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Science Fiction and the New Golden Age of Television: Another Chance to Hea
2008-02-17 04:52:00
It started in the mid-late 1990s with HBO's original series, especially "The Sopranos" in 1999. This revolution in television - frank, gritty, real, intellectually sophisticated - soon spread to other cable and old-fashioned network television.In the past few years, science fiction has taken a leading role. In this special podcast - based on a lecture I gave to the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society on 25 January 2008 - I look at the contributions of five science fiction series to this new golden age of television ... Lost, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Journeyman, Battlestar Galactica, and Heroes... all reviewed here in Infinite Regress.Hey, if you missed the lecture - and let's face it, most of you did :) - you can get the gist right here in this 20-minute podcast... which you can listen to on your computer...See also my infamous Only Idiots Don't Watch Television ... first published under the more innocuous title of "TV's New Golden Age" in Newsday in July 2006.....
More About: Chance , Science Fiction

Obama Deserves Credit for Being Against the War
2008-02-15 17:54:00
I came across this odd point in a blog post - Why I'm for Hillary and not Obama - yesterday: "On the issue of Iraq, again there are only a few variations on the same stance. Let us dispense with the fact that Hillary voted to give authorization for the war."I don't see why we should dispense with that fact.Hillary, and everyone in my immediate family including me, was wrong about this. The only opposition I heard back then was from a wise brother-in-law in Boston.Obama was right.Why should he not get the credit?I was concerned that the war was not declared, as required by our Constitution. I think it's dangerous and destructive of our democracy that we have gone to war so many times since World War II without a Declaration of War.But I would have urged my representatives in New York to vote for a Declaration of War, had it been presented at the time. I live near New York City, I work in New York City, and I'm still affected by September 11. I was all too ready to believe tha...
More About: Credit

Lost 4.3: Thirty Minutes and Big Ben
2008-02-15 05:53:00
Lost just keeps getting better and better this season. Tonight's Episode 3 of Season 4 was the best yet - which is saying a lot, since the first two episodes were superb.Tonight was Sayid's show - his flashforward. (As I mentioned in last week's review, I have a feeling that we'll be seeing flashforwards for all the old hands this year, and flashbacks for the newbies on the island.) Sayid is a hitman in this future. He's working for ... well, I'll tell you about that at the end of this review. Also of importance is when exactly this flashforward is taking place. Before the Hurley-Jack flashforward in the Season 4 premier? After the Jack-Kate flashforward in the Season 3 finale? In between? The answer is important, because it could tell us who Hurley and Jack are afraid of, but at this point it is not clear.Back on the island, we learn a bunch of significant things, including -.why Hurley felt so guilty about siding with Locke (Hurley expressed this in his flashforw...
More About: Lost , Minutes

The Sarah Connor Chronicles 5
2008-02-13 07:11:00
The fifth episode of The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Fox has pretty much everything...An exquisite moral dilemma about the continuing problem of what Sarah should do about Andy the programmer, whose chess code for the "Turk" could be the basis of Skynet. She previously burned down his house to knock him off track, but he's back at it. Will Sarah follow Cameron's advice to play it safe stop Andy for good?Of course not - Sarah's not a machine, she's a human, with feelings and morality.So Andy will live-But not long, because someone kills him. Exquisite ethical quandaries are often futile ... Derrick Reese - Kyle's brother - also on assignment from the future, is seen running from the body...Putting Derrick in the story is a good move. It enriches Sarah's connections to Kyle in our movie memories. Turns out, though, that he didn't kill Andy. Someone who wanted not to destroy but take the Turk program killed the programmer...Meanwhile, evil Terminator Cromartie is on Derric...
More About: Sarah Connor

