Scritti Politti: January 7, 2007

Well, the big news today is that after all manner of tough talk from Harry Reid, vowing to never seat a Senator appointed by Rod Blagojevich, the Senate leader has begun to soften his position, leaving a pathway open for Burris to take over Barack Obama's seat. The media has been cooing over what an amazing player Blago is now, mere weeks after strident condemnations, but the real story is Reid. I swear: that man caves in so often that it's a wonder that Murray Energy president Robert Murray isn't running around screaming, "That evil mountain is alive!" Anyway, here are, you know, things:

Ugh, O'Reilly: So, Bill O'Reilly "thinks" that Leon Panetta's appointment will lead to more terrorism, because of Panetta's opposition to torture, which leads to more terrorism.

Caroline, or Change: Maureen Dowd defends Caroline Kennedy, opining: "People are suddenly awfully choosy about who gets to go to the former home of Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond and Robert Torricelli." Yes, yes, Maureen. Naturally, the Senate isn't exactly packed with sage geniuses. Nevertheless, one needs to remember that "choosy people" did, in fact, make "Jesse Helms, Strom Thurmond and Robert Torricelli" their choices, which is sort of the bone of contention, here.

This Is For You, Don Geiss!: Tina Fey wove up some celeb-spoofing meta-theatricality on 30 Rock by putting Tracy Morgan's real life alcohol-probation anklet to comedic use. We'll have to wait and see if she does the same for Rip Torn.

Why so terrifying?: Some time ago, intrepid lady videographer and amateur dog-wrangler Liz Glover passed along this article from Andrea Chalupa, describing online video as "recession-proof" and ever since then, I've dropped that buzzy notion at all HuffPo production meetings in the hopes that I'll be allowed to make more silly videos with intrepid lady videographer Liz Glover. ANYWAY, today, the New York Times' David Carr predicts big things for The Dark Knight in an online video that's not just recession-proof, but impervious to the calming effects of several handfuls of Zoloft.

Twitter enables the "digital neighborhood" to do good: From AdRants' Steve Hall: "If you ever thought for one minute social media is just another stupid new trend dreamt up by a bunch of buzzword-happy people who do nothing but "consult" and hang out on Twitter espousing bite sized chunks of wisdom in 140 characters, you seriously need to re-adjust your thinking." A powerful defense of social media, well worth your time.

Comments

[Hirnlego]

"Some Americans actually support the enemy"
Yes - you.