But Do They Ride Sidesaddle?

Popular Culture and Its Discontents

I was channel surfing while reading the Sunday papers this evening. It’s hard to say which was more depressing. The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour featured Jessica Simpson singing duets with Jewel and Kenny Rogers. In both cases the facial expressions of Simpson’s partners were a study. Jewel was a snaggle-toothed mood ring: boredom, alarm, self-loathing and irritation came and went from her face as Simpson emoted her way through “Who Will Save Your Soul.” Kenny Rogers watched Simpson perform with the bemused expression of one humoring a not terribly precocious niece who’s wandered on stage.
Then there’s the ABC series Alias, which features Jennifer Garner as a CIA officer. It is absolutely unwatchable for two reasons: Every time I see Garner I think drag queen; and I’ve caught her on two talk show appearances, during which she took herself so seriously that you’d think she actually disarmed nuclear weapons for a living. In a particularly bad spasm of self importance she told Conan O’Brien: “Snuck isn’t a word. You went to Harvard, Conan! You should know that.” When the Late Night host produced a dictionary after the break, Garner’s expression was one of naked loathing.

Ten Things You Didn’t Know About The BBC

BBC News online has a great weekly feature: 10 things we didn’t know this time last week. This week’s list is especially good:

3. Germans are not allowed to name their offspring Judas, because of the potential harm it may cause the child.

The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars…

E.J. Dionne Jr., in today’s Washington Post

There is, for example, a clear discrepancy between Rice’s claim that the FBI’s field offices were pressed to investigate an impending threat from al Qaeda and the insistence by FBI officials that they received no such guidance.

They lie. They lie, and we have to be mericful for those who lie.

The Center for American Progress parses National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice’s testimony to the 9/11 Commission on Thursday in its report, Claim vs. Fact: Rice’s Q&A Testimony Before the 9/11 Commission:

CLAIM: “I do not remember any reports to us, a kind of strategic warning, that planes might be used as weapons.” [responding to Kean]
FACT: Condoleezza Rice was the top National Security official with President Bush at the July 2001 G-8 summit in Genoa. There, “U.S. officials were warned that Islamic terrorists might attempt to crash an airliner” into the summit, prompting officials to “close the airspace over Genoa and station antiaircraft guns at the city’s airport.” [Sources: Los Angeles Times, 9/27/01; White House release, 7/22/01]