Jim Downie's Blog

The Wire - not the stereotype you think

Jim D — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 18:32:51 EST

Congrats to Kay and Jesse for getting linked to by Matt Yglesias in writing about The Wire. Yet, since I felt compelled to complain about negligence of The Wire when it was not on, I think I should throw in my two cents now that it's back. The backlash that's starting to build should come as no surprise to anyone who's listened to music: it's the classic stock market beahvior of hype. The Wire has just peaked in hype terms during its fourth season, and, now, by the law of hype, it has to have a downturn. There's always some factor, and in this case, the reason is simple: now journalists are the target, and they don't want their world to be portrayed this way. More in extended.

The Golden Compass vs. Harry Potter

Jim D — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:39:09 EST

Some of you no doubt think that a post on the Golden Compass is a week overdue, given that the movie came out last Friday. I'm aware of that, but I wanted to wait for the box office numbers, which sorta proves that New Line banking on this one was a bad idea. New Line will sadly almost certainly lose money on the film, which is well-enough done to be worth a rental but not a full price movie ticket, in this reviewer's opinion. But what's killed the movie is not the average quality (see "Ghost Rider" and "Fantastic Four" as two examples of bad, yet successful blockbusters); rather, the movie has simply been covered as a controversial film, and has been the victim of many a smear campaign by the Christian right, who apparently care more about this one than Harry Potter, which, one should note, glorifies magic, which is kinda technically maybe paganism. On the other hand, His Dark Materials (the name of the trilogy) comes in for far too much criticism, when, in this Catholic's opinion, it is by far the best fantasy novel ever written. More on the death of God, Death Eaters, and the spinelessness of directors after the jump.

Back With Butt Links

Jim D — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 17:02:08 EDT

Yeah, I'm back finally. To those of you who didn't read this blog over the summer, and so don't know what I'm talking about, I forgive you. It's hard enough keeping track of the staff around here. Anyways, apparently David Horowitz passed through campus, but after Ahmadinejad, no one really cared at all. TPMtv's got the goods.

Apparently, some states have elections in odd-numbered years. Freaks. Anyways, about 60 of my fellow Columbia Democrats knew about this wierd practice, and are in Kentucky right now campaigning for Steve Beshear. You can follow their progress here and here.

Two non-Columbia stories: In the Friday dump, Senators Kennedy and Enzi announced they're putting off changes to the NCLB at least until early next year (and one would expect, 2008 being an election year, that it will likely be pushed off until after the election). Frankly, they've had years to write good legislation on this, so the deadline excuse doesn't fly. They can even start with the crib sheet Zach Marks and I wrote. We'll let them take credit for the ideas.

In butt news: this happened. I think it's an inspired idea.

One more Ahmadinejad post, one day after, from one Columbian

Jim D — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 01:05:00 EDT

Yeah, yesterday wasn't a normal day at Columbia. It's not every day that you can only enter campus in two places, or that you have to show your ID at those gates, or that, if you are lucky to be onthe West side of campus, you get to run the gauntlet of hostile protestors calling for your university to be shut down. Also, you couldn't walk through campus without tripping over a reporter, and at one point I must admit that, for fun, I walked in a large circle and got five microphones/notepads shoved in my face before I could complete it. If I liked hearing the sound of my own voice, yesterday would have been a perfect day (wait a moment, I blog; of course I like to hear myself...)

There's plenty of other posts already about Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, including here, here, here, and here (the latter ones are from my fellow Columbia students). I wanted to wait a day, to better, well, react to the reactions of the media. There's been some serious misunderstanding, and some downright lies, and a disturbing lack of support from the left-wing blogosphere. It may be longish, but stick with me here.

