"No longer like a toad in these foul cellars will I secret the venom of hatred -- for you shall bring me love!" - Erik
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« July 2009 | Main | September 2009 » August 31, 2009Disney to acquire Marvel When Marvel went bankrupt i considered buying some Marvel stock just for fun. Guess it would have actually paid off... Marvel has always been derided by indie comic fans as being "corporate" but Marvel was small potatoes in the real corporate world. Now it's going to be on par with or beyond DC/Time-Warner. It was actually pretty impressive how Marvel's been self-supporting and doing well since bankruptcy, and their self-produced movie venture was looking promising, so it's sad to see them get gobbled up. I don't expect any immediate 'Disney-fication' of Marvel. I doubt they'll even change the branding. Deadpool will continue to be Deadpool, etc. In the long term we may see some changes. I worry about their susceptibility to boycotts from the religious right. Remember that they had to pass Kevin Smith's Dogma to another company because of protests. But i suspect that the actual comics are a little under the radar of things like that. That would be more about their depictions in movies and tv shows, which we'd probably start seeing a lot more of. We'll see. On the other hand, it's possible they're interested in Marvel as an idea factory. They may Personally, not sure if i like giving money regularly to Disney, which isn't one of the cleanest companies in the world, from a variety of perspectives - human rights/slave labor, labor issues, environmental issues, copyright issues... By fnord12 | August 31, 2009, 9:52 AM | Comics | Comments (5) | Link
It's time for a cute animal picture  By fnord12 | August 28, 2009, 3:58 PM | Cute Things & Ummm... Other?| Link Sorry, but... This guy is absolutely right. By fnord12 | August 28, 2009, 3:07 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link
Should i be suspicious? Link: The decision not to pursue indictments was made by top Justice Department officials, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified because federal officials had not disclosed results of the probe. "It's over. There's nothing. It was killed in Washington," the person told The Associated Press. I don't have any idea if Richardson did anything wrong. Politically speaking, he's generally a 'good guy', so i ought to be happy that he's not being charged with anything. But it seems suspicious that the investigation was dropped after Democrats took back the White House. By fnord12 | August 27, 2009, 10:14 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link Somewhere, somehow, somewhen By fnord12 | August 27, 2009, 8:49 AM | Music| Link
Did your parents deprive you of the privilege of worshipping Thor? Update: Neither I nor my online editor realized that this article was published in 1970! We regret nothing and pass the blame onto others! Shameful original post remains below: My online editor wanted you to see this: Pointing out the obvious, wouldn't Protestant parents unduly influence a child to not worship a Roman Catholic God, etc., etc.? I guess as long as we've got them worshiping something, it's ok. It seems to me that the child of an atheist (and a pantheist, for that matter) is more likely to have the freedom to worship as she sees fit than the child of parents of a particular religion, since she's not forced down any particular path before she's old enough to decide. That Judge ought to be impeached, not because he's got a bias against atheists, but because his reasoning skills are badly flawed. By fnord12 | August 25, 2009, 9:35 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link
I was just issuing orders Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed a prosecutor to investigate the torture that went on during the Bush Administration. But the prosecutor's mandate will be "relatively narrow" and seems to be focusing only on individuals who may have gone beyond the 'guidelines' given by top White House officials (i.e. John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Dick Cheney). If true, and if it's not just the first step in a larger effort, doesn't really get to the heart of the problem, which isn't about bad apples down the food chain but about elected officials breaking the law and violating the Geneva Convention. If the people who issued the commands aren't prosecuted, there's no deterrent for a future Administration to not to it again. Someone in the comments at the TPM article wrote: By fnord12 | August 24, 2009, 3:37 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link Lieberman's Recession Excuse Ezra Klein says everything that needs to be said about Lieberman's excuse that we should hold off on health care reform because we are in a recession. By fnord12 | August 24, 2009, 10:48 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link