Obama Sweeps Chesapeake Primaries: The New American Majority
2008-02-13 04:08:00
Barack Obama swept the Chesapeake primaries tonight - you can call them the Potomac primaries, too, but I like rhyme a little better than alliteration. But any way you call it, Obama won three for three, by impressive margins, and topped it off with a great speech in Madison, Wisconsin, where there will be a primary next week.Obama spoke of the "new American majority," consisting not only of all manner of Democrats, but Obamacans - Barackafeller Republicans - or, Republicans who have been moved by Obama's message. Bringing in even a small percentage of people who voted Republican in 2004 will be enough to get Obama into the White House. He seems to be starting to do a very good job of that.In addition to his inspiring delivery, Obama had some great phrases in his speech tonight. My favorite was "cynicism is a sorry kind of wisdom". Obama's speech writer is clearly in a league Ted Sorenson, JFK's superb speech writer.And the Republicans?John "Palpatine" McCain won all three p...
More About: Barack Obama

The Wire Season 5 Episode 6: Superman Omar and Tall Stories
2008-02-11 02:51:00
Omar lives! -After leaping out of a window a lot of stories high ... Omar survives with just a badly hurt leg ... and then after wincing in pain even becomes fairly mobile again, and metes out some more damage to his enemies.That's a pretty tall story - leaping from a many-storied window and walking away from it. Marlo looks up at that window, and can't believe it.I've got to say I'm with Marlo. But maybe there's more to this story yet to be revealed, more to the story of surviving a jump from so many stories than meets the eye... (Not that I mind seeing more of Michael K. Williams' fine performance as Omar.)I gotta say, too, that I'm liking Marlo more, even though I wasn't thrilled to see what he did to Prop Joe. But it's good to see him stand up to the combine, and entirely consistent that he has no patience with sitting around a table and talking. And if some of those people have figured out what Marlo did to Prop Joe - well ... the stakes are getting more dangerous...
More About: Stories , Episode , Season , Superman , Tall

In Treatment 2: Scalding
2008-02-10 21:06:00
A scalding second week of In Treatment on HBO, with the talk and the action centering much more on Paul and his wife, powerfully played by Michelle Forbes .Michelle Forbes has had memorable roles on trend-setting television ranging from Star Trek to last year's Battlestar Galactica , and her performance as Kate is about as down-to-Earth as you can get and just as outstanding.Kate figures in the Monday Laura episode - Paul doesn't want scintillating Laura to use the bathroom inside his home (the office bathroom needs plumbing) because he doesn't want Kate and Laura to meet. Sophie comes into the office out of the rain on Wednesday, holds her arms up, and asks Paul to help her undress (her arms are in casts). Paul wisely calls on Kate to help.There's a clear tension between between Paul and Kate in every scene they inhabit. But it all comes to a head when Jake and Amy leave unexpectedly on Thursday (she's having a miscarriage), and Paul and Kate are alone in the office.Kate tell...
More About: Blair Underwood

Obama Sweeps Three Primaries, Gives Magnificent Speech at Jefferson-Jackson
2008-02-10 05:06:00
Barack Obama may be the best orator of our age - I certainly can't think of anyone better, or even close. His speech tonight at the Jefferson-Jackson Democratic dinner in Virginia was a pleasure to behold and hear on television. The best part was Obama's confrontation of the charge that he's an idealist, with pie-in-the-sky hopes. His answers swept through the best of American history - freeing the slaves, giving women the right to vote, beating fascism in World War II, sacrificing lives for civil rights in the 1960s - and was another masterpiece of inspiration. It's hard to imagine anyone with any sensitivity not being moved.Hillary Clinton gave an excellent speech, too, making it more clear than she usually does how her election as President would be revolutionary, too, by putting a woman in the White House. This is something she'll need to do more of, if she stands any chance of getting the nomination.Clinton's speech was, indeed, less political than Obama's - but po...
More About: Barack Obama , Cain , Speech

