I’ve pledged to keep Drinking Liberally above politics.

Mental note: Stay on Goldy’s good side.

In one of my very first posts here on HA, way back before pretty much anyone was reading me, I called out bowling alley operators for their ridiculous claims in support of Tim Eyman’s Initiative 892, which would have put tens of thousands of slot machines in bars, restaurants and bowling alleys, scattered throughout nearly every community in the state.

Support from bowling alleys comprised the heart of Eyman’s claim that his was a battle for equal treatment for mom-and-pop businesses versus a powerful “tribal monopoly,” and throughout the campaign a handful of bowling alley owners routinely made the rounds of talk radio and editorial boards, arguing just that point. I wasn’t convinced.

I remember one particular phone call from a woman who pleaded for slot machines on behalf of the bowling alley that had been in her family for three generations. She claimed she just couldn’t compete against the tribal casinos anymore, and if I-892 didn’t pass, she would probably shutter the family business.

Now, at the risk of sounding unsympathetic, I’d like to impart a bit of wisdom from one small businessperson to another:

YOU’RE RUNNING A FUCKING BOWLING ALLEY!!!

And perhaps, instead of trying to compete with the tribal casinos, you should spend a little time and effort promoting… gee, I don’t know… bowling?!

Saying that bowling alleys need slot machines to compete with tribal casinos is like saying Chuck E. Cheese’s needs a liquor license and strippers to compete with the Deja Vu.

The point is, if you can’t make ends meet enticing people to chuck balls at pins, then perhaps you’re in the wrong business. Or sadly, perhaps bowling just isn’t a viable industry anymore.

Well, apparently bowling still is a viable industry, with a brand new Lucky Strike Lanes set to open one floor below a trendy billiards parlor in downtown Bellevue.

Sure, it’s not the beer stained, smoke filled “family” bowling alley of my youth, but then, I don’t remember slot machines vying for space with the Charlie’s Angels pinball machine either. And surprise: all it took to compete for entertainment dollars was some good, old fashioned innovation.

Hmm. Bowling alley owners capturing new business by catering to bowlers? Who’d a thunk?

Local politics don’t inspire me much these days.

My favorite city councilman, Peter Steinbrueck, is quitting. The monorail is dead. The Alaskan Way Viaduct is being retrofitted. Mayor Nickels is doing a lot of the hard work put off by previous mayors. Everything is in its place. Sure, there’s some police department stuff, but when isn’t there some of that?

The two major candidates runnig to replace Steinbrueck are Venus Velazquez and Bruce Harrell. Harrell is the business-backed candidate, while Velazquez wants to be. Both want to fix the Seattle Schools even though it isn’t in their job description.

Council candidates talk small ball, but I want to know: what do you want the city to look like in 25 years?

Meanwhile, the guy I do want on the council is quitting. So if you want a “Steinbrueck for Council” t-shirt or some stickers, let me know.

Welcome the first bullshit of the rest of your life. Good bullshit locally.

* The Office of Professional Accountability has decided that professional accountability is a waste of time.

* Michael Medved thinks that the BBC describing the terrorists who drove a flaming car into the Glasgow Airport as members of, “the disfranchised South Asian community” is political correctness. Because doctors can’t be disfranchised. And they didn’t say Mohammedan, or something.

* Don over at Sound Politics thinks he has psychic abilities for having predicted the Libby pardon would come some time in a 2-year span. And the story proves that the beltway is out of touch with America, but not how you think.

* The final local thing, the Faith and Freedom network is concerned about the fate of the Dutch. Their sad experiment in secular humanism has come to an end, as evidenced by an article that says the most conservative member party of the ruling coalition, “say they are not pushing to banish legalized prostitution or soft drugs.”

And they gots some delectable bullshit nationally.

* Regular readers of HorsesAss.org know more than most about the tainted products from China. But did you know that former (?) coke head and rightwing gas bag Larry Kudlow has some thoughts. Maybe, the Chinese are secretly trying to poison our dogs and our kids. That makes a lot more sense than the problems being the effect of bad trade deals and a lax system of oversight in China.

* Wendy Shalit seems to be making stuff up.

* President Bush missed the chance to go after al Qadea leaders. The right wing doesn’t care all that much.

* And finally, John Edwards gets his hair cut, this is sinister.

President Bush’s first video blog, via OpenLeft.com.

