David Theiss

Check out this quick video that strings together news clips from various Fox news anchors on each of Obama’s first 100 days.

Now, I know that you can take quick snippets from any program on any network and make it look sinister, but I watch Fox News regularly and can attest that this is the general tenor on their network.  While most of the time they were George W. Bush apologists and subtly creating scenarios and situations that would portray him in a more positive light, they have been equally hostile toward the Obama administration.  It is just fact.  Fox News is embarrassingly bias – and the worst part about it is that they pretend that they’re not.  If people like O’Rielly would just come out and admit that they are committed conservatives with a stake in furthering such an agenda, it wouldn’t be so offensive.  But Fox insists they are “Fair and Balanced.”  And because they appeal to the millions of older conservatives in the country who are more likely to be in front of their televisions (in contrast to those who are middle aged and younger who are more active, likely more liberal, and not fixated in front of their TV’s every night) between 5 and 8 PM Fox will always dominate the ratings.

At any rate, this video should shed some light on the Fair and Balanced approach Fox has taken to the new administration.

Enjoy.

I have to continuously remind myself that the Republican Party was not always the way it is today.  They were once a proud party of sound ideals, morals, and character who stood as the legitimate opposition party to the democrats.  Although the the insinuation may be pretty specious today, the republicans are still the party of Lincoln – however, it seems more and more apparent everyday that they are committed to being the party of Limbaugh.

That was never more clear than today when longtime Republican Senator Arlen Specter ditched his tenured party to join the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of those who make up the Democratic Party.  Specter had made a name for himself all the way back in the wake of the JFK assassination as assistant DA and co-author of the now infamous “magic bullet theory.”  Specter cited that the continuous rightward lurch of the GOP as a contributing factor to his decision, while many need only look at the polls that show him considerably behind Pat Toomey in the 2010 Pennsylvania Senate Republican Primary.

This news, coupled with the new NBC News/WSJ poll out this evening that shows incredible popularity for the president and, to a lesser extent, approval for the Democratic Party, should make the Republicans feel nauseous.  They have been eliminated in Congress in the Northeast, and are in danger of being extinct in the Pacific Northwest.  They took the sound defeat of the moderate conservative John McCain as a sign that they weren’t conservative enough and are now pushing hard to the right on issues like spending, immigration, climate change, health care, and taxes.  The only problem is that many, if not all, of the issues that the GOP has attached themselves too are in no way different from the positions held by John McCain in the presidential race – a race where their candidate was soundly rejected by the American People.  McCain abandoned all the attributes that made him appealing to moderates and independents in the campaign – why do the Republicans think doubling down on these ideas will get them traction with the American people who say overwhelmingly (81%) they “personally like” President Obama?  As so many have observed the GOP is in danger of becoming the “party of no.”  Which altogether isn’t a bad thing if you’re in opposition to a unpopular president.  But the Republican party is playing with fire if they choose to run as the anti-Obama party in the 2010 midterms if the president’s poll numbers stay anywhere near where they are now.

I don’t think president is as popular as these polls suggest.  I also don’t think the Republican Party is as weak as they are being portrayed in the media.  However, with Al Franken waiting in the wings to take his seat as the next Minnesota Senator, the Democrats are poised to have, at least on paper, the filibuster proof 60 seat majority in the Senate that would allow the Democrats to push through virtually any piece of legislation they want.  Whether or not that’s a good thing remains to be seen – however, history shows us it almost never is.

I’m only a casual fan of Nascar.  I’ve only recently learned to appreciate it and I try to catch the races when they’re on.  Nascar is actually surprisingly entertaining and provides a nice Sunday afternoon distraction since you don’t have to give all your attention to it for hours.  It’s also a nice excuse to make some food and drink beer.

Now, the Talladega Superspeedway is pretty infamous.  Because the way the track is designed, it allows the drivers to exceed speeds of 200 mph, which doesn’t doesn’t happen at most other tracks (save Daytona).  This got to be such a safety concern (after a bad accident where I driver’s tire blew out and his car almost flew into the stands), that Nascar implemented what is called a “restrictor plate” that keeps racing speeds below 200 mph.

This weekend, like most other Talladega races, was pretty spectacular and produced some great racing and  pretty incredible crashes.  There was no bigger spectacle than what transpired on the last lap of Sunday’s race.  I won’t go into what happened or who was in the right or wrong, but check out this short video that interviews Carl Edwards about the crash and shows it a few times.  Even if you’re not a Nascar fan it’s worth a look.

On a side note, 8 people were injured by flying debris.  Luckily the injuries weren’t any worse – once you see the crash you’ll see why it could have been really bad.

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/326783.html

There are only a few times of year I look forward to and cherish more than the summer movie season.  While the promise of upcoming blockbusters is almost always more exciting than actually seeing them, there is no doubt that as far as film goes, there is no more exciting time for moviegoers.  The following is a quick round-up of what to expect this summer.  Keep your eyes peeled for these and get out to the local theaters – it’s still one of the cheapest forms of group entertainment out there.