MSNBC Needs to Stop Sniping at Hillary Clinton
2008-02-09 20:17:00
I'm a devoted Obama supporter. I voted for him in the super-primary in New York last Tuesday, and am convinced he would make the best next President. But I am also a student - and a professor - of the media, as well as someone who wants to see the Democratic party strong, and it is for those reasons that I think it's time to say enough is enough already about the shoddy way MSNBC is treating Hillary Clinton 's campaign for the Presidency.It's not just David Shuster's astonishingly tasteless and unacceptable remark about the Clinton campaign "pimping out" Cheslea to campaign for her mother. MSNBC has apologized for that remark and suspended Shuster. Cheslea's campaigning for her mother has been nothing but laudable and classy. One wonders if Shuster or anyone would have used that term had a son been campaigning for his mother or father.But any news operation could be subject to the loose tongue of a reporter or commentator, and the problem at MSNBC regarding Hillary Clint...
More About: Sniping , Stop

Lost 4.2 Five Flashbacks and Three Rational Explanations
2008-02-08 06:09:00
Lost is firing on all cylinders this new season, with two great episodes in a row.Tonight we learned a lot of what's up with the rescue team that Naomi called in:Four people on the team - and, as Naomi puts it her flashback (5) -Daniel Faraday ... a headcase ... that is, a nut, a somewhat psycho ... maybe with an ability to sense the future, because he senses something about Oceanic 815, when he hears the false report, which he doesn't know is false, about the plane being found with no survivors... (flashback 1)Miles Straume ... a ghost-hunter ... (flashback 2)Charlotte Lewis ... an anthroplogist, who discovers the bones of a polar bear in the Tunisian desert ... with a Dharma tag ... ah ha! ... (flashback 3, and rational explanation #1: so now we know how the polar got to be on the island ... likely a Dharma experiment in breeding or genetic engineering, to make polar bears that can live in warm climates... )Frank Lapidus ... a drunk, in Naomi's words, but also a pilot, as Matth...
More About: Lost , Flashbacks , Rational

Mitt Romney, Cylon, Withdraws from Race
2008-02-07 19:16:00
Mitt Romney has just withdrawn from the Presidential race. In a speech just delivered to the Conservative Political Action Committee in Washington, D.C., Romney said he "must now stand aside".It was about as Neanderthal and ugly a speech as you ever heard from a Republican, or anyone. Romney ranted about the sanctity of marriage, and the need to uphold our "culture," as if such matters were ever the business of government in a free society.The lowest part of Romney's speech came when he painted the positions of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as a "surrender to terror".Typical Republican lies. Obama and Clinton want not to surrender to terror, but fight terror more effectively and intelligently, in a way that does not bog down our military in a war that was based on grossly false information in the first place. Obama saw that from the very beginning, but Clinton and Obama are united in seeing that now, in contrast to Republicans who can do nothing better than beat their chests...
More About: Battlestar Galactica , Mitt Romney , Race

Obama and Clinton in Precedent Setting Split of Super Tuesday Vote//How Abo
2008-02-06 07:13:00
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton pretty evenly split the SuperTuesday primary vote tonight. Obama won more states. Clinton won more of the bigger states. Obama won the South and Midwest. Clinton won most of the Northeast (with the exception of Connecticut) and California. The all-important delegate count looks to be evenly split.Hillary Clinton gave a fine and inspiring speech. I found Barack Obama's speech even more inspiring, but that's ok, and takes little away from Hillary.I voted for Obama in New York today, and would vote for him again. He has the better capacity to generate and lead a new kind of politics in America. But Hillary has something special and important, as well. I hope I have the chance to vote for Obama in the general election, and will do all I can to make that happen, but I would gladly vote for Hillary over the any of the Republicans, and would work hard to elect her President, if it comes to that.When I cast my vote today, I realized that I had nev...
More About: Barack Obama , Cain , Mitt Romney , Mike Huckabee

I'm Voting for Barack Obama in New York Today
2008-02-05 17:34:00
The following is pretty much a reprint of a piece I first published here in Infinite Regress on December 23, and yesterday in OpEdNews.But given the importance of today's election, I wanted to post it, here, again...I'm voting for Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries in a few minutes. I live in New York .This wasn't an easy decision. I made it at the end of December.I would have been happy with with any of the Democrats. Their positions were - and still are - different only in nuances. The question of what the election of a candidate would symbolize and accomplish in a larger political sense thus looms in importance in this election.Hillary Clinton's election would have the wonderfully beneficial effect of putting a woman in the White House - as President. Barack Obama's election would have the equivalent effect of making an African-American our President.Which statement to the world, which redress of American wrongs, is more important?To some extent, comparing the mistre...
More About: Today

