Happy Birthday Thomas Sowell. Polls, Bill Kristol and more.

Ramesh, Rich and Jonah

Get it while my voice holds out...

New and Free! Podcasting from RSR

Justin is now podcasting all over the D.C. area. Set your podcast client to:

http://adgadpad.audioblog.com/rss/rsr.xml

No WMDs, but we're worried nonetheless!?

Robbins on NRO does an excellent job debunking the leftist conspiracy charges based on the material in the "Downing Street Memo". It should also be noted here that the extreme interpretation of this memo on the left is that there were no WMDs and that Bush & co. were drumming up the entire thing out of whole cloth. However, if you read into the memo you notice that the same US sources for the document are also concerned about Saddam using WMD:

On the first, CDS said that we did not know yet if the US battleplan was workable. The military were continuing to ask lots of questions.

For instance, what were the consequences, if Saddam used WMD on day one, or if Baghdad did not collapse and urban warfighting began? You said that Saddam could also use his WMD on Kuwait. Or on Israel, added the Defence Secretary. source

So, the question is... if Bush & Co. were simply manufacturing the Saddam threat why are they worried about fictitious WMDs in the same breath? I think logic will prevail here.

Open letter apology to John Podhoretz (and a plea for an apology from George Lucas)

OK. So I owe a HUGE apology to John Podhoretz for "dissing" his opinion on Star Wars in anticipation of a raucous review by Jonah Goldberg. I was going on the review of a trusted friend who "loved" the movie. Well, I finally saw ROTS last night. I have only one thing to say: "Never pay, will I, for tickets, to Lucas Movie, again" (said in a growling Yoda voice).

And that really is the shame of this whole thing. After episodes I and II, I was still willing (no anxious!) to let Lucas redeem himself with a slam dunk version of the Darth Begins as such. Lucas blew it and there will not be another movie to redeem this terrible post/pre-trilogy fiasco.

My wife tells me that my expectations were way out of whack and that Lucas has never really written a great film. The one film that was great is "Empire" and Lucas did not write.

Now I'm a lay critic not a professional movie expert... but if I can figure out that Lucas is a terrible (TERRIBLE!) script writer why can't anyone of the set of Star Wars tell him this? For crying out loud the second crew grip could churn out a better script than this! You have one of the single most compelling storylines to tell and you blow it!

We'll start with the single biggest flaw in the movie and then I'll post more as the weekend goes on (because I have to get it out of my system!). Yoda. You should have killed him off in Episode II! (Even though that's a logical impossibility - nod to Agrajag).

My thesis is this: Yoda's unique semantic style should only be used to further the thematic overtones of Star Wars It should never be used as a pedestrian way to further the plot. Take this exchange from Empire:

Yoda: Stopped they must be; on this all depends. Only a fully-trained Jedi Knight, with the Force as his ally, will conquer Vader and his Emperor.
Obi-Wan: Patience.
Luke: And sacrifice Han and Leia?
Yoda: If you honor what they fight for? Yes.
Obi-Wan: If you choose to face Vader, you will do it alone. I cannot interfere.
Luke: I understand. R2. Fire up the converters.
Obi-Wan: Luke. Don't give in to hate. That leads to the Dark Side.
Yoda: Strong is Vader. Mind what you have learned. Save you it can.
Luke: I will. And I'll return, I promise.

Fantastic. Notice Yoda's semantic style works here because he speaks mostly in fragments. The first line of this scene is indeed a full sentence but rather than furthering the plot it speaks to a thematic element. Compare this to a line from ROTS. When Obi-Wan, Yoda and Senator Organa are notified of a special session of congress Yoda concludes: "Easier to enter the council then, for us, will it be." (I'm paraphrasing, but you get the point. This line is a plot element and should have been given to Obi-Wan. Yoda should not be given pithy pedestrian lines.

Neither should he be given campy cliches to make you laugh out loud. For example this classic line that could have been given to Inspector clouseau. "Ahhh, Senator Palpatine, or should I say Darth Sidious!" Arggghhh!! As one lay critic put it "Or should I say, merde!"

There are literally dozens of Yoda lines which made me cringe! As I dig them out of my tortured memory I will let you know!

NR on Romney

NOTE: RIGHTSIDEREDUX is MOVING. SEE here

National Review just went live with a cover story on Mitt Romney. John Miller was definitely the right choice and he does a very decent job giving the odds and oddities surrounding Mitt and a possible run for the presidency in '08.

I'll have more to say on this point as the day goes on. But in the tradition of full disclosure I should note that I was born in Boston, that I'm a Mormon (duh), that my father and Romney attended Harvard together and that Mitt babysat me a few times. We left Boston after my father finished his MBA and I don't believe I've every met the governor since then.

Now that I've got that out of the way I should also declare that I am a big fan of Mitt and that my bias will show through glowingly.

GOP vs. DNC Fundraising: worse than you know

The intense scream that you hear on the left is not Howard Dean but rather DNC operatives dying at the site of the latest fundraising numbers.

Drudge recently linked to an article in BusinessWeek indicating that the DNC is way behind the GOP in fundraising. They cite a huge gap with $32.3MM (GOP) vs. $14.1MM (DNC) raised during the first three months of the year.

But now extend this out to the latest filing on 5/20 which includes April and the GAP widens! You can see these reports for yourself (GOP and DNC)

What's more from the report summary line 8 you can see that the GOP has more than 4 times as much cash available than the DEMS do. Now, truth be told, the DEMS are set up in a different way than the GOP (they have an expense committee that handles travel items etc...) but the hole is just getting wider and wider.

Spending across candidates is fairly even: the GOP pulling in about $1MM more for individual candidates than the DEMS (about $50 million for each party across all congressional/senate/presidential candidates). But Dean will have a lot to make up and he will have to do it quickly.

Bolton Video a classic!

Huffington is now posting videos on their blog. Their first major post at the top today is the clip below from Bolton. While their aim is obviously con-Bolton I can tell you that I get fired up watching it and yelling at the screen: "Send this guy to the UN!"

Jonah... write the review... it is your destiny

Enough already. I am sick and tired of J-Pod dissin' this latest Star Wars without the "ultimate" review to prove him wrong. Any pennies in this one?

Yes, that is Jar-Jar-Pod.

My father is "Deep Throat", no longer...

So, my dad is finally cleared. I'm kidding. Actually, I have a rather close relationship to the Nixon presidency. I even sat on Nixon's lap!

Before you go jumping to conclusions I should note that I was 2 years old at the time.

You see my father was President Nixon's special assisstant until 1973, working primarily as Nixon's appointment secretary. This position is not as "special" or grandiose as Kevin Costner made it out to be in 13 days, but to me it was the greatest job in the world.

Not that I remember any of it. But years later, at the opening of the Nixon library, President Nixon had nothing but praise for my father. I have literally dozens of stories that my father has told over the years about his experience in the Nixon Whitehouse.

So, I have a bitter/sweet feeling about the whole revelation about "Deep Throat". I've always had a fun time accusing my father of being the voice behind the source.... now no longer.

Deep Throat labels himself "terrible"

The Final Word on Deep Throat (So Far) Timothy Noah: "It would be terrible. This would completely undermine the reputation that you might have as a loyal, logical employee of the FBI. It just wouldn't fit at all."