Chanukah Song Update

Marcel Marceau, World-Renowned Mime With A Classic Repertory, Dies At 84 - As Good As News apologizes for the delay in reporting this sad item, but we have just learned of a new development. Adam Sandler announced today that he would add a moment of silence between Parts I and II of the Chanukah song as a tribute to Marceau, born as Marcel Mangel to Jewish parents in Strasbourg, France.

Debate Erupts on Techniques Used by C.I.A. -Kudos again NY Times - not because you ran a great story yesterday, we already gave you credit for that - but because you resisted the temptation to put the following remark from Senator John D. Rockefeller IV in a bold face headline: "I find it unfathomable that the committee tasked with oversight of the C.I.A.’s detention and interrogation program would be provided more information by The New York Times than by the Department of Justice."

CIA withholds torture opinions it received from the Justice Department, Office of Legal Counsel on grounds of "privilege". Executive privilege or attorney-client privilege? If the latter, who is the client, the US government as a whole, or just the CIA/Executive Branch? There are some interesting issues, maybe even Constitutional questions, but the basic absurdity of the CIA position - We can torture because we got a letter from our lawyer, and we don't have to show anyone the letter - dominates the specific questions. Something will have to give here, either in a Congressional inquiry or a court case brought by a torture victim.

Strip Policy on Rikers Costs City - The City has already agreed to a settlement fund of up to $50 Million to cover claims for inappropriate strip searches at the Riker's Island prison and it appears the guards are going for more. What is going on, Riker's guards? $50 Million broken into small bills should be more than adequate to stuff several hundred thousand G-Strings, with plenty left over for the lap dances, we gave you an unlimited budget and you exceeded it.

Counterattack

Secret US Endorsement of Severe Interrogations - Remain calm. As Good As News will not embark on yet another rant about John Yoo, the Dr. Yes of torture ( "Severe Interrogation" is the new NY Timesese for torture) and warrantless surveillance, and Alberto Gonzales, Yoo's partner in lapdogdom. Been there (the Fatwa at Home and Abroad), done that (Second Opinion). We won't even revisit them as comedic material (but see The Decider Picks None of The Above ). Today we strike a few glancing blows on this subject and move on: 1) the linked story is a tremendously detailed history of goings on at the Justice Department, Office of Legal counsel on both torture and surveillance - kudos NY Times - almost makes up for your abysmal failure to cover the Rockies heroic run to the playoffs: 2) interesting that Yoo ended up back at Berkeley - the more publicity his Justice Department role gets the warmer that tenured chair will become, at some point he may feel like he's handcuffed to a hot seat; 3) the Times story spreads across 3 pages, if you don't have time to read the whole thing, see my stand up act on Monday, October 8 for the 70 second version, laughs included with the two drink minimum.

Monks Are Silenced and Now the Web Is Too - Burma's military rulers have shut down Burma's two ISPs and launched a successful viral attack on The Irrawaddy, a Thailand based site that had posted extensive material on protests in Burma. ATTENTION HACKERS - The stone age sergeants running Burma have shown their colors, where's the counterattack? Let's make sure it's targeted narrowly on the ruling junta. These guys don't believe in the Internet, but they use computers and telephones. "Burma" is not a slip or an endorsement of colonialism. It's not totally a concession to lazy fingers. The name change to Myanmar in 1989 was the product of a military regime (the same crowd that just shut down the Internet) which had no claim to being a representative government. The regime's claim that Myanmar more inclusively represented the nation's varied ethnicities is not historically accurate. As Good As News is sticking with Burma unless and until it's changed by a representative government of that nation.

Spreading Homework Out So Even Parents Have Some - An important and fascinating story, NYC schools give parents homework - oh wait it's not NYC, it's Montclair, this is really important, no wonder it got half of page B-1. Based on decades of carefully reading the NY Times, As Good As News has concluded that Montclair is the only town in New Jersey. Perhaps the Time's staff all lives there because they can pretend they are still on NYC's Upper West Side, an area with which Montclair has much in common. Montclair features liberal politics with constant bickering between the Hillaryists, the Obamans and the Trotskyites. It has high real estate taxes to pay for expensive public schools, yet half the town goes to private school anyway. Montclair's best restaurants and delis rival the West Side's, you can take in "Ira and Abby"at the local art cinema and you can even find parking for your Volvo. NY Times staff, if you want to live in Montclair that's your call, but please, it is not news when a flea lands in Montclair. There are other suburbs in NJ, (including my own - to record my already obvious bias on this point), that are less expensive and more diverse, ethnically and economically, than Montclair, with better public schools. Get a relocation service to help your thirty something staffers look at some other options when they have kids and abandon Manhattan, we're sick of Montclair as the center of the suburban universe, the go to town for every family feature. It's time for a little geographic diversity.

Tailoring Messages to a New Audience: Wrinkled Baby Boomers -Great photo, Harley Davidson, but I'm not sure if I will run out and buy one today. It's nice to be wanted but my resistance to advertising and impulse buying has hardened along with my arteries.