I have reason to fear the hammer of justice myself  Click for full sized image. And see here for inspiring article. By fnord12 | August 21, 2009, 4:22 PM | Comics & D&D | Comments (1) | Link
Something you knew already Link: It's worth noting that he didn't actually resign or make this known to the public. And now thinks he can write about it with impunity to sell his memoirs. Also, as Atrios writes: Nowadays, of course, Obama is creating Death Panels. By fnord12 | August 20, 2009, 12:19 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (1) | Link Dirty tricks come back to bite you Another problem reaching 60 votes is that we have two very old and sick Senators, both of whom would normally be a reliable vote for health care reform. Neither have been making it to the Senate for votes lately, and both really ought to resign. From a tactical point of view, it's more straightforward for Senator Byrd from West Virginia. They've got a Democratic governor, and their law for replacing Senators is a simple appointment. For Kennedy, it's more complicated. Massachusetts also has a Democratic governor, but when Kerry was running for president and Mitt Romney was governor, the Democratic state legislature changed the law from an appointment to an election held 5 months from the resignation to prevent Romney from appointing a Republican if Kerry won. That would leave a vacancy in the Senate during this critical time. Kennedy is now asking the state legislature to change the law back. It's a pretty clear abuse of power, in my opinion. By fnord12 | August 20, 2009, 9:37 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link Blue dog filibuster inevitable? After finally realizing that the Republicans aren't negotiating in good faith and being surprised that people would be upset if they tried to remove the Public Option, the Democrats are now considering splitting health care reform into two bills, one which they pass normally, and one with more 'controversial' features that they pass via reconciliation. (For those who aren't up on this procedural stuff, passing something via reconciliation means that you can bypass debate and get right to voting on the bill. So you don't need 60 votes to end the debate/filibuster. It's supposed to be used only for budget related votes, and anything passed via reconciliation expires when that budget plan expires, typically in 10 years. That's why Bush's taxes cuts will expire; you've probably heard talk of 'making the Bush tax cuts permanent'. Of course 'budget related' is relatively ambiguous. Clinton's odious Welfare Reform passed via reconciliation. Since health care costs are such a strain on our federal budget, it's reasonable to pass laws that seek to reduce that strain.) I don't have any opinion on the tactics of splitting the bills this way. I think it's a joke to think that Republicans will respond positively to this tactic and vote for the less 'controversial' bill. I suspect they'll vote against anything the Democrats put out there, especially when they see that this is a trick to get the full reform passed. But i'm open to anything that gets us health care reform, and i have no insight into whether or not this is the best way. But it clarifies a key point for me. The WSJ article on the bill split assumes one of two options: either you only have 51 votes, or you have 60 votes. In fact there should be a 3rd option: you don't have 60 votes for final passage but you have enough votes to break a filibuster. In other words, there will be some senators, especially these conservative Democrats like Nelson and Baucus, who won't vote for the bill... but do they really intend to filibuster their own party? Apparently yes. So why are they Democrats? These Senators are given key committee chairs. We only need 50 Senators to keep Reid as majority leader. Not 60. And if these guys weren't Democrats, we'd have better Dems as committee chairs and we'd be getting better bills out of committee. If they won't vote to break a filibuster, there's no value to keeping them as Dems. Immediate Update: One problem i see with this tactic is you pass the subsidies for people who can't afford insurance under reconciliation, and you pass the mandates that everyone has to buy insurance the regular way. In 10 years, the subsidies expire, and the Senate is now held by Republicans. They may restore the subsidies at a reduced rate or let them die altogether. And now you've created an impossible burden on those who can't afford insurance. On a related tangent, I have a major problem with mandates without a public plan in any event, with or without subsidies. Without a public plan, you are simply creating a huge giveaway to insurance companies. You are saying everyone has to buy their product, and the government just pays the insurance companies for the people who can't afford their rates. This does absolutely nothing to reduce costs, and simply provides insurance companies with a captive consumer base (which is actually an incentive to raise prices, since demand is artificially raised). By fnord12 | August 20, 2009, 9:00 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather downy sins of streetlight fancies i am tired, i am weary kiss the boot of shiny, shiny leather severin, severin, speak so slightly i am tired, i am weary shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather By fnord12 | August 20, 2009, 8:50 AM | Music| Link
