or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
•
"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
April 14, 2008
Let's Talk About The Olympics!
Now would be a good time for you to donate to the Real News.
When you're a rich, famous Washington journalist, what should you do when government officials tell giant whopping lies to your face? Yesterday on ABC's This Week, George Stephanopoulos demonstrated the correct response: politely change the subject and pretend it never happened.
(You can read about the U.S. attempt to use a faction of Fatah to stage a coup and overthrow the elected Hamas government in Vanity Fair.)
STEPHEN HADLEY, NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: One thing people need to recognize, he [Abbas] has called for Hamas to renounce terror. He has called for Hamas to reverse the coup where they essentially seized power in Gaza. And one of the things one has to recognize is President Abbas is doing something very difficult now. He's trying to negotiate a Palestinian state with Israel. The Palestinian administration still represents the people of Gaza. There are Gazans who are in the government of Prime Minister Fayad. Over 50% of the budget of the Palestinian administration goes for salaries and other things in Gaza. So one of the things when you're talking to Hamas, it really undermines President Abbas and the government of Prime Minister Fayad at a very critical time.STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about the Olympics...
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at April 14, 2008 02:06 PMYo, Houston? Ya gotta problem widda vid...
or izzat da point?
Posted by: konopelli/wgg at April 14, 2008 02:34 PMVid seems busted, Sir Schwarz.
But I knew what Stephanopoulos was before, so there's probably no need for me to literally watch him cover up for the USG. Transcripts are faster anyway—more lies per minute.
Posted by: StO at April 14, 2008 03:31 PMWhat's wrong with the video? It works for me.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at April 14, 2008 03:32 PMSorry - an error has occurred:
Invalid streaming server destination.
Please try again later.
EID: d239d1e2-7ed7-1a3d-572e-ee416270d30f
Click HERE to email Support with this information.
maybe Al Gore should have tried that with BushCo.
Posted by: Jonathan Versen at April 14, 2008 07:25 PMSorry - an error has occurred:
Stream Failed To Connect on Any Available Ports After 9.734 Seconds.
Please try again later.
EID: a95d0e3a-d8ag-9bea-2125-021d7cc79cbc
Click HERE to email Support with this information.
It's working now.
Posted by: Save the Oocytes at April 14, 2008 10:48 PMWell, I for one will NOT be attending the opening ceremonies in Bejing!!!
Posted by: Mike Meyer at April 15, 2008 01:46 AMSports, Princeton, and good Manners....
November 21, 1896 ....... Edwin Manners Class of 1877
The great foot-ball game between Yale and Princeton came off this afternoon at Manhattan Field, New-York, and resulted happily in Princeton's favor. As a good Princetonian I expected to go, but unhappily the air was chill and a drizzling rain came down. So I stayed at home and was unique. There is sometimes a pleasure in not doing what all the world does. I am not cold; I really have some red blood. At the game I should have caught the enthusiasm and been carried out of myself, and that is well at times, even though it means temporarily being beside oneself and induces a suspicion of buffoonery. The game seems to be still in the ascendant for interest and popularity; yet looking apart at forty or fifty thousand people, swarmed on banks, gazing intently upon trained athletes struggling fiercely within the lines bring strongly to mind suggestions of a reversion to the brutal combats of the Circus Maximus or Colosseum. Is there not a savagery in this gathering to the fight to be in at the death? Is foot-ball a distinctive advance or retrogression in civilization? Is it not high time we got over war and the kicking habit? We should do better than that; we should shorten our feet and lengthen our heads. The virtues of the playing-field have been, I fancy, over praised. Let our universities ripen scholars. What is constantly wanted, what is becoming more and more a political necessity to safeguard the nation is trained intellect.
100 years later and we still need it---->trained intellect.
