It turns out that the Michael Moore Watch was under a denial of service (DOS) attack last week.

I doubt that I will see The Day After Tomorrow. I dislike message movies. They seem contrived. If I disagree with the message I want to argue with the movie. If I agree then I still feel used.


However, Wired has an interesting take on it.


By the film's end, Emmerich has taken his look-on-the-bright-side theme to its ultimate conclusion, showing us that the super-storms are a kind of planetary sneeze -- a necessary reaction to a bit of pollution. Forget human suffering and cataclysmic change, Emmerich tells us. Global climate shifts are a pretty good thing in the long run.

By dodging the deeper questions of nature, science and humanity that were within his grasp, Emmerich has created an incredible special effect: a feel-good movie about the end of our world.

Maybe I will go after all.

Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) on The Day After: "This movie makes Shrek II seem realistic."

Or maybe not.

Speaking of message movies, Tech Central Station points out that the mainstream media is catching onto Supersize Me.

When it comes to criticism, Morgan Spurlock, director of "Super Size Me," can dish it out, but he sure can't take it. Ask him a tough question, and he turns to blubber.


Suddenly, journalists are beginning to catch on to the fact that his documentary, which has received fawning reviews, is actually a repulsive and dishonest piece of puerile entertainment -- vomit and rectal exams tarted up with sociology and politics.

Or maybe the sponsors got to them.

Film documentary “Super Size Me,” a critical look at the health impact of a fast-food only diet, has been downsized at MTV, which has refused to air advertisements for the film, its distributors said Wednesday.

An MTV spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment. MTV and VH1 are owned by media giant Viacom Inc , which depends on advertising for a major portion of revenues.

Gore's speech about Bush was covered pretty well but they went from the text. Apparantly his delivery went a bit far. Check out this photo

Maureen Dowd's comment:

John Kerry's advisers were surprised and annoyed to hear that Mr. Gore hollered so much, he made Howard Dean look like George Pataki. They don't want voters to be reminded of the wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party.

And I am pretty sure that she voted for Gore.

Take a close look at Kerry's official web site


The banner just says John Kerry President.

He almost postponed accepting the nomintation for a month but he already accepted the office?


Folks in a different reality


They talk about Bush the Beheader and fearing Diebold (a company that makes voting machines) more than Al Qaeda.


Which brings me to Eric Alterman.


"you can also find the Pew survey which we’ve not discussed much either, but I think is pretty consistent with "What Liberal Media" if you are not an idiot."

The survey shows that liberals outnumber conservatives by a good margin in the news media as opposed to the general population where conservatives outnumber liberals. It also shows that self-described moderates are more in line with viewpoints that the population in general identifies as liberal. This means that a lot of "moderates" only think of themselves as moderate because they share a profession with Eric Alterman.

So how is that consistent with "What Liberal Media"?

More on Eric Alterman's strange to have a grasp of reality.

In New York at least, Al Franken is creaming rush in the Arbitron ratings, and that’s being done, as everybody keeps pointing out, with a semipro operation surrounding him. Imagine what Al and Air America will do to Rush once they know what they are doing?

So, how badly is Rush getting creamed in New York?

It seems that WLIB which broadcasts Air America in New York got a 3.4 rating while WABC-AM got 3.2. THis was for the 10 am to 3 pm block which includes the three hours that Rush and Franken go head to head. That is around 6% higher audience.

Keep in mind that Rush has been on the air for 15+ years and this was Air America's first month; the ratings were for a five hour block of which Rush and Franken were only three hours; and Air America got the biggest launch possible for any radio station with stories on all of the national news shows, a full Nightline show, and spots on everything from the Daily Show to local radio. All of that publicity and they are in a dead heat in one of the more liberal markets in the country. That's creaming Rush?

I wonder what their ratings are now that the novelty has worn off? I bet that they are less than half what they were at launch.




More on Kerry's delayed acceptance of the nomination:

The senator chuckled at the criticism.

"Once again, the Republicans don't know history, and they don't know facts," he said. "The truth is that it used to be that the convention, after nomination, traveled to the home or the state of the nominee to inform them they've been nominated. Woodrow Wilson was at his house in Princeton, N.J.; Harry Truman was in Independence," Mo., he said. "They're trying to make an issue out of something that they're surprised by, because . . . they're very upset someone might have a way of neutralizing their advantage."


But... it turns out that Truman did accept the nomination at the convention and that Wilson was at Sea Girt, NJ, not Princeston.


Here is my take on it:

The candidates get to spend $75 million in public funds between the convention and the election. They can spend primary funds prior to the convention. Since Kerry passed on matching funds, he can raise and spend money right up until he becomes the candidate. At that point he is bound to the $75 million.

That gives Bush an advantage in spending.

This advantage is negated by the fact that most of the money spent to elect Kerry will be spent by shadow campaigns.

The idea of the candidate not being present goes back to the days when the convention actually chose the candidate. This is now done by the primaries with the convention being nothing but a free campaign ad for the party. Even now the candidate is supposed to be off-site waiting for the vote. The high point is supposed to be candidate accepting the nomination.

Unless Kerry proposed to boycott the convention and give up free air time, he would have had to stand before the convention and tell the world, "Thank you for this nomination. I will think about it."

The dumb thing is that no one forced the Dems to hold their convention so early. They knew all about campaign finance law.

Kerry admitted that he will accept the nomination at the convention so the whole thing did nothing but leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

On the other hand, considering how he sinks in the polls whenever he gets coverage, he might be better off avoiding the convention.