The Sarah Connor Chronicles: 4: A Robot Primer
2008-02-05 16:19:00
As the bad Terminator model inexorably gathers strength in Episode 4 of The Sarah Connor Chronicles , Sarah speaks of the Golem, and its relevance to her situation...The Golem of Prague is a story of a 16th century rabbi who creates a human-like being from clay to protect the Jewish people. Various versions of the story have the golem doing its job, but sometimes turning on its creator and the people it was supposed to protect.The Golem has become the template for every robot, android, or otherwise artificial being that has turned bad or against its creators. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) is the most famous. Rossum's Universal Robot s - R.U.R. - appeared in Prague, of all places, in 1921. Karel Capek's play introduced the term "robots". They rebel against the human race and spell our demise.Isaac Asimov struck a blow for the good robot with his "Three Laws of Robotics" in the 1940s. The First Law says a robot can never by action or inaction cause any harm or allow any h...
More About: Sarah Connor

In Treatment on HBO
2008-02-04 05:33:00
HBO premiered a brilliant original show last week - original in both structure and content. Anyone who thinks HBO is running out of steam as a pioneer in the cable form should take a look at In Treatment .The show consists of a 30-minute segment every weekday evening. Psychotherapist Paul, played by the always memorable Gabriel Byrne, sees a different patient Monday through Thursday. And on the 5th day, Friday, he sees his own therapist, Gina (played by Dianne Wiest) and becomes a patient himself.Don't confuse this with Tell Me You Love Me . The talk on In Treatment is much more intense and intelligent. In fact, it's so good, that all almost you get on In Treatment is talking, and that was more than enough to keep my wife and me hanging on almost every word.Monday's patient thinks she's falling in love with Paul - erotic transference, as the shrinks call it. Laura's beautiful and smart - she's an anesthesiologist - and the real question is whether Paul is falling in love w...
More About: Alias , Melissa George , Embeth Davidtz

The Wire Season 5 Episode 5: Media Chasing Their Own Tales and Tails
2008-02-04 01:22:00
A real standalone gem on The Wire tonight - which I predict will become a classic, almost Hitchcockian hour-long morality play of media chasing their own tales/tails...The medium in question, of course, is the Baltimore Sun, under fire both from staff reductions and from McNulty, who is trying to feed it his concocted story about a Baltimore serial killer - as a way getting some police funding to bring down Marlo and crew.Gus Haynes (great continuing performance by Clark Johnson) is doing his best to keep the Sun running, but the pressure to perform gets rookie reporter Scott Templeton (well played by Tom McCarthy ) to do something daring and devious: he pretends to get a call, on a public phone, from the serial killer - the one who doesn't really exist, the one being created out of almost thin air by McNulty. (I say "almost," because there are, at least, some dead bodies.)McNulty is called in for a meeting at the Sun, and in one of the best scenes in the entire series realizes tha...
More About: Media , Episode , Season , New York Times

3. Two More Points about Lost Season 4.1: Ensemble Flashforwards and Is Nao
2008-02-03 22:44:00
Two additional observations and thoughts that come from the Season 4 premier of Lost :Ensemble Flashforwards: Coincidences in the flashback were extraordinary, and, as I've argued, may hold the key to what's really going on in Lost. In the flashforwards that we've seen so, more than one Lostie seems intrinsic to the flashforward story: Jack and Kate in the Season 3 finale, and Hurley and Jack in the Season 4 opener. Since there's every reason that people once off the island will stay in some sort of contact, we'll no doubt be seeing much more of these ensemble flashforwards in the weeks ahead.Naomi May Not Be Dead: She walked a ways with the knife wound, then climbed a tree, and even got the jump on Kate. If she's anything like Mikhail, this may well be not the last we've seen of Naomi. And I have a feeling that we may be seeing more Losties come back from the presumed dead, too (this would certainly fit in to what happened to Locke).See also ...1. Lost's Back Full Par...
More About: Points

