The Daily Brief

I had forgotten on Monday that Fox moved 24 this season. They really should do a second showing of this excellent series on FX or something. After reading this report, from the Trib’s Maureen Ryan, I understand last Monday’s episode was something special:

At the end of Monday’s “24,” a photo of a military pilot appeared, with these words: “This episode is dedicated to the memory of Lt. Col. Dave Greene of the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 775.”

The screen then faded to black, and these words appeared: “His sacrifice, and the sacrifice of all our men and women of the military, will never be forgotten.”

Greene, who died in Iraq in July, had been part of the Marine unit that appeared on Monday’s episode. On the episode, which revolved around the freeing of the show’s fictional secretary of defense from terrorists, those were real Marines who swooped in on helicopters and rappelled down ropes in the rescue attempt.

“That group [of Marines] had just come back from Iraq, just weeks before we shot that episode” in October, says “24” producer Tim Iacofano, who worked with the Marines’ film and TV liaison office to arrange the unit’s appearance.

Imagine using REAL MARINES to stage a mock raid for television! I could see this from Donald P. Bellisario, but few else in Hollywood. I hope they all got paid scale. 🙂

But this seems to be a reflection of an admirable general attitude I’ve seen throughout the entertainment industry. On last week’s episode of Bravo’s Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, they staged a lavish wedding for soon-to-deploy Army PFC Ray Steele and his wife, Maria (the Army would not honor their Colombian wedding), and then lavished them and their baby daughter, Sabrina, with gifts – well beyond the nomal Queer Eye fare. But the kicker was the Hip Tip, where Jai instructs the audience in the sort of stuff to put in a Care Package for a servicemember in Iraq.

Personally, I feel this is an expression of the collective shame we feel as a nation, for the way we treated our Vietnam vets. The entertainment industry – many promenient denizens of which have far more to be ashamed of than most – is leading the rallying cry: “No matter how we feel about this war, or any other, we will never again disrespect our warriors.”

Don’t you hate it when you get some email from a service you subscribe to, and it’s labeled “Bot has sent you this message?” — Arggggh!

Likewise, I keep getting these things from Yahoo (I’m paid subscriber). And, while I keep punching Spam, they keep coming to my inbox. I guess their spam filter doesn’t work for their own c’mons.

And the government allows anybody to spam you, if you just visit their website.

It’s an indignation I tell you! We need to revolt!

I have just watched a Discovery Science Channel show about Boston’s subway – “The Big Dig”. And I can’t help but relate this to the equally disruptive and expensive Red Line subway in Los Angeles. It’s a marvelous thing for what it is. But it hardly goes anywhere. And, damn, it’s been expensive.

But this seems to be the play these days. Here in Greater Los Angeles, when we found out our downtown was worn out, we just built another one further west, as well as about twenty others. And when those were worn out, we just built more: Further west, in the case of LA. North, in the case of Long Beach, South, in the case of Riverside, and first south, then north, and then south again, in the case of Santa Ana.

But a funny thing happened in the late ’70s: the liberal mass-planners decried that we weren’t going to abandon our central cities. And they put forth the holy paradigm that billions must be spent to “save” them.

Well, frankly, it’s working. At least from what I can see. Central LA, and the Near West Side are evolving into some near-homogeneous semblance to Orange County and The Valley, And, by virtue of the San Diego Freeway, the Far West Side has always been something like Orange County and The Valley, save for the UCLA influence (read art-house theaters).

But is this vastly expensive urban restoration, to the alter of homogeneity, really a good thing? I’m not so sure. I recall riding my bicycle, in the late ’60s, to (among places like Van Nuys and South Central) Dana Point, Laguna Beach, and San Juan Capistrano. Back then, all those communities had a distinct personality. Nowadays, it’s all just part of the big San-San (actually Tij-San) megalopolis.

But the course of history has seen some bright spots: the Harlem Renaissance, or Lawndale in Chicago. But the liberal homogenization machine has always reached out to crush them. It must stop.

I just got a Nigerian scam-spam from “the former barrister of Sanni Abacha.” Wait, wasn’t it like 1970 when Abacha was President of Nigeria? Jeeze. LMFAO

It seems Bravo has another pop-culture hit with their Wednesday night series Project Runway, where supermodel Heidi Klum leads the judging against 12 aspiring fashion designers.

For the record, my money is on “Air Force brat” Kara Saun. But the the real story is with the models, particularly 17 year-old Melissa Haro. She is America’s next great supermodel.

Update: If you are curious about Chris Pierce (and you should be), you will hear snippets of the acoustic version of his Are You Beautiful? on PR‘s Banana Republic ads.

Update 2: It seems space-case PR model (just eliminated) Morgan Quinn has just f___ed off a major shoot. Do not pass Go – Do not collect $10,000:

January 25, 2005 — MORGAN Quinn, the naughty Next mannequin who is wreaking havoc on Bravo’s “Project Runway,” snarled a shoot for Carlisle clothing last week. Our source says that an hour after she was supposed to be there, the flighty Quinn called from her cellphone to say her cab had been struck by another car. The blond bombshell later walked off the set in tears, saying she’d suffered a concussion in the accident and felt “dizzy.”

Yes, Morgan has some skills. But so does Melissa. And further, as sown by how she played Page Six‘s Robert Johnson on last week’s episode, she has some other essential skills as well. As designer Jay McCarroll said: “She’s 16, going on 35.” But, frankly – and contrary to Johnson’s appraisal of Morgan as a “blond bombshell,” she is not really that good looking (by model standards). Contrast her to Melissa: check the face, check the figure; Melissa has “it”.

