The parent company is in ruthless cost-cutting mode on “30 Rock” this season, thanks to what the Republican-supporting, Wall Street-loving boss, Jack Donaghy ( Alec Baldwin ), smoothly refers to as “Comrade Obama’s recession.”
NBC pages no longer receive overtime, and pink slips rain down in almost every department. Jack’s huge salary and bonus, however, are exempt. “My talents are more valuable than yours, so I am paid accordingly, and therefore I am entitled to my bonus,” Jack says to the hayseed page, Kenneth (Jack McBrayer).
I'm in the process of summarizing some Supreme Court opinions for an appellate journal. And I came across what is perhaps the best passage in the history of Supreme Court opinions. It's Scalia writing in Republic of Iraq v. Beaty:
But the whole value of a generally phrased residual clause, like the one used in the second proviso, is that it serves as a catchall for matters not specifically contemplated—known unknowns, in the happy phrase coined by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld 2 (H.Seely comp. 2003).
One of the most ridiculous things about the current American health care system is the accidental legacy of the price controls of WWII which led companies to promote health care benefits since they could not compete on price. The weird and unnecessary tie between health care benefits and working distorts all sorts of possible ways of dealing with lack of insurance.
But I'm not here to talk about how to fix that today. I'm here to show you the result of that strange tie, I give you Runaway Box "Boyfriend with Health Care Benefits":
Today's Week in Review has an article on various American Presidents' affinity for Shakespeare. Total juvenile snark, but this is still great stuff from the Artist Formerly Known as the Decider:
George W. Bush knew Shakespeare, too: he told an interviewer that on vacation in 2006
he had “read three Shakespeares,” but he didn’t disclose the titles.
Somehow, I had missed that. But I'm clearly not referring to the plays as anything other than "Shakespeares" henceforth.
"Gov. Palin received a phone call on Saturday from a French Canadian talk show host claiming to be French President Nicholas Sarkozy," emailed spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt. "Gov. Palin was mildly amused to learn that she had joined the ranks of heads of state, including President Sarkozy, and other celebrities in being targeted by these pranksters. C'est la vie."
Now: I do not want to make fun of Sarah Palin over this. (I would be prepared to make fun of whomever it is who screens her calls, but that's different.) After I first heard this, I tried to imagine being in her position -- wondering what on earth was going on, not wanting to say "huh?" to someone who might, after all, be Sarkozy, etc. And sometime around the point at which the non-Sarkozy says" "I love the documentary they made on your life -- you know, Hustler's "Nailin' Paylin"?", it seemed pretty clear to me that she had caught on. (That said, I do think she should have known the name of the Prime Minister of Canada.)
What I want to do is footnote the call, because it's funny. (This was definitely a moment when it would have been good to speak French: she would have caught on a lot quicker. I was in stitches.) Here are the bits I've figured out:
"My special American advisor, Johnny Hallyday": Johnny Hallyday was an established rock star back when I was in junior high. During the Ford Nixon administration. I believe that Jimi Hendrix played his first concert opening for Johnny Hallyday. This YouTube is kind of funny, both for the alarming 60s-esqueness and for the little "Waoww!" bits on the bridge, which for some reason reduced me to hysterics.
Hunting: "Like we say in French, on peut tuer des bébé phoques" -- trans.: we could kill some baby seals.
"The Prime Minister of Canada, Stef Carse": this one I only know because Politico flagged it (though I did know that whatever the comedian said, it wasn't "Stephen Harper".) This YouTube is definitely worth checking out: it's his French version of 'Achy Breaky Heart'.
I don't know who the comedian says is the Prime Minister of Quebec, but it's not Jean Charest.
The song Carla allegedly wrote for Palin: "Le Rouge À Lèvres Sur Un Cochon", or: Lipstick on a pig.
Anyone else catch other funny bits?
***
Update: not funny, but in the interests of completeness:
From the very beginning: "This is Franck Louvrier; I'm with President Sarkozy..." Franck Louvrier is, in fact, Sarkozy's communications advisor.
If anyone is looking for an early Christmas present for me, I have a suggestion: The Republican Policy Committee's new "spoken word" CD, Freedom Songs: The American Empowerment Agenda. Here's a description:
Freedom Songs: The American Empowerment Agenda is the RPC's policy recommendations presented on a spoken word album. Listen and leave your thoughts on the tracks. . . . Chairman McCotter states "Freedom Songs is just the beginning of our discussion. We hope to make this an ongoing effort and are hopeful that you, the American people, will join the discussion by commenting on the beats."
I dig those beats daddy-o.
The same friend who alerted me about the CD also sends along this exasperated complaint from Mark Davis in the WSJ about the GOP's youth problem:
So how are Republicans reaching out to them?
I have on my desk a CD sent out this spring from the Republican House Policy Committee. Fat, 1970s lettering bears the title, "Freedom Songs." The cover image of the CD package is a sepia-tone photo of Teddy Roosevelt.
Open it up and you are treated to photos of Warren G. Harding staring into the horn of a crank phonograph, Herbert Hoover listening to a wireless, and a glum-looking Calvin Coolidge simply glowering at a camera. In an accompanying letter, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan writes that the CD includes "riffs by Dr. Russell Kirk," as well as "the pounding rhythm section of the Austrian School of Economics."
So while the Obama Democrats transform America's youth into a Facebook army, the Republican Party is offering this disc, Mr. McCotter writes, "as an alternative to an eighty story high stack of dry white policy papers."
Let's move on to a more serious topic -- The Office. To my shame, I was a BBC snob and refused to watch the American version for years. But after hearing virtually everybody I know (including people whose tastes I share) rave about it, I decided to jump into Season 3 for starters. And now I just finished Season 3 (so I can sympathize with Ezra).
Question -- what'd you think?
Answer -- great, great show.
Anyway, consider this an Office open thread. But I want to throw two questions out there.
First, why did I actually find myself interested in following the Jim-Pam drama? I don't feel good about it -- indeed, there's nothing easy about saying this. But I got sucked in, and I'm not sure why. One theory I heard is just that they're the cool kids, so you want to associate yourself in some way. Not sure I buy that though -- I think it's more that they're the idealized "Really Great Fun Friend of Other Sex" that people assume they have (or want to have or whatever).
Second, is there any larger sociological significance to the show's rise? I mean, I suppose it makes fun of PC mentality as applied by well-meaning idiots. But maybe there's nothing "higher" going on -- maybe they're just a group of very talented writers and actors with a great sense of timing.
And with that, I'll leave you with Kelly (you should watch the first 30 seconds if nothing else -- also, go to about 4:18):
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