More Thoughts on Lost Season 4 Premier: Those Went with Hurley and Those W
2008-02-02 19:12:00
I think the decisive moment in the episode came when Hurley decided on the island to go with Locke, and explained his reasoning to the group. Hurley was moved by a combination of emotion (not wanting Charlie's death to have been in vain) and clear logic (Charlie had indicated that there was something not right about the rescue effort, and it made no sense to just ignore it). Emotion and logic have always been in combat on the island - often embodied in Locke v. Jack - but this was an extraordinary moment for Hurley, and one which will set up all the remaining episodes of the series.At this point, let's look at who went with Hurley and who not, and why.Those who went with Hurley:I put Locke, Ben, and Rousseau in the same category: all have a deep connection to, and affinity for, the island. They would be the most sensitive to the danger of the rescuers. And, actually, Ben and Locke were not wanting to go along with the rescue from the very beginning - indeed, not wanting to lea...
More About: Lost , Thoughts , Season , Premier

Lost's Back Full Paradoxical Blast: Season 4 Episode 1
2008-02-01 07:40:00
The premier of Lost Season 4 earlier tonight picked up on the island right where the stunningly spectacular finale of Season 3 left off - which means this season opener was extraordinary, too. Not only that, but we were treated to another flashforward, taking place a little earlier in time than the flashforward in the Season 3 finale - but forward enough in time to have Jack well off the island (but not doing well), and Hurley off the island, and not doing well at all.There's an "Oceanic Six" that Hurley talks about. We know that Jack and Kate and now Hurley got off the island. So, the first new tantalizing question that arises this season is: who are the other three?Hurley is tormented off the island. He gets a visit from Charlie - who admits that he's dead - but tells Hurley "they need you". The "they" presumably are the people back on island...A powerful scene, which also had a nice play on the classic Samuel Johnson anecdote about how to disprove that the world isn't yo...
More About: Episode , Back , Full

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in California: Testament to America's Fu
2008-02-01 03:57:00
What a pleasure it was to see Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in the one-on-one Democratic debate in California on CNN tonight.Who would have predicted even a few years ago that the final candidates for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 2008 would be an African American and a woman - two groups marginalized, discrimated against, and worse throughout America's history.Seeing Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton up there on the stage, knowing that one of them will be the Democratic nominee for President, would have been inspiring enough in itself.But the ensuing debate was a pleasure to watch, a rational discussion between two highly intelligent, compassionate, and articulate people.Hillary, as always, had some superb lines - my favorite being that it took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, and it will take a Clinton to clean up after the second Bush.Obama's wit shown through, too - my favorite of his jibes being that McCain 's "straight talk express" somewhere lost so...

Republican Debate in California: McCain v. Romney on Iraq, Ron Paul is Righ
2008-01-31 04:37:00
The high point - actually, the only really interesting exchange - in the generally boring Republican debate in California tonight came between McCain and Romney, over McCain's claim that Romney wanted "time tables" for withdrawal of our troops in Iraq , which claim Romney vehemently denied.McCain offered the following quote from Romney back in April: "You don't want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you're going to be gone." Which McCain said proved that Romney was calling for a time table, and Romney said did not.The reality, as this article from ABC News shows, is that Romney was calling for "unpublished" time tables, and his statement about waiting in the weeds was about not wanting the enemy to know about the time tables.So, McCain was right.Insofar as debate points, at least.As to the right position on our war in Iraq, this once again belonged to Ron Paul, who again pointed out that the war is unconstitutional, and we should not be there a...
More About: Battlestar Galactica