SuperMegaSpeed Reviews Marvel Divas #2 - This continues to be really good. I like the indie-ish art style, and i just love the character interactions and attention to continuity. I'm sad it's only a 4 issue mini. Marvels Project #1 - This will be interesting. I'm really surprised that Marvel is interested in putting out a Roy Thomas/Mark Gruenwald style continuity dot connector in this day and age, but i have no complaints about it, especially when Brubaker and Epting are the creators. Hercules #132 - I guess this won't be leading up to a line-wide Casket of Ancient Winters crossover, huh? Still, this was awesome. I like the art, too. Reilly Brown? Keep him on the book. By fnord12 | August 18, 2009, 9:55 AM | Comics| Link
It's what he's there for, right? Greg Saunders at This Modern World: Seriously. I'm not kidding. The debate over healthcare has become so poisoned with lies and bitterness, we need something to really shake it up. Something that really grabs attention and is a game changer media-wise. If I were in charge of media strategy for the White House, I'd get Joe Biden on a high profile interview show and when the subject turns to the townhall protests/death panels/etc., I'd have him say that it's "bullshit". Do it on a Monday and the VP's potty-mouth will be the trivial topic du jour for the entire week. Republicans will spin up the faux outrage machine, reporters will pepper Robert Gibbs about whether or not Obama would repudiate Biden, and news outlets across the country would report the story and its various twists because, like it or not, it would be one of those silly little news stories they can't help but obsess over. Sure, there's downsides. Biden looks like a jackass (again), it would distract from the White House's wonkish healthcare messaging (that people aren't really following anyways), but there are two huge upsides. One, it energizes the base. When Dick Cheney told Patrick Leahy to fuck himself, liberals nearly passed out from all the faux outrage, but at the end of the day Cheney refused to apologize and conservatives respected him all the more for it. With liberal enthusiasm pretty much at a nadir, we could use a galvanizing middle-finger like gesture to feel more empowered (because our majorities in both houses of Congress don't seem willing to stand up for anything). Secondly, if Joe Biden calls protester bullshit for what it is, every mention of the story just repeats the association. Death panels, bullshit, pulling the plug on grandma, bullshit, euthanasia, bullshit, socialism, bullshit, Hitler, bullshit. It's a seed that needs to be planted in the minds of every uninformed person who's seeing footage of these rabid townhall protests and thinking "If they're THIS mad, there must be something wrong." Ummm...no, it's just a bunch of bullshit. By fnord12 | August 17, 2009, 4:58 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link
Probably better than Gleaming the Cube  The only question is: how is it possible i've never seen what must have been the greatest movie of all time? By fnord12 | August 16, 2009, 4:57 PM | Movies| Link
The Bipartisan spirit Link: CHUCK GRASSLEY (Aug 13): If I had not been at the table, there would have been a bill through the committee the week of June 22, and it would have been through the Senate by now because there's sixty Democrats. By fnord12 | August 14, 2009, 4:09 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link Europe vs. the US A second element of the entrepreneurship myth is that the US is a land of economic mobility, that if you work hard and apply yourself, you can improve your economic standing considerable. Again, the US scores poorly in by international standards in economic mobility. The have-nots tend to remain have-nots. In addition. the high level of US carbon production is due to a surprisingly significant degree to our lifestyle, working long hours to consume, rather than "consuming" more vacation as Europeans do. The vacation part was interesting. Here's more from the Guardian article: On the other hand, most Americans pay a high price for the institutional arrangements that bring us these mythical successes. We have the dubious honour of being the only "no-vacation nation", ie no legally required paid time off and of course some weeks fewer actual days off per year