Pixar ends Disney distribution deal

Michael Eisner has been outfoxed by Steve Jobs. Disney has already closed their traditional animation studio in favor of computerized animation provided by Pixar, and now the rug gets pulled out from under them. This puts Disney in a real bind, and the options aren't pretty. Eisner could continue to crank out low-quality Korean animated features like the countless direct-to-video sequels, but that would diminish Disney's image in Hollywood and puts others studios on an equal playing field. He could go back and beg Jobs to reconsider, but the ego won't allow it. He could steal key creative types from Pixar, sparking a flurry of lawsuits. He could reactivate the traditional animation unit, which the market won't like due to the costs and dwindling success of old-style features. Tough decisions abound.

Maryland e-voting vulnerable to hackers

As a voter, as a political operative and as an American I am violently opposed to e-voting. There is no way to verify if the individual on the other side of the connection is the person who should be voting. What's to stop political machines from engaging in identity theft? Seeing the political shenanigans that go on in Louisiana, I shudder to think what a hacker could do to our electoral process.

That being said, the headline of this article is misleading. This is not about internet voting, its about faulty voting machines. Still, if it rains on the parade of so-called e-voting then I'm all for it.

It is not the job of government to bend over backwards to get people to vote when there are a significant number of Americans who couldn't care less. Knowing the sacrifices many Americans paid to secure the right to vote, if you're too lazy to get your ass to a polling place then you don't deserve to vote. If you want a real definition of voter disenfranchisement, ask an older black man who had to pay a poll tax or take a test just to register back in the day and you'll get an earful.

Practicing Muslims Outpacing Anglicans in Britain

For those who think open immigration is no threat to Western Civilzation...

Gillespie's Blog

The GOP is already ahead of Democrats in grass roots campaigning. Now the RNC has a blog. We live in amazing times.

Kerry Leads in Lobby Money

According to the Washington Post, the Democrat who is running an anti-special interest campaign has received more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator in the past 15 years!

"For his presidential race, Kerry has raised more than $225,000 from lobbyists, better than twice as much as his nearest Democratic rival. Like President Bush, Kerry has also turned to a number of corporate officials and lobbyists to "bundle" contributions from smaller donors, often in sums of $50,000 or more, records provided by his campaign show."

BOOM! The Post just threw the other Dems a huge bone, one they were too lazy to dig for.

All you do to me is talk talk...

It may suprise those who have misdiagnosed me as a curmudgeon, but I get FranklinCovey's weekly email of inspirational quotes. This week's selections are on the art of listening, a subject I am revisiting as I re-read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People for what seems the umpteenth time.

"If you are doing all the talking, you are boring somebody." — Helen Gurley Brown

"Speak clearly, if you speak at all; Carve every word before you let it fall." — Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

"In conversation ask questions oftener than you express opinion; and when you speak offer data and information rather than beliefs and judgments." — Will Durrant

"If you think a complimentary thought about someone, don’t just think it. Dare to compliment people and pass on compliments to them from others." — Catherine Ponder

"Words are the keys to the heart." — Chinese proverb

Censored at the Super Bowl

This talk of censorship is bogus. CBS like most businesses in a capitalist society are in business to make money. They would had to have sold the time to Moveon at the lowest unit rate, not the top dollar that sponsors are paying to jockey for position. Had Bush wanted to respond, they would have had to have given him the same rate. By banning all political spots, CBS is able to make money. To expect a network to do that on the biggest ad day of the year is like asking a store owner to close on the day after Thanksgiving.

Some liberals are screaming that they won't be watching the game. Please...as if they'd be watching in the first place. This brou-ha-ha gives them a convenient excuse to explain why they're at the coffee shop catching up on their Kant and Kafka. If anything, they can now get in touch with their inner Oscar Wilde by turning over to NBC's Queer Eye For The Straight Guy marathon, perhaps the most hilarious counter-programming stunt in the history of television.

It makes no difference

Many may consider the revelations of David Kay to be devastating. My response is about as energetic as a yawn. Quite simply, WMD's are nothing more than a McGuffin. Saddam was a bad man who did bad things to many people and wanted to do more bad things to many more people. I may sound like a broken record because I have expressed this point over and over again, but this was unfinished business. How many more mass graves had to be filled with the bodies of innocent people before the world would take notice? How many more attempts at acquiring nuclear and chemical weapons would have to be made before we were concerned? Why didn't anyone object this vociferously in the Clinton administration? Are we a nation of Bill Clinton hypocrites who prefer to shake our fist in an empty show of force like "so many impotent beach boys"(apologies to Tom Mankiewicz)but never follow through on our gestures? Whatever happened to the words of John F. Kennedy, who so emphatically stated at his inaugural that cold day in 1961:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

As a young lad I was taught that a sin is an equal measure of intention and action; without sinful intent, an action isn't necessarily a sin. Saddam though he had a weapons program. He intended to sin and acted as such. If he found out that he was the Emperor and he had no clothes on, he would have had the scientists killed and paid whatever it took to obtain WMDs. Whether it was in 2003 or 2005 when we removed this man, it makes no difference. That there were no WMDs immediately evident is immaterial. Anywhere people are not free, we must go. We gave the world democracy, the government of free people. But as President Bush so eloquently put it, "Freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom is God's gift to humanity."