3:10 to Baghdad

Chief of Blackwater [Erik D. Prince] Defends His Employees in testimony before Congress:

-"OK, maybe our ads did say "Cowboys Wanted", but it was just to get people's attention, there are a lot of other advertisements in Modern Mercenary, you have to do something to capture some eyeballs. "

-"All right already, yes -Chapter 1 of the training manual is titled "Shoot First - If You're Any Good There Won't Be Any Questions Later", but that was just a little Blackwater humor - the footnote on page 354 clearly states that weapons are to be used for defensive purposes only."

Mr. Prince is another interesting character. The son of an auto parts millionaire, he's a Republican blue blood who interned in the White House and Congress and is the brother in law of Amway founder and conservative money man Richard DeVos. Mr. Prince was an officer in the US Navy and a Navy Seal, not quite the same thing as the Texas Air National Guard. He attended Annapolis as a freshman, but returned to Michigan to graduate from Hillsdale College. Why? This guy became a naval officer shortly after college, so he had not changed his career goal, and he had the fortitude to endure Navy Seal training so he probably could have handled Annapolis, why leave? Comments anyone?


Mr. Prince is an interesting detour, as is the crazy vacuum in which no law seems to apply to Blackwater personnel in Iraq, but the real issue is why are these jobs handled by private contractors? Just as the all volunteer army made it easier politically to rush into the Iraq war, the private guards help to reduce the military casualty numbers and blunt the military recruitment problems that a dangerous, unpopular war creates. Maybe we should fight wars with real soldiers who are trained and accountable, wars that people support because they serve a fundamental national interest, instead of hiring mercenaries to reduce the political impact of a continuing mistake.

You Had Me At Kamchatka

In Newark, The Mayor's Crusade Gets Personal - Corey Booker always seemed like a nice guy, but As Good As News had reservations. He's from New Jersey - that wasn't an insult, so am I, use the MySpace link to play the clip "So...New Jersey". He played football, but at least he was a lineman, not a wide receiver, and apparently he didn't have too many unreported concussions -Pac 10 All Academic at Stanford. As a student in England (OK, so he was a Rhodes Scholar - big deal, we already said he was a football player ), he went far above and beyond the call of duty in aiding another American student, a neighbor Booker didn't know really well, whose life had been suddenly and seriously disrupted by a debilitating back problem in the middle of a move. Booker graduated from law school, Yale law school, but nobody is perfect. He learned Yiddish. As a new mayor, Booker took on two students as mentees because they were busted for painting "Kill Booker" in a school hallway, and a third because he just tagged along to the first meeting. Best of all, Mayor Booker didn't use his mentees to grab some good PR, even when he was victimized by a vicious whispering campaign in the African-American community within Newark. He fights crime, creates jobs, looks for ways to make education work - he's Super Corey. All well and good, but As Good As News was only moderately impressed and still a little suspicious that Booker was too good to be true. Until today that is, when we discovered that Mayor Booker plays Risk. He probably even knows that if you control three strategic points, Kamchatka, North Africa and Iceland you can eventually hold North and South America while preventing anyone else from holding every continent except Australia. Newark is taking the first steps on a long climb, but Mayor Booker looks like he might hang in there. Let's think ahead to 2016, if we can just hold California, Florida and New York it will be nearly impossible for anyone else to grab the Presidency.

Knicks blown out as crowd calls for Ms Vladek, Ms Rx Specs and ...Moi?

Very Local News - Norah, a little free publicity on these items and we could forget all about Norm & Andy Part 6.

See my stand-up act, Monday, October 8, 7PM, Caroline's , 49th and Broadway - an odd yet somehow intriguing combination of autobiographical and political humor. You will hear what W learned from 41 about naming an Attorney General to replace Alberto Gonzales, then lurch on the flimsiest of segues to the intimate details of parenting infant boy-girl twins.

Listen to Rx Specs, Tuesday Nights 10PM - 12 PM - WSPN - Skidmore Radio - use the link, then click "tune in" to listen over the Internet. Next week, DJ Rx Specs swears the show will include material from Weather Report's Mysterious Traveler, per request of As Good As News. You can request anything - call 518 580 5787. If you sit back and take what comes you will get an eclectic night with a spine of indy rock. Listen to WSPN anytime, consistently rated as a top college station.

