Wagging the Dog?

Alright, allow me to indulge in some wild conspiracy-type conjecture for a moment. There's been a bit of a "why now?" feeling to the whole Roman Polanski thing. Why would the Swiss, suddenly after 30 years, deviate so wildly from making chocolate and hiding Nazi war booty and decide to arrest a guy who owns some pretty swell digs in their country?

Why?

Well there are two things here that pop into my tinfoil-clad head right off the bat.

Point One: The US Government is going after the Swiss Banking industry (primarily UBS - a case which has been largely settled) to open it's books in order to apprehend tax evaders (no doubt including several members of the current political establishment) but as this piece in the Wall Street Journal from one short month ago suggests, the proceedings are plugging along beyond the original confines of the case and seem to be enveloping other people of the Swiss persuasion.

Point Two: The Obama Administration is fighting a continually losing battle on the healthcare front (or so those of us with a libertarian tilt hope). A battle that's churning the blogosphere (both left and right) into a mighty froth, inviting the slings and arrows of outrageous tea parties and even causing fits of pique among those leaning long to the left.

How convenient it would be to get those pundits and purveyors of political opinion off topic for a moment. If only we had something else that would drive the conservatives crazy and get the Hollywood types shooting off their mouths and further driving middle America nuts. If only there were some hot button topic - something to do with, say, sex. And if ONLY we had someone who was willing to help, someone, or some country, whose whole entire system of banking we were trying to decimate. Someone like that who could help in some small way.

If only...

Roman Polanski - Sign the Petition

Most of the whirling dialogue about Roman Polanki's arrest in Switzerland swirls around a few columnists displaying the staggering scope of their ignorance about the case and yet misses this little gem, the "Petition for Roman Polanski" which, Variety reports, has been signed by 100 filmmakers including: Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann, Darren Aronofsky, Wes Anderson, Woody Allen (the comedy writes itself on that one) David Lynch, Jonathan Demme, Pedro Almodovar, Wim Wenders, Tilda Swinton and Tom Tykwer. (this list is among the reasons I began to have favorite films and NOT favorite filmmakers some years ago.)

But the actual text of the petition is almost comical. I quote:

His arrest follows an American arrest warrant dating from 1978 against the filmmaker, in a case of morals.

Uh - yeah, morals.

Roman Polanski is a French citizen, a renown and international artist now facing extradition. This extradition, if it takes place, will be heavy in consequences and will take away his freedom.

Am I missing something or isn't that the whole point? Whole thing here.

Update: I'm just thinking out loud here, but this would be a GREAT episode for the ripped-from-the-headlines types at "Law and Order."

Hey, what's this "upload" button mean???

So according to this here little piece right here in the Washington Examiner, good old Mr. Baucus claims it's too difficult to upload the proposed legislation to a website.

Baucus’ excuse - that it would take his committee staff two weeks to post the bill online

So if I have this straight, and I believe I do, what their saying is, hey, this uploading a PDF to that World Wide Web thingy is a tad too tricky for us simple folk here on the hill, but don't worry because we'll sure be on top of things when we take over 15% of the economy.

I'm calling B.S.

This video posted by Drudge is making the rounds with a lot of people claiming it's either faked or staged. There is some talk that it might actually depict a police arrest with PA cops in camo, which of course begs the question of why PA cops would be running around PIttsburgh - a CITY - wearing green camo? Also, I'm a little skeptical of the "police procedure" used during this takedown. Now I could be wrong and in the interest of full disclosure I should admit that I have not attended a police academy, but I'm pretty sure they don't teach you to apprehend perps by dragging them by their backpack.

And, it could just be my big-time, scary talent as a Hollywood director, but those by-standers could use a little more energy in their chants of "F.U."

Comedy is not pretty

Proving once again that there's nothing more satisfying than being patronized to by millionaires, Will Ferrell and crew take to the web to distribute this: Unfortunately, like most of the "Exclusives" posted on FOD, this is filled with Will's buddies and not in the least funny - not to mention factually wrong. 80%???

Protect Insurance Companies PSA from Will Ferrell

Tea Party Los Angeles

I've been meaning to post this for a few days. Great little video, nicely edited and actually watchable.
I was there and this really captures the mood of the thing.

Badges, we don't need no stinkin' badges

Hey Luke, what's your dirt doing in the bosses hole?

More movie quotes on this? There's got to something from Dr. Zhivago, Alec Guinesses character must say SOMETHING like this - oooh but we have to be quiet about that. People won't think we're rational if we call Obama a "people's republic" type.

So it's not a tax, but it is a tax, but it's not a tax...



It's amazing. I got busy and got distracted but I can't keep my mouth shut any more. This is making me crazy. And my wife getting tired of me screaming at the television set.