The Passion of The Christ Trailer

The fine folks at Apple have posted a Quicktime trailer of the upcoming Mel Gibson epic. It can be stated that Jesus was, after all, the original proponent of the "think different" philosophy.

Band NOT Reunited

Words cannot express how disappointed I am after screening the latest episode of VH-1's Bands reunited. It seemed too easy: the chipper host had cajoled into reality a regrouping of the near-classic, almost original Squeeze lineup - Difford and Tillbrook plus drummer Gilson Lavis, bassist Keith Wilkinson (not an original member but close enough) and pianist/chat show blabber Jools Holland.

Alas it was not to be. For reasons that were seemingly trivial as to not warrant much explanation - schedule conflicts, blah-blah-blah - only Chris Difford showed up. The first two segments built hopes up so big that the final act was nothing short of flying off the precipice.

If you're a Squeeze fan as I am, follow the link above and sign the petition telling the band members what rat bastards they are for not being men of their word!

Be Like E.C.

From MTV News:

"He may not be the hunkiest musician on the block, but Elvis Costello knows the secret to making the ladies swoon, which he promises to share in a forthcoming book. His idea for the how-to book (as in 'How to play guitar, sing loudly and impress girls ... or boys,' as he says in the proposal) is based on the presumption that people need to take a more punk approach to learning music: 'While I am not promoting musical illiteracy, it is my own experience that the rapid mastery of a few chords gives almost instant satisfaction and encouragement to the beginner. ... This in turn may actually inspire a curiosity to learn more about music, to train the ear to understand harmony ... and all the while basking in the admiring and occasionally lustful gaze of members of the opposite sex.'"

Sounds ok to me!

San Fran set for feng-shui law

This is a recognition of religion.

FCC Proposes Fining Clear Channel

Bubba the Love Sponge gets 'em in trouble again.

If they were fined for playing crappy music, then every radio station in America would have been slapped around at one time or another.

Love these comments:

"We believe the time has come for every sector of the media to join together and develop consistent standards that are in tune with local community values," said Mark Mays, president of the company. "Our audiences deserve nothing less."

Which means what? I would profer to use the term "polite society" because then that statement would have meaning...and teeth.

"The FCC also announced that it wanted to fine KRON Channel 4 in San Francisco the maximum $27,500 for broadcasting indecent material on its morning news program.

"During an interview with performers of the 'Puppetry of the Penis,' who wore capes but nothing else, one of the actors exposed himself. The FCC said the station should have expected that such a display could have occurred and should have taken steps to prevent it.

"It would be just the second fine leveled against a television broadcast for indecency."

Their license should be revoked. If you try to uphold community standards in San Francisco, stations would be forced to air more penises!

Regular Guy

Just received a surprise visit from a client, East Baton Rouge Parish Assessor Brian Wilson. We chatted briefly and exchanged plesantries. What strikes me about Brian is how much of a regular guy he is. You could not tell that this is the man who controls the tax rolls of this parish. No airs, no arrogance, nothing. Just a normal guy getting the job done. This guy is not a politician, and I mean that as the highest compliment.

Jack Paar 1918-2004

Having been born well after Paar vanished from the scene, my only exposure to this gentleman was on retrospectives (aka clip shows). Yet from all observations of scratchy kinescopes, Paar was an engaging personality. Regis Philbin is about the closest thing we have to Parr these days, a guy who isn't afraid of being himself and being emotional.

Unfortunately Paar's one trademark - emotional honesty - has been usurped on TV by emotional exhibitionism, genuineness or artificiality being irrelevant. TV likes it when people cry and/or go bananas, because the drama of human turmoil can be played up. By contrast, Paar was always himself on TV, warts and all but mostly a funny guy who liked to talk and was relaxed enough to let it all hang out. If ever he appeared too neurotic, all he had to do was bring on Woody Allen or Oscar Levant.

AL FRANKEN KNOCKS DOWN DEAN HECKLER

"Franken said he's not backing Dean but merely wanted to protect the right of people to speak freely."

That's what hecklers do, Al.

"The trouble started when several supporters of fringe presidential candidate Lyndon Larouche began shouting accusations at Dean."

Someone with any ounce of class would have simply alerted security.

Hot line!

The headline says it all: Cell Phone Explosion Burns Man's Buttocks

So when you hear someone say "you know what chaps my hide" or "cell phones give me the red ass" think of poor Mohamed Radzuan Yasin.

Government adviser: killing children with defects acceptable

And you thought we defeated Hitler.

New Orleans Prelate Tells Catholic Pols to Toe Line

More on Bishop Hughes ...'scuse me, Archbishop Hughes's comments are courageous and needed. Particularly deft is this statement from his spokesman:

the Rev. William Maestri drew a distinction between what Hughes' column means to a politician and what it means to a Catholic. Maestri said the Church is not defining the parameters of a person's politics but of his or her faith.

The politician is rendering to Caesar but not to God, and the chucrh cannot reward such behavior.