than our European counterparts enjoy. We have a broken healthcare system that costs about twice as much per capita as that of our peer nations and delivers worse outcomes, as measured by life expectancy and infant mortality. We are near the top in terms of inequality among high-income countries and at the bottom for parental leave policies and paid sick days. The list is a long one... More from a different Naked Capitalism post: It was conventional wisdom in the US and UK financial press that Europe was dong a hopelessly bad job of responding to the economic downturn, that it needed to do vastly more in the way of fiscal stimulus, that it was consigning its citizens to continued recession, and the Te Germans in particular were to blame for their conservatism re emergency fiscal measures. German readers begged to differ, pointing out the Germany (and the rest of Europe) has large automatic stabilizers (very generous unemployment insurance, for instance), making discretionary fiscal spending less necessary. By fnord12 | August 14, 2009, 3:19 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link
CEO of Whole Foods comes out against health care reform Guess i won't be shopping there anymore. By fnord12 | August 13, 2009, 3:02 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link Les Paul I guess i never realized that Les Paul literally invented the solid-body electric guitar: "I went into a nightclub and played it. Of course, everybody had me labeled as a nut." He later put the wooden wings onto the body to give it a traditional guitar shape. Update: Reading more about this, it seems Leo Fender and Adolph Rickenbacher also independently came up with their own solid body inventions, so it's not quite as linear as i first thought. By fnord12 | August 13, 2009, 2:43 PM | Music| Link These town hall meetings I'm seeing that a lot of Democrats are publicly stating that the reactions they're running into in their town hall meetings are not influencing their decisions about supporting health care reform. I'm a bit torn about that, actually. On the one hand, these protesters are extremely misinformed and irrational, and according to polls they don't seem to represent even close to a majority opinion. And it's nice to see Democrats actually standing up for (supposedly) their principles. But on the other hand, i know what it's like to hear your protests dismissed as fringe views and that despite a huge showing at demonstrations across the country, politicians are going to continue with their proposed policies. It feels very anti-democratic. Also, strategically, you have to wonder what the purpose of these town halls are. It's clearly not to gauge the opinions of their constituents. And it doesn't seem to be a great forum for educating or gaining support. It seems largely a way to generate news coverage for the protesters. Even if the Dems weren't prepared for that initially, by now they should know better. This is a tactical failure; the Democrats were outmaneuvered by the Republicans. They let the debate on the bill extend into recess, and didn't anticipate the attack that was waiting for them at their town halls. It's time to cut that loss and find a new way to go on the messaging offensive. By fnord12 | August 13, 2009, 10:46 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link Here we are folks Youve got the look, youve got the hook Look here Youve got the look, youve got the hook (theres no girl to do) U walked in (I walked in) Youve got the look, youve got the hook Here we are folks You got the look By fnord12 | August 13, 2009, 9:06 AM | Music| Link
SuperMegaSpeed Reviews Deadpool: Merc With A Mouth #2 - The first issue walked a really thin line between showing a lot of potential and looking like it might be a typical Deadpool comic: "outrageously zany" without actually being funny. This issue makes it look like we're heading towards the latter. I liked the "from Deadpool's perspective" shots in the first issue, but this one didn't have any, and the three-way internal "monologue" was less funny this issue as well. So we're left with a straightforward action plot with a silly premise (a talking zombie Deadpool head from another dimension), and it really wasn't all that interesting from an action point of view. Plus, the T&A is just stupidly overt. So i dunno, give it one more issue? Captain America: Reborn #2 - This is great, nice art, but it runs the risk of being pointless if we don't move beyond the time jumps by next issue. And since it focuses on things going on in the 'real' world as well, i don't see how it differentiates itself from the main Cap title. War of the Kings #6 - I really like the idea of Gladiator becoming the ruler of the Shi'ar (did i understand that right?). And this was a decent resolution, i guess. Plus it's good for the Marvel Universe for Vulcan to be killed off, and it'll actually