Right Wing Nut House

This week’s Watchers Vote featured so many good posts I had a hard time trying to decide who to vote for.

Dr. Sanity was channeling John Lennon in an uproarious spoof of “Imagine:”

Imagine there’s no Jihad
It’s easy if you try
No more suicide bombers
Who plan for you to die
Imagine every nation
with all their people free…

Imagine no Osama,
It isn’t hard to do,
And no Zarqawi
(He discovered he’s a Jew!)
Imagine all those mullahs,
buried under ground…

Heh.

The Glittering Eye continues to blog on intellectual property rights, this time what the WTO is doing about the problem:

In practice the situation is quite different with at least three competing groups: Europe and the United States (who have well-developed traditions of intellectual property law, bodies of law, and enforcement), a group of dissenters led by Brazil and India and including a number of South American and Asian countries who are pushing for recognition of national origin as a source of rights in the intellectual property law of biotechnology (who don’t have similar traditions, bodies, or enforcement, possibly motivated by memories of past exploitation), and the African countries who want no part of much of the bloody thing (probably with similar motivations). We’ll be hearing a lot more about this in the coming years

And I’m sure Dave will keep us updated.

Wallo World has a must read post about a new Mark Cuban venture that not only sounds like a fantastic idea, but could revolutionize the movie biz. Wouldn’t it be great if, on the same day a movie premiered in theaters, you could also watch it on TV or rent the DVD at your favorite video rental store?

The theory behind 2929 goes like this: Over the past few years, Mr. Cuban and Mr. Wagner have acquired or built HDNet Films, which funds smaller budget movies, Magnolia Pictures for distribution, Landmark Theaters for exhibiting, and HDNet and HDNet Movies for cable broadcast. Consumers with access to those cable networks will be able to see a film at home on the day it comes out. Or they can see it in the theater or, once details are worked out, simply buy the DVD. By closing the window between when a movie is released and when it becomes available on DVD - usually about four months - 2929 will save on marketing by not having to advertise twice.

Sue and I talked about this yesterday. We had just seen Revenge of the Sith and we both thought that even if it was on TV the same day, we’d definitely go to a theater and gladly plunk down the $6 to watch it there. But what about a light comedy like The Longest Yard? We both agreed having the option of watching it on pay per view would be fantastic. We both agreed that big-budget action movies like Sith would probably still be worth seeing in a theater. But having the other options would be a dream come true.

I think this would also change the way movies are made and marketed. After a while, it will be pretty clear which movies will do well in theaters and which will do better in the so-called aftermarket of TV and video. Producers and directors will tailor some films for the smaller screen while others will realize their full impact on the big screens in theaters. And as the article Bill links to indicates, marketing costs for movies would be reduced dramatically. Theater prices may actually stabilize or (God forbid!) go down.

All in all a great deal for the consumer.

Finishing second in the council category was Little Red Blog’s piece on Linda Foley’s outrageous remarks entitled “Neither First nor Last:”

As for the Little Red Blog’s view, it’s simple. Foley lives in an alternate reality. In her reality, saying the U.S. military targets journalist doesn’t mean that members of the service, the troops, target journalist. With 100 different ways to say that the U.S. military purposefully and willfully targets journalist, Foley manages to believe that the military isn’t the troops. In her reality their comes a point when a member of the armed forces, formerly known as a troop, becomes part and parcel of the “U.S. military” and is no longer worth supporting.

Spot on.

And the winning post was this gem from Gates of Vienna on some very strange and troubling goings on in Spain regarding the investigation into the 3/11 bombing of the train station:

We’re spiraling downward here in this stranger-than-fiction recount. Carmen Toro alledgedly supplied explosives for the bombings. And in Mr. Toro’s personal phonebook was the cellphone number for the chief of Tedax (the above mentioned Spanish bomb squad). When the investigating judge called the number, it turned out that a member of the bomb squad answered the phone. Creepy, no?

Creepy, yes. And begs the question asked eloquently by Dymphna:

Calling the MSM, calling the MSM. Hello? Anyone there?

In the non Council category, Citizen Smash revisits a massacre:

The building hasn’t been used in several years, so before we can move in we have a lot of cleaning and repairing to do. Everyone pitches in – soldiers and sailors, officers and enlisted work side-by-side to clean up over a decade’s worth of dust, grime, and general neglect. But despite all the activity, the hallways remain strangely quiet.

“Blood.”

Read the entire thing. Very moving. Very powerful.

There is much more “bloggy goodness” (love that Glenn, sounds delicious!) at the Watcher’s website And if you wish to particpate in the weekly Watcher’s vote, go here for instructions.