Is American exceptionalism just a euphemism for nationalized narcissism? Are narcissists to blame for the cataclysm on Wall Street? Stephen Colbert takes a read on the national zeitgeist and brings in Slate columnist Emily Yoffe to declare that certain public figures might suffer from narcissistic personality disorder. Let the armchair diagnosing commence!
With military personnel deployed in 150 countries, Bill Maher says bringing the troops home from Iraq is only the tip of the iceberg. “Can you imagine if there were 20,000 armed Guatemalans on a base in San Bernardino right now? Lou Dobbs would become a suicide bomber.”
The clock is ticking for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to come up with a plan to deal with the banks that actually works. Meanwhile, some of the United States’ current struggles seem beside the point to European countries that already have a strong social safety net. And finally on this week’s list of “Left, Right & Center” hot topics is President Obama and Afghanistan: Is this a disaster waiting to happen?
In a bid to interact more directly with the public at large, the Obama administration once again turned to the Web, inviting Americans to submit questions for Thursday’s online “town hall” meeting. Here President Obama sets the stage with his opening remarks, discusses helping homeowners and considers whether marijuana should be legalized.
If you thought your air travel experiences have been nightmarish recently, chances are they’re not as bad as the daily goings-on at Prague’s Franz Kafka International Airport—a fictional (or is it?) hub of despair in which the word terminal takes on a much more angst-ridden meaning.
The Nixon tapes have yielded untold, er, riches over the years, and here’s yet another nugget, featuring Nixon in a wide-ranging conversation with Bob Haldeman and John Erlichman on the subject of homosexuality. The discussion begins with a dissection of an episode of “All in the Family” and then spins off to such topics as how homosexuality “destroyed the Greeks,” the Roman Empire and San Francisco.
We certainly saw evidence that President Eisenhower’s famous warning about the dangers of an insatiable U.S. “military-industrial complex” rang true during the Bush administration, but how about now?
President Obama personally conducted a tour of the White House for “60 Minutes” and in the Sunday broadcast defended his embattled treasury secretary, said sending more troops to Afghanistan was his toughest decision yet, and refused to grant a look at his wife’s vegetable garden. The president also took the opportunity to unload on Dick Cheney, who recently suggested we are less safe without torture.
Have the American media become too fixated on AIG and its nefarious bonuses—at the cost of focusing too little on the whereabouts of the other gajillions of dollars doled out in bailout funds? What’s to become of Timothy Geithner? And how about those warm New Year’s wishes that winged their way to the people of Iran from the U.S. and Israel?
The merger of the entertainment and political spheres is now complete. Witness this lengthy chatfest between President Barack Obama and Jay Leno on Thursday’s “Tonight Show.” During the broadcast Obama cracks jokes about the Secret Service, the Special Olympics (oops) and “American Idol” between more serious discussions about the economy and alternative energy.
President Obama has gone digital, releasing an online video of diplomacy to the people and politicians of Iran, suggesting “new beginnings” between the two nations to coincide with Iran’s new year holiday, Nowruz.
Truthdig’s Robert Scheer appeared on “Democracy Now!” on Thursday to tell host Amy Goodman who exactly sent the U.S. into financial dire straits and to recommend some changes that could put the country on a better track. Here are some hints: One culpable party rhymes with “Shmoldman Shmacks,” and another is at the top of President Obama’s economic team.
No one expects the former “Inside Edition” host and Fox News provocateur to be a class act, particularly not since he made his intentions with that falafel clear, but what Bill O’Reilly does with a pipe metaphor in this clip is just lame.
What’s to be done when companies that received major bailouts from taxpayers turn around and brazenly offer beaucoup bucks to the executives who helped put us in the hole in the first place? Here are a couple suggestions by way of an answer: Pitchforks! Angry mobs!
MSNBC’s resident smartypants, Rachel Maddow, paid a visit to “Late Night With David Letterman” on Monday to guesstimate the size of Keith Olbermann’s coconut, describe her rise to the heights of punditry and opine about how Wall Street is like a bumper-car ring.
In a rare interview with Ben Bernanke broadcast Sunday on “60 Minutes,” the Federal Reserve chairman allowed himself to sound slightly more optimistic, although ever so cautiously so, about the possibility that the American economy will pull out of recession soon—perhaps, he said, by the end of this year.
A U.S. official believes that Iran has obtained enough nuclear material to make a bomb. Israel is believed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, though it has never acknowledged this. Why does Iran pursue a nuclear bomb? And will Iran come out of the nuclear closet?
So, CNBC hyperpundit Jim Cramer was the very picture of contrition during his cringe-tastic appearance on Thursday night’s “Daily Show.” But let’s revisit this moment from 2006—when Cramer brought a much haughtier version of himself to TheStreet.com TV to discuss, among other delightful topics, how to “create a new truth to develop a fiction” whilst in “hedge-fund mode”—shall we?
In this highly anticipated face-off between Jon Stewart and CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday’s “Daily Show,” Cramer furiously backpedals as he’s zinged repeatedly by a (mostly) courteous but relentless Stewart, who questions whether Cramer isn’t a snake-oil salesman who has supported the myth that there is one unified economic system that works the same for everybody while knowing that’s not the case.
Get inside the head of Barack Obama’s chief military adviser, Adm. Mike Mullen, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as he chats up Charlie Rose in a telling discussion centered on international relations and the trajectory of U.S. foreign policy.
What with all this economic turmoil of late, not to mention a suspected socialist in the White House, right-wing pundits like femmebot Michelle Malkin and fellow Fox-friendly cretin Glenn Beck are looking to “author, philosopher and female comb-over pioneer” Ayn Rand for guidance. Stephen Colbert thinks they should move to an island all their own, where less work gets done on purpose.
Jon Stewart is on a tear these days, taking on the wild world of financial punditry one shouty bald guy at a time. This episode is dedicated to CNBC’s Jim Cramer, who, try as he may to deny it, just seemed to have a thing for Bear Stearns stock—mere days before the company tanked.
Even while pocketing billions in bailouts, the captains of industry who wrecked the world economy sneer at government. Just imagine, they say, if their businesses were run like the post office. “You mean the place that takes a note in my hand in L.A. on Monday and gives it to my sister in New Jersey on Wednesday for 42 cents?”
Addicted to Nonsense
