Change

Political Cartoon is by David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star.

Palin Movie Tanks In Its Second Weekend

The new movie about Sarah Palin was supposed to jump-start her failing celebrity status and possibly propel her into the presidential campaign as a leading contender. At least that was the hope of her most rabid supporters (who have had very little to cheer about recently). But it looks like those hopes were misplaced.

As I reported several days ago, the first weekend the Palin movie, The Undefeated, was in the theaters was not really a resounding success. The movie was only released to 10 screens in the parts of the country where Palin's popularity is supposed to be the strongest. Hollywood considers a movie to be very mediocre if it averages about $10,000 per screen, and the Palin movie couldn't even do that. It averaged somewhere between $6,000 and $7,500 per screen -- even after all the internet hype Palin supporters tried to drum up.

But the figures after the second weekend make the first weekend look great. The movie showing was extended to 14 screens, but it didn't help. The movie only grossed $24,000 in its second weekend, for a per screen average of only $1,714 dollars. ( a drop of 63.2%). Ouch! That has to hurt. And those had to have been some pretty deserted theaters. It would take a dedicated right-wing Palin-supporter of a theater owner to keep losing money on this turkey day after day, when even a bad movie would bring in more money.

It looks like the makers of this bad movie know it's not going to last long in the theaters. The second weekend gross has made that pretty clear. They are rushing this turkey into other types of markets (which normally takes most movies many months to reach). ARC Entertainment has announced The Undefeated will be available for Video-on-Demand and Pay-Per-View by September 1st. Then it will be available on DVD by October 4th (including a "special edition" only available at Walmart).

I doubt this will help very much. I'm sure the die-hard Palin fans will buy some DVD's, but if the general public is not willing to go see this movie in the theater it is unlikely they'll want to shell out money to see it on television or buy the DVD. Frankly, I think Palin's 15 minutes of fame is about over. The public has peeked behind the curtain, and they don't like what they saw there.

Belief In Personal Freedom ?

Political Cartoon is by Lee Judge in The Kansas City Star.

An Oddity Of Empire

I took this excellent rant from the great blog of Badtux the Snarky Penguin. It should serve as a warning for America, which is perched on the edge of repeating the mistakes made by a former empire.

It is one of the oddities of empire that as entrenched elites become wealthier and the common people become more impoverished due to the concentration of wealth, the elites suddenly decide that they don't have to pay taxes. Various Chinese dynasties fell because of this, as did the Roman empire -- Rome fell because Rome's elites decided they no longer wished to pay taxes for the support of the legions that protected them from barbarians, and the legions responded, when not paid, by marching on Rome and installing one of themselves as Emperor for a while until the elites could figure out how to get him out of there. Or by deserting under the "no pay, no play" rule. It got to the point where they assassinated their last competent general for making the mistake of coming to Rome *without* his legion to ask for his pay. The end result was that Rome went from being a city of over 1,000,000 in 300 AD to being maybe 40,000 people huddled in a heavily-armed camp in the ruins by 500 AD. Where did everybody else go? The smarter ones moved to the country and learned how to be subsistence farmers. The rest died, including most of those elites who thought they were immune to reality by virtue of their wealth and birth. Didn't quite work that way. Duh.

So it goes, as our own elites go down that same damned path to mass extinction. Taking the rest of us with them, alas, the way it usually goes.

Passing The Blame

Political Cartoon is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

2011 Tour de France Final Results

The 2011 Tour de France is over, and it was a great one. Mark Cavendish, Great Britain (HTC-Highroad) won the stage 21 sprint and clenched the green jersey. Here are the top three finishers in all categories:

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
1. Garmin-Cervelo (United States)
2. Leopard-Trek (Luxembourg)
3. AG2R La Mondiale (France)

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP (YELLOW JERSEY)
1. Cadel Evans, Australia (BMC Racing)
2. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg (Leopard-Trek)
3. Frank Schleck, Luxembourg (Leopard-Trek)

SPRINT CHAMPIONSHIP (GREEN JERSEY)
1. Mark Cavendish, Great Britain (HTC-Highroad)
2. Jose Joaquin Rojas, Spain (Movistar)
3. Philippe Gilbert, Belgium (Omega-Lotto)

CLIMBERS CHAMPIONSHIP (POLKA DOT JERSEY)
1. Samuel Sanchez, Spain (Euskaltel-Euskadi)
2. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg (Leopard-Trek)
3. Jelle Vanendert, Belgium (Omega-Lotto)

BEST YOUNG RIDER (WHITE JERSEY)
1. Pierre Rolland, France (Europcar)
2. Rein Taaramae, Estonia (Cofidis)
3. Jerome Coppel, France (Saur-Sojasun)

It turned out to be a very good Tour for the United States. Consider the following:

* A U.S. team won the prestigious team Championship (Garmin-Cervelo).
* The yellow jersey winner rode for an American team (BMC Racing).
* The green jersey winner rode for an American team (HTC-Highroad).
* American Tom Danielson (Garmin-Cervelo), riding in his first Tour de France, finished the race in 9th place overall. That means that when the 198 best cyclists in the world got together for this race, he beat 189 of them.