As usual, Faux, er, Fox News took the lead on disinformation. We all know Fox loves to hate Columbia (I think this is because we're the closest Ivy League school to their studios, and they're too lazy to send people elsewhere). They claimed that students applauded Ahmadinejad's comments, and that there were bitter clashes between groups on campus. The truth is, students did neither. Yes, if you watch the speech, there are students applauding, but there are two caveats to this: first, Bollinger got much more applause, and, second, that was the crowd inside. There were about 600 people inside, many of whom were graduate students from the School of International and Public Affairs. It's an open secret at Columbia that SIPA is particularly sympathetic to people with views close to Ahmadinejad's. One professor, Joseph Massad, has actually written a paper (now developed into a book) stating that homosexuality is a Western concept being forced upon the Middle East. Hardly surprising then that there was applause from some parts of the audience. But had Faux wanted to be fair and balanced, they would've gone outside, where Bollinger's remarks got a standing ovation from a huge crowd of students on the South Lawn, while Ahmadinejad got scattered applause and mostly silence. The biggest reaction to his speech? Like in the auditorium, his claim that there are no homosexuals in Iran was met with derisive laughter. Oh and those clashes? Almost entirely off-campus (i.e. not students), and the only one I saw had a grad student and an administrator or teacher, neither of whom were younger than 35. So much for students clashing. The truth is that the many diverse student groups got together in four days, and created a speaking schedule that allowed all points of view to be heard. Nobody was booed, nobody was shouted down. It was a proud day for Columbia.

More still in extended.

School Means New Schedules

Jim D — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 02:07:13 EDT

And one quasi-schedule in Sunday's New York Times is an absolutely must-read for those interested in the presidential race at all. NYT writers set up a calendar of dates to watch, ranging from Fred Thomspon's entry to the World Series. The more one reads this calendar (especially the crunched set of primaries), the more one wonders if at least one party will end up with a convention fight, like in the sixth season of The West Wing. Though it'd be less democratic to let delegates choose, it would give all the states (instead of only a few - I'm looking at you, Iowa and New Hampshire) a chance to be power brokers. Anyways, highly recommended.

Brokeback and Larry Craig

Jim D — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 15:33:18 EDT

Buckwalter-Poza has already made part of my point, but I've been more disappointed than happy that Senator Craig is now in a scandal. This scandal has been made into a "gay" scandal, rather than a "solicitation" scandal, which is what it should be. Obviously, it's against the law to solicit sex in the airport bathroom, and that should be all there is to it. The law doesn't discriminate on whether it was gay sex or not, and neither should the media. However, I must observe that this "boxing in," for lack of a better phrase, goes both ways. i remember at the '06 Oscars, when Crash upset Brokeback Mountain, many critics before and after the awards claimed that Brokeback deserved to win not only for its quality, but for the bravery of the film. Yet wouldn't a better step be to act like there is nothing abnormal about the movie? It wasn't the first movie about a gay affair, it wasn't the first big movie about a gay affair, and it wasn't the first good movie about a gay affair. I also thought that it was a fairly boring movie, trying to pad out the original short story, and I didn't think that out of any homophobia or anything. Putting the focus back on Craig, though, I hope that any person who wants to rebuke Senator Craig will make that point, otherwise they're just perpetuating a separation of communities.

"Not that a homosexual can't play soccer. He can, but he must form his own team and federation."

Jim D — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:26:15 EDT

That is an actual quote from a Brazillian judge's decision in a widely-publicized slander case (AP coverage here). Basically, Plameiras club director Jose Cryillo Junior hints that midfielder Richarlyson, who plays for rivals Sao Paulo, is homosexual. Richarlyson (odd name, even for a Brazilian soccer player) sues for slander, and the judge rules against him. In his decision, he also wrote that it would not be "reasonable to accept homosexuals in Brazilian soccer because it would hurt the uniformity present," and suggested that allowing homosexuals into a "virile" sport like soccer would lead to affirmative action and quotas for homosexuals.

