Palin’s movie opens to empty theater in heart of Reagan country

The "sell by" date has passed.

In the parking lot of The Block, an outdoor mall in the City of Orange, I worried that arriving 45 minutes early was cutting it too close: it took 20 minutes to find parking, and folks were lining up scores deep outside the theater box office. Our airport is named after John Wayne. Ronald Reagan remains a hero to many. Even Richard Nixon's association with this place is treated as a point of pride. When I was growing up here, a local hotel broadcast the Rush Limbaugh program everyday in its restaurant. I should've known there'd be a big turnout, I thought.

As I approached, however, I realized that most people present were dressed in costume. The crowd was either showing ironic solidarity with Christine O'Donnell, the tea party candidate who is not a witch, or else everyone was there to see the Harry Potter movie playing on a majority of the theater's 30 screens. Without any way of telling Palin moviegoers from Potter fans dressed up like muggles, I'd have to pay, go to the assigned theater, and look for interviewees.

I hurried through the teenage hordes, bypassed a concession stand that sold 1,020 calories of soda for $5.25, and entered theater number 30, hoping I'd have ample time before the previews to talk to some people. But inside, the theater was empty. I sat there alone for 20 minutes, at which point an usher stuck his head in the door, gave me a quizzical smile, and said, "How come you're not watching Harry Potter?" Then he left me by myself again, and without any good answer.

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Obama ditches Elizabeth Warren

The differences between Obama and GOP front-runner Mitt Romney are so small, it's hard to come up with a good argument to care about his 2012 campaign. There are some differences but each time Obama charges into GOP territory, they become smaller and smaller. If this is the best the Democrats can deliver, count me out. Bloomberg:

President Barack Obama has chosen a candidate other than Elizabeth Warren as director of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a person briefed on the matter.

The president’s choice is a person who already works at the consumer agency, the person said today. Obama may make the nomination as soon as next week, another person briefed on the administration’s plans said.

The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the process isn’t public, didn’t give the name of the choice.

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Murdoch cuts off Fox News anchor who asks about News of the World scandal, anchor complies

Fair and balanced, of course. Meanwhile, Fox News whines about the "piling on" by the media during the hacking crisis. Yes, because we never, ever saw Fox News pile on when it was a Democrat involved in a scandal. During the Clinton-Lewisky affair the public showed limited interest in the story yet it was non-stop. Fox News has been one of the worst offenders when it comes to piling on.

Related is the news that Murdoch has been donating large amounts of cash to the US Chamber of Commerce who are fighting against anti-bribery laws. Considering the recent events, these laws could have a significant impact on Murdoch's News Corp which may be facing bribery charges. Read the rest of this post...

AG Holder reviewing possible News Corp investigation

Once again, if the tables were turned there's no question an investigation would have started already. It's hard to believe so many Democrats are sitting on the side with this issue. CNN:

News Corp. is embroiled in a phone hacking scandal in the United Kingdom that forced one of its top executives, Rebekah Brooks, to resign Friday. Now, U.S. legislators say they want to know if the company engaged in that illegal activity in the United States

"There have been serious allegations raised in that regard in Great Britain; there is an ongoing investigation," Holder told reporters in Sydney, Australia.

"There have been members of Congress in the United States who have asked us to investigate those same allegations. And we are progressing in the regard using the appropriate federal agencies in the United Sates."

The office of prominent American attorney Brendan V. Sullivan Jr. confirmed to CNN that he has been retained by News Corp.

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CNBC: JFK said taxes don't raise revenue so don't do it today

More often than not the NetNet column at CNBC is worth reading. This is one of those exceptions that proves the rule because it's completely off and very misleading. Comparing what JFK said decades ago when the top tax rate was closer to 70% has very little to do with where we are today. It's an apples to oranges comparison. Where the column falls flat is that it completely ignores the fact that we've had the Bush tax cuts for ten years yet there are no sign of the promised jobs.

So if according to this author, raising taxes doesn't raise revenue, how come slashing taxes hasn't generated either revenue or jobs? How is it even remotely possible to overlook the Bush tax cut experiment? It's conveniently ignored and CNBC really needs to do better than this. Read the rest of this post...

Obama campaign raking in mega bucks for 2012

And here I thought the campaign contributions only came from little old grandmothers who sent in $10 checks as opposed to the deep pocket crowd that Obama has been schmoozing. Go figure.

Twenty-seven fund-raisers collected more than $500,000 each in contributions for President Obama and the Democratic Party in the past three months, helping Mr. Obama collect a record haul of campaign cash as he starts his re-election effort.

The list of Mr. Obama’s biggest bundlers, which was posted on the president’s campaign Web site on Friday, is filled with celebrities and the well-connected, like Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul; Andy Spahn, a close friend and consultant to Steven Spielberg, the moviemaker; and Anna Wintour, the editor of Vogue.

More than 200 other people scooped up tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars each in contributions for the president. Collectively, they raised at least $35 million for Mr. Obama and the Democratic National Committee, or about 40 percent of the $86 million he reported for the quarter.

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Syrian forces fire on protesters, 27 reported killed

Syria back to doing what Syria does.

As many as 27 protesters have been killed across Syria after security forces reportedly shot at protesters, hundreds of thousands of whom took to the streets in the biggest protests so far against Bashar al-Assad's rule.

Police fired live ammunition and teargas in the capital Damascus, killing five people, and in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, where four people were killed, the Reuters news agency said quoting witnessess and activists.

Three protesters were shot dead in the northern city of Idlib, they said.

Reuters quoted a witness in the Rukn al-Din district of Damascus as saying that hundreds of young men wearing white masks fought security forces with sticks and stones.

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Canned Heat - Going up the country

The flute player does an especially fine job of playing when the flute is under his arm.

So we went to see the Harry Potter movie on Thursday evening (it premiered here on Wednesday) and enjoyed it. We never bothered to see the previous movie because the series was becoming increasingly painful to watch. The acting in the latest movie was at least average, an improvement from what it had been for the primary acting team. Overall though we liked it and thought it was the best of the series since the Prisoner of Azkaban. We ended up doing the 3D version and wow, that is such an incredible ripoff it's not even funny. I have yet to watch any 3D movie (including Avatar) that is worth the extra movie. There has to be some funny link with the 3D equipment and movie producers because it brings nothing to movies other than higher costs. Read the rest of this post...

London police pressured The Guardian about hacking stories

The Metropolitan police have quite a few problems including the death of Ian Tomlinson, kettling and mistreatment of protesters and now this. The Met pressured The Guardian newspaper about their stories on the News Corp phone hacking, though failing to mention that a former News Corp employee had recently joined the police force. This is not good. The Met is long overdue for their own overhaul so maybe they can follow their close friends at News Corp and start the process of cleaning themselves up. The Guardian:

Scotland Yard's most senior officers tried to convince the Guardian during two private meetings that its coverage of phone hacking was exaggerated and incorrect without revealing they had hired Neil Wallis, the former deputy editor of the News of the World, as an adviser.

The first meeting in December 2009, which included the Metropolitan police commissioner Paul Stephenson, was two months after Wallis was employed by the Yard as a public relations consultant.

Wallis, 60, who was deputy to Andy Coulson, the NoW editor at the time of the phone hacking, was arrested on Thursday as part of Operation Weeting. Coulson has also been arrested and bailed.

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