Democrat Darcy Burner will report campaign contributions of $199,768 for the second quarter of 2007 — more than any challenger in any congressional district over the same three month period in the history of Washington state. Burner’s fundraising efforts now put her nine months ahead of her impressive 2006 pace, in which she raised nearly $3.1 million.

With $185,000 cash on hand, a 16,000-strong contributor list, the unwavering support of the local netroots, and a top-notch campaign team forming around her, I can’t imagine why another Democrat would attempt to challenge her for the opportunity to face-off against Sheriff Reichert. (But then, I’m not sure why any sane person would put themselves through the rigors of a race like this.)

When final numbers are reported on the 15th, I’m guessing we’ll find Burner ahead of Reichert in cash-on-hand, and in the top tier of challengers nationally.

Turkey:

Around 5,000 flag-waving nationalist Turks held a rally Saturday to denounce escalating attacks by separatist Kurdish guerrillas, and the United States for not cracking down on rebel bases in northern Iraq.

Turkey has been pressuring the United States and Iraq to eradicate bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in Iraq, saying it was ready to stage a cross-border offensive if necessary.

“Down with the U.S.A. and their collaborators,” the crowd chanted in Ankara’s Tandogan square.

Lebanon:

Fear that political deadlock may spill into violence is gripping Lebanon, a year after Israel and Shi’ite Hezbollah guerrillas jumped into a war that shattered trust between rival Lebanese camps.

Assassins have slain two anti-Syrian politicians in the past eight months. More than 200 people have died in battles between Lebanese troops and al Qaeda-inspired militants in a Palestinian refugee camp. And a car bomber killed six U.N. peacekeepers in the south last month. Many Lebanese expect worse to come.

Gaza:

About 30 armed men from a Hamas-led security force entered Gaza City’s Al-Azhar University on Saturday and seized 80 bags with chemicals from the agriculture college, the dean said.

It was not immediately clear why the chemicals were taken. The spokesman for Hamas’ Executive Force militia was not immediately available for comment.

Israel:

In a bid to bolster Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the Israeli cabinet on Sunday, approved the release of 250 Fatah security prisoners, even as rival Hamas accused Abbas of “collaborating” with Israel against them.

West Bank:

Routed in the Gaza Strip, the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is fractured and adrift at a moment when it is viewed by the outside world as the best hope for blunting the militant Hamas movement in the West Bank.

Once dominant in Palestinian affairs, the organization long led by the late Yasser Arafat is beset by a weak and aging leadership, internal schisms and a widespread reputation among Palestinians as corrupt, ineffectual and out of touch. Those troubles have some Palestinians wondering whether Fatah is more likely to lose the West Bank than to recapture the Gaza Strip from Hamas.

Syria and Jordan:

The UN refugee agency has urged the global community to step up assistance for Syria and Jordan, the two countries caring for the biggest proportion of Iraqi refugees, while regretting that they have recieved next to nothing despite the pledges of support.

It is unconscionable that generous host countries be left on their own to deal with such a huge crisis, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Ron Redmond said.

Iraq:

Suicide attacks across Iraq killed at least 144 people and injured scores in an 18-hour period, including a massive truck bombing in a northern Shiite village that ripped through a crowded market, burying dozens in the rubble of shops and mud houses, Iraqi officials said Saturday.

Shattering a relative lull in Iraq’s violence, the attacks raised questions about whether insurgents who have fled an ongoing military offensive in Baghdad and Diyala province are regrouping and assaulting soft targets elsewhere, in less-secure areas with fewer troops.

The violence came as the U.S. military on Saturday reported that eight American troops were killed over the past two days, all in combat or by roadside bombs in Baghdad and the western province of Anbar.

Iraq (2):

For four years, Iraqis have been waiting in lines at gas stations in Baghdad, waiting for their lives to get better. But, as CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports, the situation has gotten worse and their government is now in crisis.

That has led senior Iraqi leaders to demand drastic change. CBS News has learned that on July 15, they plan to ask for a no-confidence vote in the Iraqi parliament as the first step to bringing down the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Saudi Arabia:

A religious edict by a prominent Saudi cleric suggesting liberals are not real Muslims has enflamed debate over reforms in the conservative Islamic state, with self-professed liberals fearing they will be attacked.

Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries that rules by strict application of Islamic law, giving clerics a powerful position in society, but Islamists fear that liberal reformers are gaining ground under the rule of King Abdullah.

Responding to an online request for a religious edict, or fatwa, Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan said last month: “Calling oneself a liberal Muslim is a contradiction in terms … one should repent before God for such ideas in order to be a real Muslim.”

