infogluttony

the new york times has an interview with the normally reclusive ed burns.  decent interview that treads some familiar ground.  but i particularly liked the ending, when burns ticked off some of the upcoming projects he’s working on with david simon:

His next projects include a feature film about a true but unlikely romance between Donnie Andrews, a Baltimore holdup artist who robbed drug dealers (and inspired the character Omar Little on “The Wire”), and Fran Boyd, a crack addict who recovered with his help and married him last year (and was also a character in “The Corner”).

After that Mr. Burns hopes to make, with Mr. Simon, a period mini-series about the Haymarket bombing in Chicago in 1886, when the police, trying to break up a labor demonstration, were struck by a bomb that killed seven officers and sent four wrongfully convicted defendants to the gallows. With its troubled police department, corrupt city officials and compromised press, the incident has echoes of “The Wire.” But Mr. Burns sees it in broader strokes:

“We’ve forgotten what it’s like to be a working man,” he said. “There was a flush of money, and we’ve forgotten our roots. These stories have a power because it’s when men stood up.”

of course, the main reason for the interview was to promote their new miniseries starting soon on hbo, “generation kill,” which looks awesome (and includes among its stars ziggy from season 2!).  wish i still had hbo.  maybe i can d/l the series on itunes when it comes out.

the guy who created the satirical blog stuff white people like has written a book.  he was interviewed by salon about the book, the blog’s astonishing popularity, and, of course, stuff white people like.  interestingly, he got the idea for the site while he and his friend were talking over IM about “the wire.”

highlights:

1) whitest band: vampire weekend.

2) white people love public transportation, BUT NOT BUSES.  (guilty!)

3) white people think corporations are evil–except for apple, ikea, and target.

4) white people like self-deprecating humor.

5) why do white people like the wire?  “because it’s really well done, and it got low ratings.”  classic.

based on his criteria, is this not the whitest blog post ever?

A: Knock-knock.
B: Who’s there?
A: 9/11.
B: 9/11 who?
A: You said you’d never forget!

h/t pitchfork.

on a related note, was the smear on kerry met with the same vitriol by the mainstream media?

here’s another thing.  even if clark’s comments merited an apology–which they don’t; if anything bob sheiffer should apologize for asking such an inane question–why should obama apologize for something some other dude said?

a member of the mybarackobama.com group that’s encouraging obama to kill the pending FISA legislation has some insight into what feingold might be up to with his suggested amendments:

Feingold’s introducing, at last report, 6 Amendments. If even one is accepted, the Bill returns to the House. So far as I can tell, Russ’s strategy is not the classic filibuster, but rather to send the Bill back to the House in a form in which, if it passes there, Bush will veto. At that point, we’ve kicked the can far enough down the road it may die before the election season recess. The threat of a “filibuster” was a tactic to buy US the next 10 days.

it’s not ideal.  but i think the likelihood at least one of the feingold amendments will pass is highly likely–if we put pressure on our elected officials, particularly obama.

on a related note, counterspin had an interview with someone who pointed out something i hadn’t thought about.  it’s a fair argument that, with advances in technology, FISA might be overdue for a polish.  but the focus should be on how to safeguard american citizens’ privacy in the digital age, not how to broaden the government’s spying apparatus.

UPDATE: with over 4,000 members, the mybarackobama group against FISA is now the 5th largest group on the site!

ap reports:

The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned that Tehran would respond to an attack against it by barraging Israel with missiles and controlling a key oil passageway in the Persian Gulf, said a newspaper report published yesterday.

this has got to shock the foreign policy establishment in the united states.  after all, we’re in the business of attacking countries before they attack us, not after.

also on iran, ron paul drops some knowledge:

via juan cole.

join this my.barack.obama group if you want to tell obama to stop the fisa legislation:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/SenatorObama-PleaseVoteAgainstFISA

you know you want to.

in just two days, the group has 1500 members.  the administrator has projected at the current growth rate, it will become the largest group by tuesday.

think about it: a group critical of one of obama’s political positions might become the largest group on his site.  maybe obama’s right: yes WE can.

h/t firedoglake.

UPDATE: russ feingold’s office has posted a list of suggested amendments to make FISA better–namely, getting rid of the bulk collection provision in the pending legislation and allowing congress to review the FISA court records as an additional safeguard.  i know–what a radical.

remember that support for a candidate and challenging certain of that candidate’s positions are not mutually exclusive actions.

highlights:

1) a pledge to fillibuster the legislation.

2) his clear annoyance with obama for supporting the bill.

is it too late for feingold to be our presidential candidate?

look, imus is no dick gregory. but in the clumsy manner of a rehabilitating bigot, here’s what he said:

During a conversation about Jones’ run-ins with the law, Imus asked, “What color is he?” Sports announcer Warner Wolf said Jones , formerly known as Pacman , is “African-American.” Imus responded: “There you go. Now we know.”

imus later explained himself:

“What people should be outraged about is that they arrest blacks for no reason,” Imus said Tuesday. “I mean, there’s no reason to arrest this kid six times. Maybe he did something once, but everyone does something once.”

ever the total douchebag, the artist formerly known as pacman wasn’t hearing any of it from a guy who actually has his back:

“I’m truly upset about the comments,” Jones said. “Obviously Mr. Imus has problems with African-Americans. I’m upset, and I hope the station he works for handles it accordingly. I will pray for him.”

so give the guy a break–or a nobel peace prize!

russ feingold’s office has posted a “fact sheet” outlining his problems with provisions in the new fisa amendment legislation. a lot of ink has been necessarily spilled over a key portion of the bill, which gives retroactive immunity to telecoms that wiretapped our communications without a warrant because the bush administration said so. but the new fisa legislation grants broad new unchecked powers to the executive branch with little or no oversight. apparently barack obama agrees with the following proposed changes to wiretapping:

Lengthy Sunset

The bill sunsets in December 2012, a mere one year earlier than the Senate bill and a presidential election year.

[...]

No Prohibition on Bulk Collection

The bill does not include a prohibition on bulk collection – the collection of all international communications into and out of the U.S. to a whole continent or even the entire world. Such collection would be constitutionally suspect and would go well beyond what the government has says it needs to protect the American people. [...]

Loophole for Advance Judicial Approval of Court Orders

Under the bill, surveillance can begin after the FISA Court authorizes the program, or if the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence certify that they don’t have time to get a court order and that intelligence important to national security may be lost or not timely acquired. This broad ‘exigency’ exception could very well swallow the rule, and undermine any presumption of prior judicial approval.

and the worst part:

No Limits on Use of Illegally Obtained Information

If the government goes forward with surveillance before obtaining court approval, and the court subsequently determines that the government’s surveillance violated the law, the government can nonetheless keep and use any information it obtained.

keep in mind that obama’s weak-as-tea statement that he would try his darndest to get the immunity provision cut from the bill doesn’t take into account his apparent support of the aforementioned changes.

then again, i guess he is the Change candidate!