Michael Moore and His Immature Anti-Capitalistic Views

Michael Moore has been out and about promoting his latest film, “Capitalism: A Love Story.” In it, Moore harangues capitalism and blames it for all of America’s ills.

Despite being a 55-year-old man, Moore has the same view of capitalism held by most teenagers.

You know the type. They have the “different” haircut and the “different” raiment’s so they can look like all the other kids trying to be different. If you have the pleasure to engage them on capitalism it goes something like this:

“Capitalism sucks dude. Money is evil. I’m a communist. Groucho Marx is the man.”

“Who bought you that iPhone?”

“My Mom.”

“Where does she work?”

“Union Carbide.”

“Uh-uh.”

That’s why it’s hard not to laugh at Moore and his premise especially when he goes on NBC to promote his movie. NBC is owned by General Electric, the world’s largest company.

Jeffrey Immelt probably had a good laugh over that one…

Continued tomorrow.

Go Tyrants!

I'm actually rooting for Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Before you hyperventilate with outrage, I don't condone or tolerate the loss of life resulting from the demonstrations concerning his re-election. That is a tragedy and it needs to stop.

However, I just can't help to root for tyrants, despots and dictators.

As much as we love democracy and our Bill of Rights, I'm still holding onto hope that I will someone become a tyrant of my own oppressive regime.

After all, those types of governments know how to get things done. Unfortunately, the tyrannical governments have been historically evil while democracy have been notoriously lethargic.

As dictator of my oppressive regime, I would not trample on human rights. I would not "eliminate" my opposition. There would be no "death squads." There would be no reign of terror. Nor would I have a very large harem of concubines.

Instead, I would rule with a kind hand. Yet that hand would also be firm and swift when it came to evil and its sundry of devices.

As a benevolent tyrant, I would stamp out the ills that plague our society, like crime, child abuse, corruption, traffic, NBC, bicycles, Jon & Kate, and identity theft.

So since I hope to be a despot in the future, I feel it's only logically to root for tyrants of the present. One of these times, one of these tyrants will be finally turn out to be the right kind of ruthless.

Olympics

Before the Beijing Olympics started, I was on record as predicting they would be the worst Olympics since the ’72 Munich games. While I hate to root for bad things to happen, I would still rather be right than wrong. Unfortunately, it looks like I’ll be way off on this one. The Chinese are doing a bang up job and NBC, despite their overtly feminine broadcast, is doing a good job too. Damn!

I know an American was killed but that was just a friendly reminder that crazy people live everywhere. It was very sad and a tragedy. The judging has been horrible in gymnastic, but they’re always bad.

I thought the time difference would screw things up but I don’t think it has. We are pretty good at avoiding media and avoiding results. There is always so much to watch that I haven’t a clue when things actually occurred. I just turn on the television or log onto the website and the events are there. I just wish NBC would tell us more about this Michael Phelps guy? I think he's a swimmer?

oldTV

All this week I’ll be looking at “oldTV.” That’s not television that’s old, but television that old people watch. This kind of television is generally marked by the following: lack of relevance, void of loud music, reaffirms the world has gone to hell and Sam Waterston.

Law and Order began airing on NBC back in 1990. It’s such an old show, you may have been too young when it debuted but are now old enough to watch it. Created by Dick Wolf, this completely inoffensive whodunit, that splits the show between police work and the court room, is every old person’s wet dream. Not too much police work (too much police work is confusing) and not too much courtroom drama (too much courtroom drama is confusing). No complicated character developments (who cares about what the characters do on their own time anyway) and no story archs (that way you can miss an episode and not be lost). Also, Jill Hennessy, Carey Lowell, Angie Harmon, Elizabeth Rohm and Alana de la Garza are the perfect eye candy for old dudes: pretty, young (but not too young that all fantasies are immediately deemed implausible) and fairly chaste looking.

The show spawned two successful spin-offs: Law and Order: Special Victims Unit in 1999 (that show is for old people with strong stomachs or perverse appetites) and Law and Order: Criminal Intent in 2001 (that show is for intellectual old people or old people who like to complain that Vincent D'Onofrio whispers too much).

Despite being part of the TV diet for old folks, the Law and Order franchise is incredibly well done. My personal favorite is Law and Order: Criminal Intent (I’m a huge Goren fan) but I’ve watch a lot of the Law and Order: SVU’s too (although that show can be a little intense. During an era of television where scripted shows flock towards CGI effects, sex and violence, Law and Order proves that great story telling still sells.

oldTV

All this week I’ll be looking at “oldTV.” That’s not television that’s old, but television that old people watch. This kind of television is generally marked by the following: lack of relevance, void of loud music, reaffirms the world has gone to hell and Walter Cronkite voice-overs.

The network evening news cast used to be where America got their news. Now there probably not even in the top ten. The anchors were American stalwarts; our moral compasses. Now they are the butt of jokes; more fodder for the tabloids than anything else. It is a refuse for those still caught in the outdated notion that network newsrooms own the patent on gathering information, are objective and unbiased, and news is only important from 6pm to 6:30p.

The ABC’s World News Tonight or ABC World News Tonight started in 1953 as a 15 minute newscast.

The CBS Evening News has been on since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963.

The NBC Nightly News broadcasts from the GE Building in New York City. It has been known by that name since 1970 (1956 to 1970). Before that it was the Huntley-Brinkley Report and before that the Camel New Caravan (1949 to 1956).

All these shows are over 50 years old and oddly enough, besides technology, not much has changed.

The Fourth Hour

Tomorrow, Kathy Lee Gifford starts her tenure on the Fourth Hour (of the Today Show). She said that if you’re going to return television you might as well come back on the “mother of all television shows.” The Today Show is the “mother of all television shows,” but the fourth hour of the Today Show is the “third cousin twice removed of all television shows.” Being on the fourth hour of the Today Show is like being Bono’s plumber and saying you’re a member of U2. The only reason why the Today Show has a fourth hour is because NBC can make more money insulting us with idiotic cooking segments or fashion tips for fat housewives than they can with Super Password or that guy in the question mark suit yelling about all the money the government is giving away. Still, I’ll turn in to watch, should be a classic train wreck.