Iran:

Tehran on Sunday rejected the latest threats of further sanctions by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and said it would not be intimidated in the ongoing dispute over its nuclear programmes.

‘The latest stance by Rice was another sign of US hostility against Iran, but US officials should know that such threats would not intimidate Iran,’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini told reporters in Tehran.

Rice said on Friday that Iran was becoming ‘increasingly dangerous’ and that the US and its allies were considering new sanctions to limit further Tehran’s access to the international financial system.

Pakistan:

There are increasing signs, however, that the Bush administration’s decision to build so much of Washington’s Pakistan policy around one man, Musharraf, could backfire. Today, the Army general and self-installed president is facing sustained protests that are being led by the country’s educated middle class-America’s most natural allies in Pakistan. “If the Bush administration continues to support the dictatorial regime, which has completely lost the public confidence, it will further fan extremism and fundamentalism,” says Shameem Akhtar, the dean of management sciences at Balochistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences in Quetta, Pakistan. “America should learn a lesson from Iran, where it has been paying the price for supporting an unpopular monarchy even after 28 years.”

Afghanistan:

Afghan elders yesterday said that 108 civilians were killed in a bombing campaign in western Afghanistan, while villagers in the northeast said 25 Afghans died in airstrikes, including some who were killed while burying dead relatives.

US and NATO leaders, however, said they have no information to substantiate the reports of civilian deaths, and a US official said Taliban fighters are forcing villagers to say civilians died in fighting — whether or not it is true.

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on Newsradio 710-KIRO:

7PM: Is the 2008 presidential election already over?
Is Barack Obama inevitable? Is Fred Thompson rising? Is John McCain toast? Is Rudy Giuliani, well… Rudy Giuliani? Prof. Thomas Schaller, author of Whistling Past Dixie: How Democrats Can Win Without the South, joins me for the hour to talk about electoral politics and the state of the current presidential campaign.

8PM: Is Tim Eyman back?
Yeah, well, sure… back with another dumbass, unconstitutional, anti-government initiative, and a broad coalition has formed to oppose it, including the AARP, SEIU, WEA, and Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. Christian Sinderman from the No on I-960 campaign and Lauren Moughon from the AARP join me for the hour for a fair and balanced discussion of Eyman’s latest piece of self-serving idiocy.

9PM: TBA

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

America’s airwaves have been damaged by a series of rule changes the past two decades that have ushered in an era of bland commercial radio and television.
— The Seattle Times, 7/8/2007

Working for 710-KIRO, the commercial news/talk station with Seattle’s best local news coverage, the most live and local programming, and the most only balanced lineup of talkers in the market, I can agree with the thesis of today’s Seattle Times editorial entirely guilt-free. (You know, except for the part about agreeing with a Seattle Times editorial — it just makes me feel so dirty.)

But as long as we’re talking about “homogenized,” “formula[ic]” and “bland” commercial media, I’m wondering if the Times’ editors have bothered reading their own front page recently?

Saturday’s front page consisted of two soft features and two news stories, both lifted from the Los Angeles Times. Today’s front page is dominated by an infomercial for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, a bleak assessment of our military and political failures in Iraq (courtesy of the Washington Post,) and the first installment of a serial novella.

Two days. Two front pages. No hard, local news.

By comparison, every article on the front page of today’s New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Philadelphia Inquirer was written by staff reporters. I’m just sayin’.

To be fair, the Seattle P-I isn’t much better in this regard, and the kind of homogenized, formulaic and bland fare we tend to see in Seattle’s dailies is pretty typical of broadsheets nationwide. While I don’t mean to diminish the Times’ defensible thesis that lax ownership rules and media consolidation have damaged the broadcast industry’s ability (and willingness) to serve local interests, the steady decline in both quality and readership of our nation’s daily newspapers suggests that there are broader forces at work.

This isn’t the first time the Times has editorialized on media ownership rules, and I urge the editorial board to flog this issue with the same sort of zeal they reserve for estate tax repeal. But I would also encourage a little introspection into how staff cuts and a slavish devotion to style-book-over-substance has led to a steady decline in the quality and utility of their own product.

No doubt, local media ownership tends to better serve local community interests. But as the Times has proven by example, it is no panacea on its own.

The media seems surprised that Fred Thompson used to be pro-choice. The LA Times broke the story on Saturday:

Fred D. Thompson, who is campaigning for president as an antiabortion Republican, accepted an assignment from a family-planning group to lobby the first Bush White House to ease a controversial abortion restriction, according to a 1991 document and several people familiar with the matter.