Farewell John Edwards//And the Truth about Mano e Mano
2008-01-30 22:45:00
John Edwards withdrew from the Democratic Presidential campaign today, saying the time had come for him to "step aside so that history can blaze its path".His eloquence and sense of history is not surprising - it became clear when Edwards indicated, earlier this year, that his favorite book was I. F. Stone's The Trial of Socrates. The choice of such a book bespeaks a philosophic depth and appreciation of history that is all too rare in our politics.Edwards' withdrawal now leaves the field to just Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton . We should all see just how different this makes the Democratic debate, literally, when Obama and Clinton have the stage to themselves in the California debate on CNN tomorrow (Thursday) night. Just the two of them.Not mano e mano, however. But not mano e mano for the reason noted by Democratic strategist Peter Fenn on CNN a few minutes ago. Fenn thought Obama v. Clinton would not be mano e mano because Hillary is a woman, and therefore their contest ...
More About: Truth , John Edwards , John

The Pixel Eye looking at Toronto
2008-01-30 05:20:00
And, just to leaven all of this politics with a little science fiction-My good friend, the dean of Canadian science fiction Rob Sawyer, just wrote to me thatThe Merril Collection of Science Fiction,Speculation and Fantasy is having a special displaycalled "What Dunnit?", featuring SF detective stories,and THE PIXEL EYE was prominently displayed, as youcan see.And he sent along the following photo-listen to Light On Light Through podcast also iTunes Paul Levinson's books
More About: Toronto , Pixel

Florida Primaries: McCain Wins, Giuliani Out, Hillary 'Wins' Non-Primary
2008-01-30 04:44:00
Big news out of Florida tonight is not just that John McCain won the Republican primary, but that Rudy Giuliani came in third, and according to reports will formally withdraw from the race on the steps of the Reagan Library in California tomorrow.I think that's good news for the country. As a New Yorker, I can testify to the autocratic way he ran this city. His contempt for everything from people in the street to art in the museums made his tenure as Mayor one of the most dangerous and unpleasant in our history.Meanwhile, the Democrats held a non-primary in Florida tonight. As in Michigan, the Democratic high command ruled that these votes won't result in delegates being seated in the national convention. As I pointed out last month, that's about as counterproductive and undemocratic as you can get.So, what was Hillary Clinton doing claiming "victory" in Florida tonight - after issuing a statement in Iowa that the results in Michigan and Florida, regrettably, wouldn't count...
More About: Barack Obama

Extraordinary Moments: Ted Kennedy Endorses Barack Obama
2008-01-28 19:44:00
I just saw Ted Kennedy 's endorsement of Barack Obama at American University, followed by another powerful speech by Obama.What an extraordinary pair of speeches. What extraordinary moments in American history.Ted Kennedy did much more than offer platitudes. He presented specifics, such as the opposition of a previous Democratic President, Harry Truman, to JFK's candidacy in 1960 - and how Truman asked JFK to be "patient" and wait for another year to run for President. Ted Kennedy spoke of the hope that JFK stirred in the American people. A day never passes without my still feeling it. It's not a mirage or an unattainable ideal. It's real and can motivate America to do great things again. It's been waiting a long time. Ted Kennedy sees this power to elicit the best of America - our better angels - in Barack Obama.And Obama gave one of his great speeches, too. Also composed of important specifics, personal and as well political. Obama noted that his father was able to c...
More About: Moments

The Wire Season 5 Episode 4: One Down
2008-01-28 01:37:00
BuddyTV has a piece about the current, last season of The Wire showing a loss of viewers - all I can say is, those missing viewers don't know what they're missing! This season of The Wire is superb.Take, for example, Episode 4, which will shown later tonight, and which I already saw On Demand.SPOILERS FOLLOW ***************************************** **********************We're treated to an almost totally unexpected execution at the end - but the best kind, dramatically, because it makes perfect sense in retrospect.Marlo apparently has been cleaning up his act as per Prop Joe's encouragement - becoming more "civilized," was Proposition Joe's word - and this has involved working better with the Greeks on the docks, and reaching all to all sorts of people (including Avon Barksdale).As Omar begins to loom again in the show, with a handful of likely targets, Prop Joe tells his nephew that he's going to take some time off - Prop Joe can feel the grim reaper too close for comfort.Mc...
More About: Season , Season 5