At first glance, this story does not look like it has a good ending - Richarlyson is jeered, other Brazilian soccer players who pose in gay magazines (apparently not unheard of in Brazil) are harassed even by their own fans, and there are no openly gay players in the top league. However, a deeper look reveals some positive signs. Tales of closeted players have recieved sympathetic airings, the judge has had to withdraw his ruling after being confronted by the ethics board that oversees such decisions, and has taken a "leave of absence," and, most importantly, at some players seem to be pushing for change. Here's to hoping it continues, for, as Richarlyson said, "This is a disrespect not only to me, it's a disrespect to Brazil. All that matters is if the player can do his job on the field."

Meet the new rankings - same as the old rankings.

Jim D — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:25:13 EDT

The US News and World Report college rankings are out. After hullabaloo over the methodology, a widely advertised pullout by some smaller schools, and a promise to update the rankings, we get...almost the exact same order at the top as last year (Dartmouth dropped out of a tie with Columbia and UChicago at 9th, and Penn, for reasons Dorna will have to explain to me, as nobody outside UPenn understands them, somehow jumped to fifth over MIT and Caltech). Then again, they continued to recognize the smarts at UChicago, so I guess it balances out.

Aw, he's all grown up!

Jim D — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:06:59 EDT

Our own Zach Marks, having finished up his internship (though hopefully not his blogging) for us here at CP, has now been given a pretty sweet gig - blogging at HuffPo. Regardless of what you think of HuffPo, they don't pick nobodies to blog for them. His first post went up yesterday (and he then stopped by the office in the afternoon, yet didn't tell us about it...so modest). Our congratulations to Zach, and we hope you show his new blog some CP love.

Also, to read about Zach's culinary skills with a microwave, check out this NY Times story.

Old White Men and Plastic Middle-Aged Women = MUST HAVE!

Jim D — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 11:53:07 EDT

The title, of course, only applies if you're a member of Young America's Fascists...er, Foundation, the group of young people who individually probably have more sex dreams about Ronald Reagan than Nancy and Rush Limbaugh combined (Amusingly, YAF bought Reagan's ranch, the oxymoronically named "Rancho del Cielo," or Ranch in the Sky; lucky members get to spend time in an intense training there). In their attempts to put the ugliest face possible on their call for "intellectual diversity" (i.e. Ann Coulter in the classroom), YAF is offering a free poster with the speakers who they want you to know they have. This means, of course, all their best men, and the few women who can actually make it onto their lecture team (the group includes 4 out of the 10 women listed in their speakers section, and a far lower percentage of the men). In other free stuff news, YAF is also offering its 2007-2008 "Conservative Campus Battleplan." We here at Campus Progress need some new bathroom reading anyway, so we'll probably pick it up - last year's version's "facts" aren't as funny the 100th time.

He's a randy Young Republican

Jim D — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 11:52:52 EDT

You're a young Republican in Indiana (just go with me here). You're looking for a nice way to end the month of July, so you attend a Young Republicans party, where you enjoy good food and drink while probably insulting the waiting staff and getting completely wasted. The leader of the Young Republicans National Federation, Glenn Murphy, is also there, and is also completely wasted. Kind soul that you are, you decide to offer him your house, because, unlike poor people, he deserves a safety net for his mistakes. You expect you'll be thanked in the morning, and this rising GOP star will remember your name for the future. Right?

Well, you certainly don't expect to wake up in the middle of the night and finding yourself sexually assaulted. But that's exactly what happened two weeks ago in Indiana, in the latest incident of the best-selling series "GOP Stars - Tales of Forbidden Love." At Columbia, we're quite familiar with this: not only did we share every other progressive's slight glee at the outing of Ted Haggard and Mark Foley, but we also got our own dose of male prostitute. It says something when this sort of scandal doesn't even surprise people anymore. A few more details on the Indiana case in extended.