May 1st

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

Now, many of you may have already seen this as it was leaked onto the Internet a couple of weeks ago.  Nevertheless, Wolverine officially kicks of the season.  Directed by critically acclaimed director Gavin Hood (“Tsotsi”, “Rendition”), it should be interesting to see how he pivots to an all-out action movie.  Hugh Jackman aside, the movie has a pretty strange cast in my opinion, and marks the first time we see a live action Gambit.  From the pictures and trailer I wouldn’t get too excited over that.  Even though this is the first big summer movie, I’ll probably skip it.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 5/10

May 8th

STAR TREK

For my money, this is where the summer begins.  JJ Abrahms (Felicity, Lost, Mission: Impossible III, Fringe) reboots the classic 1960′s sci-fi television show of the same name.  Abrams has assembled a young and sexy cast in an attempt to attract women and non-Trekkies/Trekkers.  As far as I’m concerned, I’m super pumped just to see a new fresh Star Trek movie.  While I love The Next Generation cast, I think they played themselves out somewhere around the 15 minute mark of “Star Trek: Insurrection.”  To see James Tiberius Kirk and Mr. Spock again through new eyes has been long overdue.  Let’s hope Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are up to the challenge – they’ve got big shoes to fill.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 8.5/10

NOTE: I’m skipping “Angels and Demons.”  I read “The Da Vinci Code” and I saw the movie.  I marginally enjoyed both.  And to be honest I love secret societies.  But this is an obvious cash grab and a marketing tie-in the Dan Brown’s next novel “The Lost Symbol.”  And with this paragraph, they’ve gotten exactly what they want: talking about the movie and the new book.  I’m a Patsy.

May 22nd

TERMINATOR SALVATION

A few years ago we had “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,” an enjoyable if almost entirely empty visit back into the Terminator landscape.  It didn’t do injustice to the IP, but it didn’t really expand upon the lore or add anything very substinative.  That was under the direction of the very capable Jonathan Mostow – “Terminator Salvation” is helmed by the infamous McG.  ”Charlie’s Angel’s: Full Throttle” McG.  Christian Bale steps into the role of John Connor and hopefully fares better than Nick Stahl (not that he was horrible).  I’m not sure of the story or if they’re treating T3 as canon, but once I saw the trailer with the music I was there – and I suspect that they could put anything on the screen play that pounding music and I’ll put up $10 and sit in the seat.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 7.5/10

June 24th

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Cars, trucks, and planes turn into gargantuan alien robots and then fight each other.  Also, Megan Fox.  That is all.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 9.5/10

July 1st

PUBLIC ENEMIES

I don’t know too much about this one, but put Michael Mann (“Heat,” “The Insider,” “Ali”) with Johnny Depp (who I’m not a huge fan of, but still admire) and throw in the 50′s gangster aesthetic, and that’s all you need.  Just like a good Western, I’m always down with a good gangster movie, and Michael Mann is a master craftsman.  Here’s hoping we get the Michael Mann from “Heat” and not the one from “Miami Vice.”

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 7.5/10

July 10

BRUNO

I loved Borat.  Loved.  There’s a red-band trailer floating around out there for this movie that is absolutely hysterical.  I am really looking forward to seeing Sacha Baron Cohen in the Sherlock Holmes re-imagining we’ve all heard about.  This man is a comic genius – I expect nothing less from this movie.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 8.5/10

August 7th

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Super Bowl commercial looked cool.  It’s directed by Stephen Sommers I think.  It will be horrible.  But right now, I want to see it.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 7/10

AUGUST 21

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS

After the enormous success of “Pulp Fiction” followed by many great movies, but moderate successes, Quentin Tarrantino makes an obvious push back into the mainstream with “Inglourious Basterds.”  Brad Pitt lands in the lead Nazi-slaughtering American soldier role and looks to playing it with the same brazen gusto that comes standard in QT pictures.  Side note: the over under on body count in this one stands right now at 200 – place your bets.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 8/10

Of course there are many, many more movies worthy of being written about here, but I’m just lazy.  These are the highlights.  Also, I’ll try to review as many of these as I can, so be on the lookout for my write-ups in the near future.

UPDATE: As I said, there are plenty of other movies this summer worth mentioning – so the least I could do was mention them: “The Brothers Blooom” (May 15th), “Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian” (May 22nd), “Up” (May 29th), “Land of the Lost” (June 5th), “The Taking of Pelham 123″ (June 12th), “Year One” (June 19th), “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” (July 15th), “Funny People” (July 31st), “Taking Woodstock” (August 14th).

Time Magazine is pretty much the standard bearer for photographic essays – and this one is no different.  Photographer Callie Shell’s current assignment is to follow the president around and photograph him at the most personal times most American don’t get to see.  It’s really worth a look.

Check it out.

The word patriot gets thrown around a lot on both sides with little regard for what the word actually means. It gets thrown around even more on Fox News when it’s most often used to describe anyone who agrees with the likes of Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Laura Ingraham. But leave it to Fox Report host Shepard Smith to drop some real knowledge.  In the midst of a pretty tame debate on torture and the United States’ use thereof, Shep gets fed up and lays down the law. Fox would never let this on air of course – aside from the blatant profanity, it does constitute a pretty strong liberal point of view, which we know is strictly off limits.  This did appear however on some kind of internet post-show debate.

Being a liberal myself, I am admittedly – no pun intended – a little wishy-washy on this whole water-boarding debate. I’m not entirely convinced it fits the definition of “torture.” But that’s a debate for another day. In the meantime check this out – the second video is the one in question – and it’s pure gold. I really admire Shep for speaking his mind amidst an entire network, and presumably audience, who strongly disagrees with him.

Patriot.