strengthen Black Bolt for him to be dead for a while. I can already sort of envision the cool factor of someone like Abnett & Lanning bringing him back into some future crossover 3 years from now. I still feel like the crossover issues were better than the main story. But this was good. Agents of Atlas #9 - It's such a personality shift for Suwan, and it threatens to retcon the meaning out of some old Yellow Claw stories, so i'm a little apprehensive of this. But it's definitely being told well. By fnord12 | August 12, 2009, 8:11 PM | Comics| Link Bizarro world Ladies and gentlemen, the Wall Street Journal: But the comparison sells President Bush short in a way that is independent of the merits of the policies. Whereas Obama seems to think the country owes it to him to accept ObamaCare because he was kind enough to agree to be our president, Bush actually made an effort to persuade the public--including the opposite party--that his plan for Iraq was a good idea. The effort was very successful: Congress authorized the use of military force with strong bipartisan majorities, and by early 2003, public approval of the plan was in the 70% range. Republican politicians did not label opponents of the war effort "un-American," as Steny Pelosi and Nancy Hoyer have done to ObamaCare foes. Bush's White House, unlike Obama's, did not urge supporters to report "fishy" pro-Saddam arguments. Bush did not tell his critics to shut up and "get out of the way," as Obama did last week. The Bush administration simply made a compelling argument and won. The Obama administration, on the verge of losing after making a poor argument, now is lashing out at its critics--which seems a strategy to maximize the damage of this effort. By fnord12 | August 12, 2009, 9:49 AM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (2) | Link
 I guess nothing should shock me anymore. But this is a real ad on a 'respectable' website (TalkingPointsMemo). You have to agree it's at least a little bizarre. By fnord12 | August 11, 2009, 3:55 PM | Ummm... Other? | Comments (3) | Link Dwarf Miniature Horse By fnord12 | August 11, 2009, 3:21 PM | Cute Things & Ummm... Other? | Comments (3) | Link
I guess they couldn't tell, because he doesn't have an accent Link: "People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance in the U.K., where the National Health Service would say the life of this brilliant man, because of his physical handicaps, is essentially worthless," the editorial claims. Of course, that same Stephen Hawking who wouldn't have a chance in the United Kingdom was in fact born in the United Kingdom, has lived his entire life in the United Kingdom and lives there still today, at the ripe old age of 67. (He was in fact hospitalized earlier this month.) Hawking is, you might say, living, breathing proof that these people are first-class fools. By fnord12 | August 10, 2009, 1:16 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link Alberto Gonzales double-speak Link: Gonzales: All the inspector-general investigations, they're now over with. They found that I had not engaged in any criminal wrongdoing. Q: Isn't there still an ongoing investigation by a special prosecutor who was appointed last year to look into the removal of the attorneys? Gonzales: I wish I could comment on that, but because it's an ongoing investigation, I cannot. By fnord12 | August 10, 2009, 11:56 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link Backdoor line item veto Presidents do not have a line item veto. It's something they've been asking for at least since the first George Bush, but Congress have never enacted it. As well they shouldn't. Giving a president line item veto essentially destroys the negotiation process in Congress. You want to provide a tax break to a certain industry? Fine, i'll vote for that, but only if you'll put in a restriction on their carbon emissions. Then we send the bill to the president, and he crosses out my restriction before signing it? Forget it, i'm never negotiating on a bill again. But the use of signing statements attempts to do the same thing. The president signs the bill, but says "Now, this portion of the bill right here, we're not going to comply with that." It's usually only done with laws that attempt to restrict Executive Branch power in some way. But it's still unacceptable. You can't sign a bill but say that certain portions of it don't apply. President Obama campaigned against Bush's use of signing statements. But now he's doing it. That's nonsense. Imagine reading over your lease agreement, seeing some provision you didn't like, and instead of going back to the landlord and negotiating, you just crossed out that line. If your landlord ever caught you doing whatever the lease was restricting, you'd be laughed out of small claims court if you told them you crossed that out before signing the lease. By fnord12 | August 10, 2009, 8:55 AM | Liberal Outrage| Link