The Progressive Way to Exercise

Jim D — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 11:09:05 EDT

While an as-of-yet-unidentified stench stings our nostrils here at CP, two things have kept my spirits up: the Campus Progress Back to School Party tonight in DC (RSVP here) and the pleasing smell of young idealism in the morning (I'm racking up the film references). The Chicago Tribune has an article and a video about two teenagers who decided to dump the cynicism of our times and walk across the country for peace. At first they walked alone, but starting in the Midwest, as news of their journey spread, they have been met by more and more people. My favorite quote is from a 62-year-old man, who said he had to meet these kids because "I don't want them to lose their hope and idealism." These two are showing that even the most bright-eyed schemes are worth trying, that this country that is crying out for some sort of positive example for these times. While eternal optimism may sometimes miss the problem, we've had far too much of the opposite about government, for obvious reasons, and bringing back that optimism has to be important to progressives. After all, progressives generally believe in using government to solve problems, and no one will vote for a government solution if he or she does not believe in the government.

Progressive Republicans?

Jim D — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:57:16 EDT

While flyering for the Clean My Ride campaign, our fellow interns ran into some people from the Republican Youth Majority. It's not a clone of Young America's Fascists...er, Foundation, but rather has three main positions: pro-choice, pro-environment, and fiscally conservative. Board members include some of moderate Republicanism's greatest hits: Pete Wilson, Bill Cohen, William Weld, and so on.

What to make of this? The not-surprising part is that there is a group like this; many young people (and plenty of older ones) are sick of the litmus tests in politics, and young people(even with evangelical Republicans) are almost always to the left of their parties - though the Iraq War is a notable exception to this rule. The surprising part is their choice of issues. More in extended.

Can't Let This Slide

Jim D — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 16:15:09 EDT

Warning: this post is simply something I have to get off of my chest. It's mostly not political, nor is it original, but since we're posting (funny) Thiller videos now, I think I can write this.

As I watched the promising premiere of Mad Men last night on AMC (it repeats tonight at 7, and I'm sure several more times throughout the week; I highly recommend it), I saw that it was created by Matthew Wiener, one of the writers on The Sopranos, which led the primetime series Emmy nominations with 15. The Sopranos deserves to win one more Best Drama award, having unfortunately come along when the West Wing was rightly sweeping the category early in the decade. Now The Sopranos deserves to win, if only because a show that great deserves more than one Best Series win.

But I support it only because it's the best of the five remaining. I can live with Scrubs and Studio 60 basically not being recognized, because their quality this year was only very good, not great. But once again, The Wire, the best drama in the history of television, was not nominated. 0 nominations.

Before anyone calls me a snob, let me quickly point out that I thought Casino Royale should've been a strong contender for best picture at the last Oscars. But this lack of nominations, let alone any wins for 4 seasons, is unbelievable. One can understand leaving off Lost (early season letdown), 24 (by far its worst season), or Battlestar Galactica (the name, plus nothing really happened in its worst season so far). But The Wire has become better and better, with the 4th season being its best yet. As I said, this isn't an original post: TV critics from the AP to the Chicago Tribune to the San Francisco Chronicle brought this up. I'll leave you to choose your reason (the show has too many minorities, the voters don't have time to watch the whole season, and/or it's just not popular enough), but something about the system needs to be fixed, and I needed to say that too. Just rent the first disc of Season 1, and you almost certainly won't go back.

Lawmakers to New Orleans: Drop Dead

Jim D — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:41:21 EDT

50% rise in the mortality rate. 3 out of 9 hospitals open, with the only public one of the three stuck in temporary facilities, operating at a third of its normal capacity. 6000 physicians displaced. No mechanisms for reimbursement for any physicians that want to return. Almost no places for Louisianan medical students to train in state, thus losing the doctors of the future. These are only a few parts of the disturbing picture that is New Orleans health care after Hurricane Katrina.

Where is the state? They're enjoying a surplus in the billions, yet refusing to invest in the non-existent hospital system.

And where is our federal government? Well, most of New Orleans's own representatives are too busy covering themselves for either corruption or hypocrisy.

