It's Been a Bit...

I’m obviously flexible in my definition of “a bit,” as in yesterday’s close: “Back in a bit…” Well, it has been a bit, now, hasn’t it?

I was watching the History Channel last evening— Modern Marvels: Copper and later American Eats: Beer — when I see this little message in the lower right hand corner of my screen; something to the effect of “You can buy/download this episode tomorrow at the iTunes Store.” I thought: “now, that is pretty cool.” I’m somewhat at a loss as to exactly why one would want to own an hour-long TV show on the history of copper and its applications (teachers, maybe?), but the concept turned me on. Turned me on enough that I decided to go check out iTunes; I wanted to see what the Ts&Cs for downloading the show are, i.e., do you own it forever, or is it only good for a limited number of plays? How large is the file? What does it cost? You know, stuff like that. Enquiring minds wanna know…

So I shuffle off to the iTunes store, and after a couple of false starts and some mucking around, I find the TV Shows link. I clicked the “begin shopping link.” And was stopped dead in my tracks by this:

I did what any normal person would do: I lied. “O yessir, Mr. Jobs, I do in fact have iTunes, you just can’t see it!” Didn’t work. I clicked “I have iTunes” but received an error message from Firefox, something on the order of “You can’t get there from here.” And thus ended my adventure in iTunes land. I find it mildly highly off-putting that I have to download iTunes to browse the store. Just sayin’.

Here’s some news about which I have mixed emotions: Air America files for denies filing for bankruptcy. If AA does file for bankruptcy, I’ll admit to more than a little schadenfreud. But it’s not because the business failed, it’s simply because I seriously dislike that smart-ass Al Franken and the hysterical Randi Rhodes. Seeing those two lose their regularly scheduled gigs would be very good news, indeed. And that’s putting it mildly. But I’d hate to see AA go under, thus: mixed emotions. There’s already talk of reviving the Fairness Doctrine, and AA’s demise would only increase the Left’s calls for “Fairness.” That’s a fight that doesn’t have a lot of traction right now, but if and when AA goes down, you can be sure the Lefties will move “Fairness” to the front burner. Mixed emotions.

Speaking of Liberal Humor… I sorta did, by mentioning the not-funny-at-all Al Franken, who’s simply bitter. But Lefties do have a sense of humor, even though one rarely sees it outside of the Daily Show. Which leads me to this video from Jon Stewart & Co, which IS funny. Brit Hume ran this clip yesterday as the close to “Special Report,” and I laughed my a$$ off. I just had to share it…

Amir Taheri, writing in yesterday’s New York Post (Lies They Loved at Harvard) on Ayatollah Khatami’s address at Harvard:

Throughout, he presented himself as former president of "Iran," rather than of the Islamic Republic - although, legally speaking, there is no state known as Iran. He also insisted on describing himself as hich-kareh - someone with no official position at all - hiding the fact that he is a member of at least 11 organs of the Islamic Republic, including the all-important Assembly of Experts.

Khatami altered more than his identity: He edited Islam into a lovey-dovey cult that abhors the use of force, is uncomfortable with capital punishment, would never fight except in self-defense and actively welcomes other faiths.

He never mentioned his ideological guru, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini - knowing that this would revive memories of the hostages seized by the late mullah. Nor the current "supreme guide," Ali Khamenei - who is, according to the constitution in force in the Islamic Republic, the world's only truly legitimate ruler.

And there seemed to be a small issue of accurate translation, that is, what Khatami said in Persian (Taheri’s word, not mine. I know they speak Farsi.) wasn’t exactly what his translator relayed to the audience. I’m not all that surprised.

Thomas Sowell, writing at Real Clear Politics, simply nails one of my biggest hot buttons:

Are we talking world-class chutzpa or what?

The self-infatuated idea that nobody could disagree with you for honest and informed reasons is far more dangerous than any influence that donors' money may exercise.

Far more is involved here than cheap-shot journalism. It is the audience for such journalism that is the real concern.

Our whole educational system, from the elementary schools to the universities, is increasingly turning out people who have never heard enough conflicting arguments to develop the skills and discipline required to produce a coherent analysis, based on logic and evidence.

The implications of having so many people so incapable of confronting opposing arguments with anything besides ad hominem responses reach far beyond Wal-Mart or think tanks. It is in fact the Achilles heel of this generation of our society and of Western civilization.

Mr. Sowell is taking the NYT to task in his essay, but his larger point is just SO true. Enough said.

Today’s Pic: My Ol’ Drinkin’ Buddies. Tuesday’s post about being at work in SFO brought to mind all the great times I had with these three lovely ladies, so I thought I’d post ‘em. Left-to-right: Catherine, Yrs Trly, Corey, Amy. Catherine and Amy were work buddies; Corey works for the INS in SFO and was, at one time, Amy’s roomie. Santa Fe - May, 2005.