Putting The Apostrophe In The Right Place

This humorous social statement was found at the blog of Yellowdog Granny.

Is GOP Tiring Of The Palin/Perry Tease ?

Sarah Palin has been teasing Republican voters for quite a while now with her "Maybe I will, Maybe I won't" stance on the presidential campaign. This has allowed her to keep on raising money through her PAC because her supporters are hoping they are helping fund a presidential run, and it has also allowed her to dodge any debates or media interviews because she's not an official candidate.

Now Rick Perry is playing that same game. He's saw how well it is working for Palin (and like Palin, he doesn't do well with the media -- avoiding them like the plague in his last run for the governor's office). For about a month now he's allowed his aides to leak just enough "maybes" to keep people interested (he hopes).

But there are signs that the Republicans may be tiring of the cute political game Palin and Perry are playing -- at least the Iowa Republicans are. The Iowa GOP is having their political straw poll in about three weeks (August 13th) and they're getting a little peeved at the Perry/Palin duo. It seems they think if a person wants their support for the nomination, then they need to declare their candidacy and get themselves to Iowa and ask for support.

Since Perry and Palin have not declared themselves as candidates (and there is no real reason to think they even will do so), the Iowa Republicans have decided to leave them off the straw poll ballot. This won't help either one, as the Iowa straw poll is viewed as a good way for a candidate's campaign to get a nice boost. It looks like the Iowans are telling these two campaigns they need to make up their fickle minds or forget it altogether.

There are nine candidates who will be listed on the straw poll ballot. These include the six candidates who have paid $15,000 for a booth (which also gives them the right to make a speech). Those candidates are Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, and Thaddeus McCotter.

In addition to the six who have opted in fully for the straw poll, the Iowa GOP also has included three other candidates on the ballot because those candidates have declared their candidacy and have at least a modicum of support. They are Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, and Newt Gingrich.

Three declared candidates were left off the ballot, ostensibly because they have failed to generate any support at all. They are Buddy Roemer, Gary Johnson, and Fred Karger (whoever the hell he is).

Aspirin Needed

Political Cartoon is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

GOP Plays Politics With Air Travel

Once again the Republicans show that they care more about their failed ideology than the smooth functioning of our system -- this time the transportation system. By insisting on anti-union measures being included in the FAA re-athorization bill, they have prevented such a bill from being passed. Now the FAA has no funds with which to operate and will have to furlough thousands of workers. It will also probably cost thousands of construction workers their jobs as airport building funds are also not available.

The FAA is trying to assure the traveling public that flying will still be safe because the air traffic controllers will remain on the job. But one has to wonder how long this GOP-initiated impasse will last before it does start to impact air travel. Will safety at the airports become lax with nobody but air traffic controllers from the government working? What about safety inspectors? What about the people who must re-certify pilots?

This is a bad place for the GOP to try and push its anti-unionism (they want to make it harder for FAA workers to join unions). Making matters even worse, the collection of airline taxes won't be able to be done either. That amounts to about $200 million in lost revenue each week (or about $10 billion a year). That makes no sense for a party that has been whining about the federal budget being too large.

This is just one more instance of the GOP caring more about pleasing themselves than protecting and enhancing the lives of ordinary Americans. They don't care if people have to go without their paychecks, they don't care about millions being without jobs, they don't care about affecting the checks and benefits of millions of the elderly, they don't care about the poor and underprivileged who depend on the programs they cut. All they really care about is pleasing their corporate masters and getting re-elected.

To The Back Of The Bus

Political Cartoon is by Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

Too Quick To Place Blame (On The Wrong People)

We don't normally think of Norway as a place plagued by terrorist acts, but they certainly were the victims of terrorism a couple of days ago. A government building was bombed in Oslo (probably by a fertilizer bomb like Oklahoma City) and seven people were killed. Then the terrorist(s) attacked a youth camp, killing at least 85 more people. Needless to say, it was a dastardly and inexcusable action regardless of who did it.

As usual, a lot of internet blogs, especially those on the right, and even some major media outlets in this country were quick to place blame for the terrorist acts in Norway. And the people they blamed were muslims (or "jihadists"). There was no evidence of that, but those placing blame were quick to point out that the attacks had the "earmarks" of a jihadist attack.

Actually it didn't have the earmarks of a jihadist attack at all. It had the earmark of a right-wing attack, since the fertilizer bomb is a trademark of right-wing extremists (like in Oklahoma City). But no one seems to remember Oklahoma City. The horrible attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11 has colored the thinking of Americans and the media -- both the internet media and the major media. We have programmed ourselves to think that any attack must be caused by islamic jihadists.

The crazy thing about that is that more attacks since 9/11 have been done by right-wing extremists than have been done by muslim extremists. And now we learn that the person arrested for the Norway attacks (and who has confessed to being involved) is not a muslim at all. He is a right-winger with ties to extremist organizations and is a fundamentalist christian. All of the media who were quick to jump on the jihadist bandwagon have now just made themselves look like bigoted fools.