I’m currently watching Robin Wright and Stephen Hayes beat their gums over Bush’s inaugural address on NBC’s Meet the Press. And all I can think is that I’d like to see a master gamester, like Dick Cheney, come in as #44, and just say for his inaugural address: “Check.”

I adore Tina Brown. I think she would be prime GF material – a lovely woman with an engaging personality. But in the rarified atmosphere of scio-political talking-head shows, I have to say, CNBC’s Topic A With Tina Brown leaves much to be desired. Yet I watch it. The reason is that they cover material which is often overlooked by the first-tier talking head shows.

But, as such, I generally watch it in the background, and miss the details of some important stories, as I did today, when she and her panel brought to the fore this story, about Harvard’s Larry Summers, and Condolezza Rice.

Speaking at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Summers suggested that the shortage of top women in the “traditionally male” fields of math and science might possibly be attributable to “innate differences” in aptitude between the genders.

Oh yes, this should certainly give rise (pun most certainly intended) to the perfect political storm.

…I mean, it’s like watching fly fishing. But I’ve just scanned a portion of the DirecTV spectrum where I don’t normally venture, and I’ve noticed that the Game Show Network is showing The World Series of Blackjack. (to continue the fishing analogy) Who would watch this? I mean, this would be like watching a bunch of drunks out on an all-day bottom-fishing boat.

A good write-up here on some of the worst of the blogosphere.

Hat Tip: Instapundit

I frequently like to say my birth (10/05/57), was heralded by the appearance of a new star in the sky. I play this as a trite missive. But I discount its prophecy Unless you were there, you can’t conceive it – living day-by-day with the absolute terror of the prospect of “them” pushing the button down, coupled with the idea of going to the Moon.

And I talk to my mother – a member of “the greatest generation”, and she asks “what?”

And I look at Cpl Blondie and her peers. And I say “G_d bless you – you are sealing the deal, and ushering in a peace that will last 1000 years.” Please just appreciate the gifts you’ve been given, and use them wisely.

I wouldn’t trade my life – to be witness to this epoch in history, for anything.

Some fucking thing has changed my IE toolbars. And I can’t change them back.

Sandy Szwarc rakes the new nutrition guidelines (as well as the old ones) over the coals:

When food guides were begun over 100 years ago, the government was tasked to make recommendations on the minimum number of servings of various food groups to ensure the general population could meet the recommended dietary allowances of nutrients. People were free to choose what additional foods they wanted to enjoy to make up their energy needs. That changed in 1977 when politicians got involved and its focus became outlining the goals for federal food programs, and hence what foods would receive government funding. From then on, as a glut of special interests sought to get their piece of the money pie, it has moved further from sound science. And not surprisingly, it’s become increasingly questioned among nutrition scientists and health care professionals.

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines became untenable the instant they abandoned the long-term pledge to promote better health for all Americans and instead made everything about weight. “Weight” appears 150 times in the 84-page document. We’re told that being thin is more important than being healthy and that good nutrition isn’t just eating a healthful balance of nutritious foods. Our focus must become counting calories, restricting what we eat, eating low-fat or fat-free foods, and what size pants we wear.

[…]

Like its eating advice, the exercise advisories fail to consider harmful consequences. Injuries go up with the duration and intensity of exercise. But what’s most likely to happen with these guidelines is that people will just give up bothering to exercise at all. Those who care about their health were doing good to get in 30 minutes of physical activity a day. Now they’re being told that isn’t enough. But how realistic is 90 minutes a day for most people? And really, how many thin people do you know who work out 90 minutes every day — who aren’t obsessive? Actually these guidelines will likely increase another growing health problem, a side of eating disorders called exercise anorexia: exercising beyond that needed for health in an attempt to keep thin.

Of course, for those in the military, subject to having any aspect of their behavior under government control, these new guidelines are even more foreboding.

Hat Tip: Instapundit

Are the idiotaians at the Miami Herald totally unaware that it’s routine practice for police to trade-in their old weapons?

Cops sell old, confiscated guns

Unable to afford new weapons, the Sweetwater Police Department is selling old and confiscated guns. Some critics call this a very dangerous practice.

BY SUSANNAH A. NESMITH AND JONNELLE MARTE
jmarte@herald.com

The cash-strapped police department in Sweetwater has found a way to get brand-new guns for all its 23 officers — sell the old ones.

Police Chief Robert Fulgueira just received commission approval to sell 20 guns that were either confiscated or voluntarily turned in over the past decade — weapons that most police agencies would destroy. The department is also trading in about 45 old service weapons that were issued to officers.

Fulgueira set up the deal with Lou’s Police and Security Equipment. The Hialeah store ranks first among Florida gun shops in terms of the number of guns sold that were subsequently used in crimes, according to a national study. The ranking does not mean that Lou’s has violated any law, though.

”We’re a poor city and I don’t have the budget to be spending $7,000 to $8,000 on weapons,” Fulgueira said. “Why should I pay money to destroy these guns when I can sell them, make some money and use it to equip my men?”

TAKING AIM: Sweetwater police Officer Domingo Benito
shows off his old outdated Glock pistol. He should have a
new one as soon the city’s planned sale is completed.
Photo: David Adame / for The Herald

But the Glock 23 is hardly “outdated”.

Dr. Cosby again speaks the truth:

“Our children are trying to tell us something and we are not listening,” Cosby told the audience of about 1,800. “And the poverty pimps and victim pimps keep telling the victims to stay where they are, ‘you can’t get up, you can’t do this, you can’t do that’ … I’m telling you, you better get up.”

Hear, hear.