Further Evidence That Mitt Romney May Be A Cylon
2008-01-27 19:48:00
I present the following as a concerned citizen in addition to the 10 factors I reported to you here on 6 June 2007:11. My wife just heard Romney refer to a "people who would will always be the hope the Earth," in a speech he was delivering in Florida today.12. Romney spoke about "three-dimensional chess" in the Republican debate in South Carolina on 11 January 2008.13. Romney talked about a patient going in for "repairs" in the Republican debate in New Hampshire on 5 January 2008.14. There is a least one high-level operative in Romney's campaign staff who looks and talks almost exactly like Romney, and is a not a member of his family. Trust me, you'll recognize this guy immediately next time you see him on television.15. Romney seems to have acquired a new facial expression, serious, slightly pained, in the Republican debate in Florida on January 24 - you can see it at the beginning of the YouTube clip below.16. The now famous "he raised taxes" whisper in the January 24 debate ...
More About: Battlestar Galactica , Evidence , Mitt Romney , Mitt

Psycho FCC Proposes Fining ABC 1.4 Million Dollars Over Naked Backside
2008-01-27 07:03:00
Talk about the golden ass ...Hard to believe - or maybe not, given Congress and the FCC's increasing trampling of our First Amendment - but now the FCC is proposing to fine ABC 1.4 million dollars for repeatedly showing a woman's "nude buttocks" on its NYPD Blue police-drama back in 2003.All right, perhaps "psycho" is not the right word. "Treasonous" would be more like it, because our First Amendment clearly says "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech," and, last time I checked, NYPD Blue was not silent television (and, even if it was, pictures are a kind of communication or "speech").The FCC and Congress have been growing ever bolder in their flouting of the First Amendment since the Janet Jackson Superbowl incident of a few years ago (come to think of it, we're approaching its anniversary). I gave a keynote address about this at Fordham University in 2005 - here's a transcript - and am currently writing a book about it. (I'll also be giving anothe...
More About: Psycho , Million , Dollars

Obama's Classy Victory Speech
2008-01-27 03:54:00
An inspiring speech, again, from Barack Obama - thanking South Carolina for the victory it gave him in today's primary.An example of what struck me most about the speech: Obama saying we won't let "cynicism" get in the way of our dreams.Now, when was the last time you heard a Presidential candidate talk to us about struggling with our own cynicism?This concept - like Obama's ideas and delivery - captures what is so different and appealing about Obama. He is not afraid of ideas and concepts, of intellectual positions that challenge conventional wisdom.When was the last time you heard a Presidential candidate address the nation with that kind of psychological acumen? The fact that we have one, now, may be reason to think we finally have a chance to move beyond political expediency and cynicism in our politicians and country.Caroline Kennedy writes this in Sunday's New York Times , in a op-ed entitled A President Like My Father -"Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents?...
More About: Victory , Speech

Obama Trouces Clinton in South Carolina
2008-01-27 02:05:00
AP called it a "routing" - whatever term you use, Barack Obama is on his way to a big victory over Hillary Clinton in South Carolina tonight, currently leading by more than 20% in the vote.What does this tell us?1. Bill Clinton 's nasty attacks on Obama failed. My advice to the Clinton campaign: save Bill's attacks for the Republicans.2. Obama scored 50% of the young white male vote, and did great, in general, in college-age voting. This was the same part of the population which propelled Obama to victory in Iowa, and which did not come out in expected numbers for John Kerry in 2004. If Obama gets the nomination, and continues to inspire younger voters, this may well be enough to get him to the White House.The next big event for the Democrats is of course Super Tuesday on February 5. As I first said here back in late December, I will be voting for Obama in the Democratic primary in New York on that day.And I'll make a prediction: I expect that on Super Tuesday, Obama will wi...