A spokesman for the former Tennessee senator denied that Thompson did the lobbying work. But the minutes of a 1991 board meeting of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Assn. say that the group hired Thompson that year.

His task was to urge the administration of President George H. W. Bush to withdraw or relax a rule that barred abortion counseling at clinics that received federal money, according to the records and to people who worked on the matter.

But Fred Thompson is just another Republican whose views on abortion apparently change with the political winds. I’ve found a number of articles published in the 1990s that suggest Thompson used to be pro-choice.

The New Republic article, published on 10 Apr 1995 (pg. 15) and subtitled “Meet Fred Thompson (R-Hollywood),” pointed out (emphasis added):

On the current Republican hot-button topics, [Fred Thompson] evinces just the right degree of political honesty. He’s pro-choice and is one of the few Republicans willing to broach the subject of cuts in Social Security. But he swaddles his words in soothing balm about not wanting to hurt the “old folks.” Not bad for a beginner. Good enough, even, to make him a distant but conceivable vice presidential pick in 1996.

By 1997, Newsweek (3 Feb, U.S. edition, pg. 30) points out that (emphasis added):

Thompson is hard to pin down politically. He refuses to announce a clear position on abortion (though he consistently votes pro-life).

A few months later, The Economist (July 12, 1997, U.S. edition, pg. 32) writes (emphasis added):

Though he has been in the Senate less than three years, and though the extent of his ambition is uncertain, Mr Thompson is a natural presidential hope. He is six foot six; he has a folksy charm; he is frequently compared to Ronald Reagan. […]

Mr Thompson’s fight against corrupt politics is attractive, to be sure; his open support for abortion choice in a party of abortion foes is politically courageous.

Should he run for POTUS, Fred will have to make up some Romneyesque bullshit story like an epiphany caused by the “obvious” immorality of stem cell research that changed his stance on abortion.

For now, Fred Thompson is just spewing bullshit without the epiphany. Responding to the LA Times piece at the Young Republicans National Convention on Saturday, Thompson said:

“I’d just say the flies get bigger in the summertime. I guess the flies are buzzing,” said Thompson, who is considering running for president as a social conservative. He refused comment on whether he recalled doing the work.

Basically, Fred, like Mitt, has changed his position on abortion. The difference is that Mitt at least made the effort to concoct a bullshit excuse, whereas Fred is just spewing utter bullshit.

Tonight on “The David Goldstein Show”, 7PM to 10PM on Newsradio 710-KIRO:

7PM: The Stranger Hour with Josh Feit
The Stranger’s Josh Feit joins me for the hour to talk about state and local politics, including Dino Rossi’s non-campaign, Dan Satterberg’s non-endorsements, and the Seattle Police Department’s non-accountability.

8PM: TBA

9PM: Are you feeling lucky?
Thousands of couples flocked to Las Vegas to get married today, lucky 7/7/7. Do you believe in luck? What’s the luckiest (or unluckiest) thing that’s ever happened to you?

Tune in tonight (or listen to the live stream) and give me a call: 1-877-710-KIRO (5476).

In announcing his candidacy for King County Prosecutor, acting prosecutor Dan Satterberg made a big show of promising to keep his office “above politics,” instructing his staff that he would “not permit members of the office to either contribute money or a personal endorsement to my campaign,” yet when civil division chief Sally Bagshaw emailed attorneys at the region’s top law firms, saying she was “supporting” Satterberg, and asking for their endorsements, Satterberg said he thought it was “an appropriate thing to do.”

Huh. That’s a pretty fine parsing of the meaning of the word “endorsement.” So since I obviously lack his sharp legal mind, perhaps Satterberg could explain to me how his admonishment against staff contributing a “personal endorsement” is consistent with Bagshaw’s name appearing on his own web site’s list of… um… personal endorsements…?

SNIDE ASIDE:
On a tangential note, in her controversial June 9 email, Bagshaw stated that “Our goal is to get the top lawyers in King County to endorse Dan early, and I would like to place 1000 lawyers’ names onto the website this week.”

One month later she seems to be about 700 lawyers short of her goal.

Giuliani has a fascinating new ad (via Crooks and Liars):

By the way, if you enjoy political audio and video clips, check out Hominid Views every Saturday morning for a recap of the week’s best political media. That is…if you can break away from those cartoons.