In the hopes of raising more awareness about this issue, and getting some assistance for those who actually care, I joined some fellow Columbia students yesterday on Capitol Hill to lobby on this issue. More information about the horrible situation and the lobbying trip inside.

Blessings In Disguise - Part 2

Jim D — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:45:17 EDT

General Michael Rose, former commander of the UN force in Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1994-5, has been in the public spotlight again for over a year now, since he called for the impeachment of Tony Blair over the Iraq War. Yet, as his article in yesterday's New York Times shows, while he obviously believes the Iraq War a catastrophic mistake, he is not ready to condemn America to the "has-been" pile of world powers in history. Rose draws several parallels between America and the Iraq War, and Britain and the American Revolution. A war fought with too few resources, followed by extensive hand-wringing over the strategic position of the world power - the situations share these characteristics. And Rose only limits his comparison to the Iraq War - it's very easy to argue that the Vietnam War should also be lumped in here. More discussion, including the important differences (both good and bad) between the British and American situations, inside.

Blessings in Disguise? - Part 1

Jim D — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 10:23:42 EDT

My fellow intern Zach has already touched on this, but this New York Times story from two days ago perhaps demonstrates that old cliche "every cloud has silver lining." Crucially, President Bush's action was a commutation (and, in Bush's defense, at least he didn't pull a Marc Rich; I'm sorry, but the Clintons have no business criticizing this); i.e. he was taking issue with the length of the sentence, as opposed to whether or not Libby was guilty. And the reasons he cited were the same as those that critics of sentencing guidelines. For years, advocates have tried with several different administrations to change federal sentencing guidelines, which, among other mistakes, does not take into account past record of the defendant, and does not prevent the judge from using facts unproven to the jury. More in extended.

Student Conference Already Making Waves

Jim D — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:45:45 EDT

Today's the first day of a three-day whirlwind of events here at CP. The Student Journalism Conference and the Iraq Lobby Day just kicked off within the past hour of writing this post, and final preparations are being made for the rest of the week. The main event, the 2007 Student Conference, has already hit Roll Call. Unfortunately, the article is only available through a $275 subscription that college students like myself simply cannot afford, but if you're in the DC area, pick up a paper copy. More coverage is sure to come.

San Francisco CBS station's "gaydar" significantly weaker than the BBC's

Jim D — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 19:11:07 EDT

You'd think Americans would know more about their own defense projects than the British press. Apparently not. On Friday, CBS's local San Francisco station 'discovered' that the military had received a proposal to build a "gay bomb," which would release chemicals designed to make soldiers sexually attracted to each other. Of course, the British, with an actually competent press, were on top of this story first: the BBC wrote about this idea two and a half years ago, as did the Guardian (their article includes an idea that I actually would like to see - a "Who? Me?" bomb that would make your fellow soldiers believe you smelled terribly. I am fairly certain they could've gotten this idea from Anchorman - "smells like a turd covered in burnt hair!") Even our own August J. Pollak drew a cartoon about this.

So why am I writing this anyways? See below.

Be Warned: Naked People and Arrests

Jim D — Thu, 24 May 2007 09:56:53 EDT

Note to protestors: one way to get people's attention? Follow the example of the Stanford Sweat-Free Coalition, and put notices like "11 Students Currently Sitting In Offices of President Hennessy. Naked Students Rally Outside, Arrests Possible" in your press releases.

Anyways, the students occupied Stanford President John Hennessy's office for a short time Tuesday, followed by a rally outside. "Some of the students...rallied naked or topless outside Hennessy's office earlier to draw attention to their cause." The original office occupiers were later arrested for trespassing and released (San Jose Mecury News here).

The students wanted for Stanford to join the Designated Suppliers Coalition, a national coalition of colleges who agree to only use clothing suppliers that follow fair labor standards such as a living wage and the ability to form unions. It has only about 30 or 40 member schools right now, so hopefully students can follow Stanford's example and expand this coalition's reach across the country.