Faith-Based Initiative With Real Faith

The idea to run a television ad apologizing to Arab viewers for American actions at Abu Ghraib is proving to be very popular. The ad, created by the interfaith group faithfulamerica.org, is set to begin running tomorrow on Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, According to the International Herald Tribune,...

Doubters 3, Evil 2

One thing Reagan Week highlighted is how profoundly dark and pessimistic Bush is. Compared to Reagan–who was terminally optimistic and hopeful in his allusions–Bush’s speech stands out as consistently apocalyptic and paranoid. Take Bush’s eulogy for Reagan. Bush completely missed the nostalgic, celebratory tone of the ceremony. Even with...

Under “Tasteless” In Websters

I know as well as anyone that humorists deserve the widest latitude. However, Dennis Miller sunk pretty low with this riff on the Abu Ghraib photos. Maybe he was going for the idea that people quickly become desensitized to these kinds of images. On the other hand, maybe he...

Bowling For Michael Moore

This was posted today at Alternative Press Review (The “What Really Happened” site is a little idiosyncratic, but the story seems to check out.): “So desperate are Bush Republicans to kill Michael Moore’s latest film, Fahrenheit 9/11, they have hired a public relations firm to set up a web...

Campaign ’04: Next Week’s Story Line (Clinton Portrait Unveiling/Book Tour Kick-Off)

Campaign ’04: Last Week’s Story Line (Ronnie R.I.P. Extravaganza)

George Wilson Reagan

If you’re not completely burned out on Reagan at this point, here’s another item on the Bush-Reagan bootstrap effort. If you happened to miss it, the Bush campaign website “disappeared” it’s regular home page all last week in favor of a colossal cross -promotional memorial to the Gipper. To...

Conventional Warfare

The “No RNC Poster Project” is planning to blanket New York this summer with posters protesting the Republican Convention. According to their site, the posters will “…be on the streets, in storefronts and apartment windows, on picket signs, everywhere you – or the invading Republicans – look.” To keep...

Short Break

I’m taking advantage of Reagan-o-rama to catch a short break. I’ll be posting again on Saturday. (…By the way, the traffic has been great and so has the feedback. Thanks to everyone for the support!)

Red Handed

Last September, as a guest on Meet The Press, Vice President Cheney was asked if he had any role in Halliburton receiving contracts to help rebuild Iraq. He made a complete denial. Time Magazine, however, has obtained an internal Pentagon e-mail sent by an Army Corps of Engineers official–whose...

Reaganesque

Mark Fiore’s flash cartoon also plays up the “Bush piggyback” theme. Watch it here. And while we’re going for laughs, I thought this post at tomburka.com sums up this week’s interminable Reagan “super sizing.” This is it: GOP To Rename Buildings, Monuments, Schools, President Bush After Reagan Republicans today...

The BAGnews Cartoon: The Lord And The Flies

White House preparing for memorial speech like it’s the Super Bowl. send this cartoon to a friend!

The BAGnews Cartoon: The Lord And The Flies

Bush preparing for funeral speech like it’s the Super Bowl.

Abu Ghraib R Us

Joe Previtera, a twenty one year old student at Boston College, was arrested Wednesday after dressing as a hooded Iraqi prisoner in front of a military recruitment center on Tremont St. in downtown Boston. Apparently, police weren’t amused by the political statement. Previtera faces misdemeanor charges of disturbing the...

Sex And The Shifty

I apologize if I’m late on this, but somehow I hadn’t heard about arch-conservative Lynne Cheney’s homoerotic novel, entitled “Sisters,” until I read Frank Rich’s piece (“Mr. Bush Won’t Be at The Tonys”) in last Sunday’s Times. The graphic above comes from a wonderful layout at whitehouse.org, which has...

Uplink Of An Eye

Yesterday, I mentioned two highly regarded political films aiming for a general audience. I forgot to mention one other. “Control Room,” is a documentary by Jehane Noujaim which premiered at the Sundance Festival in January. (Joujaim was the director of “Startup.com” about the decline and fall of an internet...

Politics As Spectacle: Reagan24/7Reagan24/7Reagan24/7

“The oldest social specialization, the specialization of power, is at the root of the spectacle. The spectacle is thus a specialized activity which speaks for all the others. It is the diplomatic representation of hierarchic society to itself, where all other expression is banned. Here the most modern is...

Starring Big Brother

The challenge of a political film aimed at a broader audience is to be hard hitting without compromising dramatic or entertainment value. The Corporation, favorable reviewed in the the New York Observer, chronicles the most dominant institution in modern culture. According to it’s website, the film “is a critical...