March 2008

Cincinnati has gotten a severe case of Ikea madness.  I was told by a West Chester official that Ikea had to turn people away on Saturday because they were over the capacity of 10,000 people.  West Chester allowed the capacity to be exceeded slightly during the grand opening, but now they need to enforce the code because of liability issues.  Customers trying to enter the store were denied entrance and told to come back later in the day.  It seems that main problem is that people were going in and not coming out for 3-4 hours. 

Amazing.

From the LATimes.com: Maybe Spitzer just needed time at La Costa

In fact, I’m not sure why going to a brothel is illegal but visiting a spa is considered classy. Because, really, a spa is just all the parts of sex that women like: candles, soft music, scented oils, questions about how you feel. How can it be psychologically healthy in a marriage for either partner paying to be touched in pleasurable ways? As a husband, I know I can’t compete with a $100-an-hour shiatsu guy with an iPod full of flute music.

From Newsday.com

It seems like Bush believes that by avoiding the use of words like recession or torture, that somehow they aren’t happening.  We aren’t in a recession, but we are having a “tough time”.  We’re not torturing people, we’re using “enhanced interrogation techniques”.

From LATimes: Governor’s high-flying commute draws flak

Schwarzenegger has eschewed living in Sacramento, preferring his Brentwood mansion and traveling back and forth in his private jet. Some question his concern for the environment.

After flirting briefly with buying a Sacramento abode for his family, then living alone for a while in a 2,000-square-foot hotel penthouse across from the Capitol, the governor has decided to stay nearly every night at his Brentwood mansion.

That’s an approximately 780 mile round trip daily commute by private jet.  That’s about 3 hours of commuting.

The governor’s Gulfstream jet does nearly as much damage to the environment in one hour as a small car does in a year, according to figures compiled by the Helium Report, an online publication for buyers of luxury items.

Schwarzenegger doesn’t have to do this.  He could have moved his family to Sacramento like every other governor before him.  The rich and powerful shouldn’t get a pass because they can afford to do this.

I thought this following paragraph was kind of amusing in light of the Spitzer scandal:

The governor rarely sleeps now in the $62,000-a-year hotel penthouse paid for by a tax-exempt charitable foundation. But in the early years of his administration, Schwarzenegger spent most weeknights there, working late, receiving visitors and playing chess, former aides said.

So “playing chess” is what they’re calling it these days.

From Foxnews.com: Hillary Had No Role in Irish Peace, Despite Bill’s Claim

Recently, as only Hillary can do, she claimed that she was “deeply involved in the Irish peace process.” Bill has also picked up the theme, citing her “independent” role in resolving the century-old conflict as “experience” with which to justify a White House run.

How odd that Hillary forgot to mention her pivotal role in Ireland just four years ago, when she wrote her $8 million memoir, Living History.

According to Hillary, while Bill met with the “various factions” of Irish politics, Hillary met with women leaders of the peace movement. Rather than discuss the difficulties of the peace process, Hillary focused on a teapot used by the women:

“They poured tea from ordinary stainless steel teapots, and when I remarked how well they kept the tea warm, Joyce insisted that I take a pot to remember them by. I used that dented teapot every day in our small family kitchen in the White House…”

Hillary seems determined to spin being the wife of the President as some kind of foreign policy credential.  As the article shows, Hillary doesn’t even claim the accomplishments as “ours”, but “Bill’s”, like she’s just a bystander.  Being First Lady doesn’t make you more qualified to be President.  Otherwise, why don’t we just have Laura Bush takeover?

From NYTimes.com: Clinton and Obama Split Over Florida and Michigan

“The results of those primaries were fair and should be honored,” she told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce here.

Mrs. Clinton said last October that the Michigan primary was meaningless, but she left her name on the ballot. Mr. Obama and the other major Democratic candidates removed their names from the ballot in a gesture of good faith to early-voting states whose primaries were officially allowed by the Democratic Party. Neither candidate campaigned in Michigan; Mrs. Clinton won with 55 percent of the vote over 40 percent for “uncommitted”.

So this Hillary’s idea of “fair”.  How are the results of Michigan anywhere close to being fair?  How can you count an election where the only two choices are “Hillary” and “Uncommitted”?  If you were an Obama supporter, would you even bother going to vote in an election where you’d have to vote “uncommitted”?

Hillary’s sense of “fairness” is whatever gets her into the White House.   If you took this to any non-partisan arbiter, there’s no way they would say that these elections should be counted as is.

A re-vote would probably be the best solution, but then the punishment against Michigan and Florida for moving up their primary would turn into a reward for those states as their votes would become the last two states to vote in the primary.

CNN.com has a good commentary about this: Florida, Michigan don’t deserve revote

From the Cincinnati Enquirer: Ikea opening draws thousands

I love Ikea, but you won’t see me around there for the next couple of weeks.  Not until the crowds thin out a little.

In honor of the grand opening, here’s the website of Mark Malkoff, a comedian who lived in an Ikea for a week.  The videos are great!

Watching the mess of Eliot Spitzer, you can’t help but feel sorry for his wife standing at his side.  Who is Silda Spitzer?

An interesting profile from the NYTimes.com: Her Next Job: First Lady of New York

From CNN.com (Video): Oldest man to run marathon

Can this guy really be 101 years old?  He’s amazing.

From NYTimes.com : Batman’s Burden: A Director Confronts Darkness and Death

It’s enough to make a marketing executive cringe, that the word “dense” pops up in conversations with Mr. Nolan and his actors. But it’s true: “The Dark Knight,” which will be released on July 18, is jammed with characters, plot and action. It picks up where “Batman Begins” left off, with Mr. Oldman’s police lieutenant, Jim Gordon, warning about the perils of escalation: that Batman’s extreme measures could invite a like response from the criminal element. And sure enough, a deadly new villain, the Joker, emerges to wreak havoc.

In a political context this would politely be called an “unintended consequence.” (Gotham as Baghdad, anyone?) Mr. Nolan doesn’t deny the overtones. “As we looked through the comics, there was this fascinating idea that Batman’s presence in Gotham actually attracts criminals to Gotham, attracts lunacy,” he said. “When you’re dealing with questionable notions like people taking the law into their own hands, you have to really ask, where does that lead? That’s what makes the character so dark, because he expresses a vengeful desire.”

It always amazes me that big budget movies are sometimes made without a semblance of a coherent story or character development.  Hearing Christopher Nolan talk about delving into deeper character issues is exciting.