 By fnord12 | August 7, 2009, 12:32 PM | Comics| Link
More... Am i beating this to death? I really thought this was a fluke, ironic and funny but nothing more, when i saw the first example of it. Not anymore. By fnord12 | August 6, 2009, 3:27 PM | Liberal Outrage| Link Well my kitchen floor is warm We've been eatin' nothin' but take-out Mr. Jackhammer Man! By fnord12 | August 6, 2009, 10:40 AM | Music | Comments (6) | Link
Our new kitchen We put a lot of time and money into it. Hope you like it: 
By fnord12 | August 5, 2009, 10:47 PM | My stupid life | Comments (1) | Link Marvel Sales By fnord12 | August 5, 2009, 4:45 PM | Comics| Link
This is getting serious Arthur Laffer on CNN: We've moved beyond 'confused old people at rallies' and we're now looking at right wing economists on television. Are people really this confused or is this a coordinated effort to mislead? Update: This is interesting. Don't know how accurate it is. But if it's true, i bet it's still effective with certain segments of the population, despite being "obsolete". But that's changed over the years as a visit to both places will attest. Laffer is dating himself, using an obsolete slur. By fnord12 | August 4, 2009, 2:34 PM | Liberal Outrage | Comments (4) | Link
Recap #28 By min | August 3, 2009, 5:36 PM | D&D| Link
SuperMegaSpeed Reviews OK, we've got a quite backlog, so let's do this quickly: Reborn #1 - I don't know why this couldn't just be in Captain America where we're getting fill-in material instead, but this is good. War of the Kings #5 - I can't remember what happened in this issue, but i'm sure it was fine. Agents of Atlas #9 - See? They're allowed to make out, even though they're cousins. They were made for each other! Marvel Divas #1 - I guess i like a book about bunch of characters sitting around talking to each other more if they're Marvel characters rather than an indie book, even if the indie book is better written. Because i know these characters, know their history, etc. So as long as the writers are mindful of the characters' history, books like this have a lot of payoff for me. So i liked this quite a bit. I thought the art was good too. Not the cover, which was totally not indicative of the story or art inside. I imagine a cover like that puts off most people who would be interested in this book while attracting people who will just be disappointed by the contents. And i'm not sure about the title, either. I suppose Felicia might be a "diva" but not any of the others. Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #1 - Funny, especially the triple internal monologue and the few 'what the world looks like through DP's eyes' scenes. The T&A was very disappointing, though. Captain Britain & MI13 #15 - I enjoyed the surprise appearance of Death's Head, yes? And the other Marvel UK characters. And this wrapped up well. It might read better all at once, but i'm not like all these people i see on the internet, lamenting how Marvel is canceling its only good title. Hercules #131 - Hmmm, splitting up Herc and Amadeus... And they blew their last chance to have Armless Tiger Man destroy some machinery with a hammer held between his toes. Nova #27 - Very good. Guardians of the Galaxy #16 - Very good. Agents of Atlas #8 - Always nice to see the Hulk, especially now that he's been hijacked by Jeph Loeb. This is an excellent series. Captain America #601 - A very special fill-in issue. The coloring didn't exactly compliment Gene Colan's art. Dark Avengers #7 - When did Cyclops become such a dufus? Why is everyone so belligerent? Would Namor really be hanging out with those losers and be so easily goaded into a pointless fight? Why has my Dark Avengers comic been hijacked by Matt Fraction? X-Force #17 - Definitely better now that the crossover with Cable is over. The whole Hrimhari/Frost Giant sub-plot seems totally out of place, but i'm looking forward to seeing the rest of it. War of Kings: Ascension #4 - Ok, thanks. Secret Warriors #6 - Whenever this book arrives, i kind of frown at it, like i don't really want it and i'm not sure whey i'm getting it. But then i read it and it's really good. I don't know why that happens. This actually seems like it will be a significant book, as Fury is wresting back control of HAMMER/SHIELD. Hood #3 - I liked the scene with Satana. Actually, i like this overall, except i'm really not interested in the White Fang parts. New Avengers #55 - Immomen! Nice art! Kind of mundane plot, though, but it is done well enough. Although now that i think about it, i guess it's fall-out from the last arc and the defeat of the Hood. That didn't even occur to me while i was reading it because i'm all mixed up about the Hood's appearances since i'm reading the Hood mini at the same time and there's all these flashbacks. By fnord12 | August 1, 2009, 2:36 PM | Comics| Link |