U.S. Jury Finds Against Knicks In Harassment - Tax cheat and relentless corporate infighter Anucha Browne Sanders wins $11.5 Million in punitive damages from Madison Square Garden and its CEO James Dolan. Compensatory damages yet to come. The trial was a slimefest starring former Knick's exec Sanders, Knick's Coach and GM Isaih Thomas, who emerged as a crude racist and sexist, and guard Stephon Marbury - called to testify on his curbside rendezvous with a Garden intern that seemed to have little to do with the case. Dolan cluelessly committed suicide on cross examination with absolutely no suspicion of what was happening. Reports on this affair were so ghastly that As Good As News could not finish reading them, even for the worthy purpose of mocking the principals. Lessons learned: if you want to bring a sexual harassment claim, or an employment discrimination claim of any kind, retain Anne Vladek, a pioneer with a track record of success. She keeps her name out of the headlines unless it will help her client. If you want to predict the outcome of a case, read the NY Post, especially Knicks Blog's Mark Berman- the perfect reverse indicator. On September 27 he panned Vladek with some gratuitous nastiness, misread the impact of Dolan's cross, demonstrated a total inability to understand how juries work - it's not quite the same as the Nielsen ratings Mr. Berman - and predicted a quick victory for Thomas.

The Headline That Wasn't There

Afghan Insurgents Hang 15 Year-Old Accused As Spy - a sad story on an ugly lynching by Taliban thugs in Afghanistan with that special Time's touch, "Efforts to reach the Taliban's spokesman by telephone were unsuccessful."

Hirsi Ali returns from US - Somalian born citizen of The Netherlands, (a Muslim by birth who has critcized some aspects of Islam) leaves the US because The Netherlands won't pay the cost of body guards she needs as protection from fundamentalist fanatics? All very confusing, As Good As News thought the Weight Watchers thing was going very well, nice comeback from the post-Cheers slump.

In Jews, Indian-Americans See a Role Model in Activism - interesting story on the Indians, Ms Banerjee, but you never got to the point - is it good for the Jews? Or should we now make that, is it good for the Indians?

Spears Loses Sons' Custody To Ex-Spouse - As Good As News is not forgetting it's own strictures about piling on Britney, but K-Fed is fair game. This guy is about to go into shock. His master plan to use his sons as pawns in his PR and malimony war with Britney, a plan that took years of in-breeding and many cases of Budweiser to hatch, just blew up horribly in his face. What happens tomorrow morning when the doorbell disrupts K-Fed's hangover and he finds Preston and Jayden in the hallway. Despite his own childlike mentality, K-Fed is doomed. These kids aren't old enough to drink beer and play video games. Body guard and witness Tony Barretto gets no protection from the Britney Rule either. This guy needed to hire Gloria Allred (a lawyer with a publicity machine at her fingertips) so he could "do the right thing, and deliver just the shock that Britney [his client] needed"? Amazing how the "right thing" seems to be generating so much publicity for Tony Barretto while the kids move from the fourth circle of hell to the fifth. Yes - we know Dante has more - but remember, Brit and K-Fed aren't broke yet and the kids are so young they don't understand what is going on, we need to leave considerable room for downward mobility.

Rockies win 14 of last 15 games, including a stunning comeback victory yesterday over San Diego in the bottom of the thirteenth inning, to capture a play-off berth. The win yesterday came in the ultimate pressure cooker, trailing in extra innings of a one-game, win or go-home playoff. Why no link? Early editions ran no story, despite the fact that they had enough time to include the box score. The Rockies have just pulled off what may be the greatest run in sport's history, 14 out 15 and every single win was needed. They are a team filled with exciting ballplayers and the parochial Times has slept through the entire story.

New Jersey Agrees to Settle Trooper's Harassment Suit - A former NJ state trooper collected $400,000 from the State after claiming he was harassed by the Lords of Discipline, a secret order within the State Troopers, when he wouldn't back a story his fellow troopers concocted to cover a bad arrest. State officials have denied the existence of the Lords of Discipline, despite a best selling novel, a movie and testimony by other troopers. Defense counsel notes, "But for the tragic consequences ...we would have the makings of ...a Saturday Night Live skit." Note to counsel, tragic consequences have never stopped SNL before, all we need is to line up Judge Reinhold and "Wild Bill" Paxton to reprise their Lords of Discipline roles in a police barracks remake.

Canvas - So Real It Hurts

Canvas - Joe Greco writes and directs an extraordinarily realistic film capturing a nuclear family's struggle with the mother's schizophrenia. Greco writes from his own life and every scene is completely believable, no over the top nuttiness, no artificial tearjerking. This is a low budget, independent film but Maricia Gay Harden may get another oscar nomination out of it. Joe Pantoliano is more engaging and more disciplined than ever before. Devon Gearhart, a ten year old playing a ten year old, will draw comparisons to Jodie Foster. Greco turns the family into a fourth character, a trinity with a life of its own. The sound is masterful, background noises and shifting volumes capture Mom's panic, a ten year old's dream of madness, the sudden shifts from the inner mind to the outside view. Canvas finds a few moments of humor (more are needed, especially in the first forty minutes) and some room for optimism at the close, but it is a character study with a minimal plot. A character study so realistic that it demands empathy - empathy that produces pain scoring at least an eight on a scale of ten. Canvas stays real to the bittersweet end. Don't expect an artificial plot twist to send you soaring home, or even the release of a tearjerker. Worth seeing, but pick the right night and understand what you are in for.

As Good As News learned on Oct. 3 that this review has been quoted extensively in the The Official Canvas Weblog.