Monday, July 27, 2009

Wy Walter Didn't Run

This Slate article makes a good case that the Cronkite-was-almost-Vice-President story is bunk.

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Saturday, July 18, 2009

Let That Be Your List Battlefield

In the classic Futurama episode "Where No Fan has Gone Before," Fry sums up the series as "79 episodes, about 30 good ones."

Well, let's stick to ten. Just what are the ten best Trek episodes (Or TOS, if you were born after 1975)

Top Ten Episodes According to Entertainment Weekly
1. "The City on the Edge of Forever"
2. "Space Seed"
3. "Mirror, Mirror"
4. "The Doomsday Machine"
5. "Amok Time"
6. "The Devil in the Dark"
7. "The Trouble With Tribbles"
8. "This Side of Paradise"
9. "The Enterprise Incident"
10. "Journey to Babel"

Top Ten Episodes According to IGN.com
1. "The City on the Edge of Forever"
2. "Balance of Terror"
3. "Mirror, Mirror"
4. "Space Seed"
5. "The Trouble With Tribbles"
6. "Where No Man Has Gone Before"
7. "The Enemy Within"
8. "The Naked Time"
9. "This Side of Paradise"
10. "Arena"

Top Ten User Rated Episodes on IMDB.com (on 7/18/09)
The City on the Edge of Forever
Mirror, Mirror
Balance of Terror
Space Seed
The Doomsday Machine
The Trouble with Tribbles
Amok Time
The Devil in the Dark
The Menagerie: Part II
The Menagerie: Part I

Now,to make Best of the Best List, I gave each episode 20 points for each list it made, minus whatever rank# it got on each list appearance.

1) City on the Edge of Forever (57)
2) Mirror, Mirror (52)
3) Space Seed (50)
4) The Trouble With Tribbles (42)
5) Balance of Terror (35)
6) Doomsday (31)
7) Amok Time (29)
8) The Devil in the Dark (26)
9) Journey to Babel (20)
10) Where No Man Has Gone before (14)

Finally, here's my own list...
1) Mirror, Mirror
2) Journey to Babel
3) Naked Time
4) Day of the Dove
5) The Enterprise Incident
6) Doomsday Device
7) Shore Leave
8) A Piece of the Action
9) The Squire of Gothos
10) I, Mudd

...and the how it would effect the consensus

1) Mirror, Mirror (71)
2) City on the Edge of Forever (57)
3) Space Seed (50)
4) Doomsday Device (46)
5) The Trouble With Tribbles (42)
6) Journey to Babel (38)
7) Balance of Terror (35)
8) The Naked Time (29-Tie)
8) Amok Time (29-Tie)
10) Devil in the Dark (26-Tie)
10) The Enterprise Incident (26-Tie)

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My Media Matters Comment on the Death of Walter Cronkite

http://mediamatters.org/blog/200907170042

I have to bring up something George F. Will wrote last year. In a column attacking George McGovern, Will said,

"Still, McGovern thinks he could have won with a running mate then called "the most trusted man in America"—Walter Cronkite. Before choosing Eagleton, McGovern considered asking Cronkite, who recently indicated he would have accepted."

This, the column's one fresh piece of information was hailed by the right wing press as proof of Cronkite's liberal bias, but Will never never explained where he got this information (did he speak to Cronkite, or was it a second or third hand account), nor does he provide us with a quote.

All I know is it was at complete odds with everything I heard Cronkite said about the subject. I have been unable to find the quote on the web, but when a grass roots "Cronkite for President" movement began, Cronkite dismissed it in a televised interview, saying, "If nominated I will not run. If elected, I will not serve. If I served, I would be impeached." He was photographed with an "Alfred E. Neuman for President" poster on his desk. He seriously believed news reporters should not be politicians.

Now we know that Cronkite's son said that his father died from complications of dementia.

I'd like Will to tell the truth about where he got his claim about Cronkite.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

Running with the Dev-er, Vice Presidential Candidate

Sarah Palin in Runner's World (via Politico): "A great frustration I had during the campaign was when the McCain staff wouldn't carve out time for me to go for a run."

An even greater frustration for the McCain team was that you were allowed to run at all.

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Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Yeah, Right

As soon as I heard that Coleman finally conceded, I immediately checked Fox News to see how they were spinning it. I was not surprised by the bias, but their approach (courtesy of the Wall Street Journal) was so creative I had to laugh:

Al Franken's Next Step: Win Over GOP Colleagues