It is past time for Americans (individuals, groups, and media) to check our behavior toward muslims -- both in this country and abroad. Far too many of us act like all muslims are complicit in the acts of a few vicious criminals. This doesn't make sense, especially in light of the fact that we aren't willing to do the same with christians (who have as many, if not more, of the same kind of vicious criminals).

The fact is that almost all muslims, just like almost all christians, are decent, honest, kind, and peaceful citizens who love their neighbors and their country. To treat them like anything else is nothing short of bigotry. And there is nothing uglier or more vicious than bigotry of any kind.

is this how we want to be known -- as a nation of bigots? For too long now decent people of all religions and political persuasions have been silent and let the right-wing extremist bigots paint this country as a place where religious bigotry (and racism and misogyny) is the norm. It isn't, and it's time to let the world know that.

I don't mean to paint all conservatives as bigots (even though I disagree with their politics). I know some who are not. But they need to join with moderates and progressives and let it be known that bigotry will not be tolerated or respected in this country (or anywhere else). We should never put up with bigotry just because the bigot may agree with us on some political issues, whether we are on the right or the left.

Down with bigotry, racism, and misogyny -- now and forever!

NOTE -- I'd like to recommend a website called My Fellow American, which is dedicated to fighting religious bigotry (especially toward muslims). It's worth your time.

Supporting Plutocracy

Political Cartoon is by Stuart Carlson at carlsoncartoons.com.

Aussie Wins Yellow In Stage 20 Time Trial

The race for the overall lead (and the coveted yellow jersey) in this year's Tour de France has been a very close one -- with the top three riders going into stage 20 with a spread of only 57 seconds. Luxembourg's Andy Schleck (Leopard-Trek) went into the day as the race leader, but he needed to ride the best time trial of his life to hold off Australian Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) who is known as an excellent time-trialer.

And Evans proved just how good a time-trialer he was by blowing away both of the Schleck brothers and snatching away the yellow jersey. Evans beat Andy Schleck's time by 2' 31" and Frank Schleck's time by 2' 34". Assuming nothing weird happens in tomorrow's rather ceremeonial ride into Paris this will be the first time Evans (or any Australian) has won the Tour de France, although Evans has finished on the podium several times before.

The winner of stage 20 was German Tony Martin who rides for the American HTC-Highroad team. He finished 7 seconds ahead of Evans. The third place finisher for today's time trial was Spain's Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank), who was last year's Tour winner. He finished about a minute behind Evans.

The competition for the polka dot jersey, given to the best climber, is also over since there are no more climbs in this year's Tour. This jersey was won by Spain's Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi). And it looks like an American team has won the team championship for the second year in a row. Garmin-Cervelo goes into tomorrow's race with more than an 11 minute lead. Last year's champion was the Radio Shack team.

The only competition not determined yet is the green jersey, given to the Tour's best sprinter. The final points for the green jersey will be decided by the sprint finish in Paris tomorrow.

Here are the current standings:

YELLOW JERSEY (INDIVIDUAL LEADER)
1. Cadel Evans, Australia (BMC Racing)
2. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg (Leopard-Trek)..........1' 34"
3. Frank Schleck, Luxembourg (Leopard-Trek)..........2' 30"
4. Thomas Voeckler, France (Europcar)..........3' 20"
5. Alberto Contador, Spain (Saxo Bank)..........3' 57"
6. Samuel Sanchez, Spain (Euskaltel-Euskadi)..........4' 55"
7. Damiano Cunego, Italy (Lampre)..........6' 05"
8. Ivan Basso, Italy (Liquigas)..........7' 23"
9. Tom Danielson, USA (Garmin-Cervelo)...........8' 15"
10. Jean-Christophe Peraud, France (AG2R)..........10' 11"


GREEN JERSEY (SPRINTERS)
1. Mark Cavendish, Great Britain (HTC-Highroad)....280 pts
2. Jose Joaquin Rojas, Spain (Movistar)....265 pts
3. Philippe Gilbert, Belgium (Omega-Lotto)....230 pts
4. Cadel Evans, Australia (BMC Racing)....208 pts
5. Thor Hushovd, Norway (Garmin-Cervelo)....195 pts


POLKA DOT JERSEY (CLIMBERS)
1. Samuel Sanchez, Spain (Euskaltel-Euskadi)........108 pts
2. Andy Schleck, Luxembourg (Leopard-Trek)........98 pts
3. Jelle Vanendert, Belgium (Omega-Lotto)........74 pts
4. Cadel Evans, Australia (BMC Racing)........58 pts
5. Frank Schleck, Spain (Leopard-Trek)........56 pts


TEAM STANDINGS
1. Garmin-Cervelo (USA)
2. Leopard-Trek (Luxembourg)..........11' 04"
3. AG2R (France)..........11' 20"
4. Europcar (France)..........41' 53"
5. Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spain)..........52' 00"