Cory Doctorow’s headline, Olympic Committee claims that photographing exterior of venues violates copyrights: I hope that the IOC is aware that it’s about to show up in one of the most media-savvy towns in the world, and that trying to stop private citizens from posting “unauthorized” photos will be nothing short of a fool’s errand. This sort of hostility towards Olympic fans is...

Intellectual Conservatism Isn’t Dead: It’s On the Margin by Rick Moran This is the 4th in a series of 5 articles on the state of intellectual conservatism. Here’s Part I. Part II. And Part III. There is a terrific exchange of views on the health of conservatism over at Slate between conservative writer Reihan Salam and Sam Tannenhaus (author of Death of Conservatism). Salam is author (with...

After months of a new and old media narrative about President Barack Obama’s proposed health care reform being on the ropes — a political hot potato Obama tossed Congress to resolve — is the tide finally turning? Within the past 24 hours a new report came out suggesting one of the proposed plans would help reduce the deficit — removing a key political talk radio culture talking/attack...

Intellectual Conservatism Isn’t Dead: Channel Your Inner Elder by Rick Moran This is the third in a series of 5 articles on the state of intellectual conservatism. Part I can be found here. Part II is here. Few speechwriters of the modern era can match the record of Peggy Noonan when it comes to memorable presidential addresses. Teddy Sorenson was of a different era but managed several significant, and...

Like when you might possibly be deciding whether to drop one or more 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs on Iranian nuclear facilities:

Gore Vidal, 83, described as America’s greatest essayist and one of its best-selling novelists, says he has in his life “crashed many barriers.” Vidal’s brutal manner of criticism hasn’t waned. The United States of America, he says, is a “madhouse” and its President is “overwhelmed” and “incompetent”. Last year he famously switched allegiance from Hillary...

Anne Leary, a blogger unknown to me before today, has hit her 15 minutes of fame with her post today about spotting Bill Ayers at D.C.’s Reagan International Airport and — after bravely approaching him despite the possibility that the “unrepentant domestic terrorist” might have a bomb hidden in his pocket — obtaining from him the startling, unsolicited admission that he did, indeed,...

Is it possible that the People’s Republic of China is in fact not aggressive at all, and wants to create ‘harmonious international relations?’ According to Fyodor Lukyanov of Russia’s Gazeta newspaper, Western countries – including Russia, may be superimposing their own ways of thinking on the Chinese, and hence, drawing the wrong conclusions. For Gazeta, Fyodor Lukyanov writes...

Following up on On Racism: Unconscious & Reverse, last night Larry Wilmore, The Daily Show’s Senior Black Correspondent, had segment showing white people his trick for how to play the race card. Apparently white people are doing OK without instruction. Fox News dominated the cable 3Q ratings: Fox News has pulled off another dominant quarter, claiming the top 10 cable news programs in 3Q 2009 and...

Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919, aka Rusty Lionhorse) was an Italian composer who wrote the libretto and music for the opera “I Pagliacci” (The Clowns) in 1892. It was a huge overnight success and it remains today one of the 20 most performed operas in the World. Even if you rarely listen to classical music or opera, you’ve probably heard and would recognize some of the great music and arias. Leoncavallo...

I must confess that I have not been a huge fan of Dancing With The Stars, my viewing is usually limited to catching highlights if they happen to have a contestant I find interesting. I’m also not particularly a fan of former Congressman Tom Delay, I found him to be arrogant in his attitude towards his peers and his rivals. However when I heard he was going to be on DWTS this season I was interested enough...

Lady Gaga, “…Hello SNL…” Madonna showed up for a surprise visit to ‘Deep House Dish‘ on SNL. To mixed reviews. But Lady GaGa, dressed as a sexy gyroscope in the video medley above, stole the show. After being signed to and quickly dropped from Def Jam Records at age 19, she began performing in the rock music scene of New York City’s Lower East Side. During this time, she...

Steve Benen has been right on top of  the revelries on the right over Pres. Obama’s failed bid to get the 2016 Olympics for Chicago (which, for those who aren’t aware, is in the United States). Benen writes about the conservative meme of the moment regarding Obama’s Copenhagen trip, as showcased in George Will’s column today:

by Rick Moran No less than 5 recent articles (and a spirited debate between two very smart conservatives in David Frum and David Horowitz) have taken on the question regarding the demise of intellectual conservatism and the rise of movement or “populist” conservatives. The intellectuals go under several names, depending on which side of the divide you sit. They are “reformers,” or RINO’s,...

Shame on the established America media for giving so much air time to convicted former Congressman James Traficant who offers nothing but a populous sound bite and venom to his former colleagues. Since his release from prison last month, Traficant has spent much of his time on the air waves pleading his innocence to a racketeering conviction and vendetta against the Justice Department and the Jewish lobby. He...

Is it time for the U.S. military to leave Afghanistan and that nation’s security to an international peacekeeping force? In this surprisingly forthright op-ed credited to the deputy general of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, the Beijing leadership definitively wades into the question of what should be done to fix Afghanistan. For the China Daily, Deputy General Li Qinggong...

Two clips HERE.

Our political Quote of the Day comes in the form of You Tube of Joe Scarborough, whose comments here say it all: Am I permitted to say to Joe: “Ditto”?

The FTC published final guidelines governing endorsements, and testimonials today: The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message...

There seems to be an emerging trend in the Muslim world, in which all leaders regarded as despots are called ‘worse than Saddam’, ‘as bad as Saddam’, or the ‘new Saddam.’ Yesterday we posted ‘Muammar Qaddafi is No Better than Saddam,’ from the newspaper Sotal Iraq. Today, from Kuwait’s Arab Times, we have this article that warns about Iranian President...

And so it continues. If you thought some in Hollywood’s defense of Roman Polanski for raping a 13 year old girl hit rock bottom when Whoppie Goldberg seemingly decided to redefine the meaning of rape — a statement so dismaying that it sparked pointed SNL bit — it has now sunk to another level….in the blogosphere. An associate producer of the highly touted Polanski documentary has been...

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Sen. John McCain’s, has blasted Glenn Beck. First, on Fox: And then on CNN, former Dick Cheney advisor Mary Matalin responds (claiming Beck is actually nonpartisan) to Graham’s comments — as does her husband, Democratic strategist warhorse James Carville (who does not mince words): Beck is now one of the hottest political personalities on Fox News, getting...

Libyan Despot Muammar Qaddafi succeeded in amusing and ticking off quite a few people last week with his rambling speech at the United Nations, which he made, according to him, not due to his role as dictator of Libya or president of the U.N. Security Council [yes - Qaddafi presently holds the rotating presidency of that body], but in his capacity as African Union chairman. According to Noor al-Harby, a...

A number of independent news sources and commentators have noted that many of the healthcare reform provisions in the proposed Congressional legislation might not become effective until 2013. If true, that would be extremely strange, illogical and politically dangerous for Democrats. Republicans and other opponents of healthcare reforms have succeeded this year in frightening many in the voting public with...

On its broadcasts…