Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Blue Yeti ·
Feb 16, 2011 at 5:39pm
Our pal Mark Steyn returns for a rollicking podcast and we cover everything from Egypt to Ireland's boom to Rob's sexual harassment class. Then, Sally Zelikovsky -- who has the unenviable job of heading up the San Francisco Tea Party -- joins to tell us about life deep behind enemy lines. We wrap things up with conversation that winds from Chet Baker to Charlie Sheen, in which Rob details the actor's unique stimulus plan for shoring up falling home values. Two words: Porn House.
And on that note, let's go the links:
- Mark Steyn has been writing extensively on the events in the Middle East at SteynOnline.com. This piece, Pharaohs and Fairy Tales is a good place to start.
- Mohamed Atta was the leader of the 9/11 hijackers. He was born on September 1, 1968 in northern Egypt. It's impossible to know what his political leanings might have been had he'd been born ten years later, but it's an intriguing line of thought. Discuss amongst yourselves.
- The poll Peter Robinson refers to is here.
- According to Hitler historian (that's a real job?) Alan Bullock, "Hitler came to office in 1933 as the result, not of any irresistible revolutionary or national movement sweeping him into power, nor even of a popular victory at the polls, but as part of a shoddy political deal with the 'Old Gang' whom he had been attacking for months...Hitler did not seize power; he was jobbed into office by a backstairs intrigue." Duke this one out in the comments too.
- Phyllis Chesler's blog with the photos of the female graduating classes of Cairo University is here.
- Here's the NPR's story on climate change in the South Pacific island nation of Kiribati. It does look kind of damp. By the way, according to Wikipedia, The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. And Mark is correct, they were in fact known as the "Gilbert and Sullivan Islands." Tuvalu is a neighboring island nation that used to be called Ellice Islands (not be confused with Ellis Island in New York harbor). Tuvalu made a bunch of money selling its .tv web domain through GoDaddy a few years ago.
- Shopping for that perfect gift for that hard to please friend or relative? Consider The BBC Complete Sound Effects Library which comes on a hard drive for the bargain basement price of $4,999. What a deal!
- We've linked to Martini Shot, Rob Long's weekly commentary on show business many times before, but what the heck, here it is again. His pledge week pitch for this year isn't up yet, but here's the one from 2006.
- Ricochet member Aaron Miller pointed out Jim Geraghty's post about Obama's budget strategy here.
- Here's Peter interview with Gary Becker on Uncommon Knowledge.
- Michael Lewis wrote a terrific piece on the Irish boom and bust in the current issue of Vanity Fair. You can read it online and unlike the print edition, you won't smell like a perfumery afterwards.
- Rob's Ricochet post on his forced sexual harassment education is here.
- Here's the website for the San Francisco Tea Party. Yes, there actually is one.
- Novato, CA is located north of San Francisco in the heart of Marin County. Very, very blue.
- Photos of the marching Deficitettes may be seen here. Thanks, Sally!
- Mark is correct yet again: American Taliban John Walker Lind grew up in San Aselmo, CA, which is in between Novato and San Francisco.
- This magazine cover makes Peter Robinson wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night.
- Mark didn't care for the Eminem Super Bowl ad and had some tough love for the city of Detroit. He got some nasty email from the Motor City.
- Mitch Daniels' CPAC speech is here. He wowed 'em. Ann Coulter's sanguine prediction about Romney and Christie is here.
- Chet Baker was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhorn player and singer. Baker established a large following, based in part on his matinee idol beauty, emotionally remote performances, and well publicized drug habit. He died in 1988 after falling from a second-story window of a hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He didn't look like a matinee idol towards the end of his life. The Folks Who Feel Jazz, a blog devoted to jazz, has a very thorough biography.
- Don't miss Mark Steyn's great essay on Rodgers and Hart's standard My Funny Valentine.
- Romano Mussolini was a talented jazz pianist who died in 2006, who just happened to be the son of a fascist dictator.
- Charlie Sheen gave his pep talk to the UCLA baseball team.
- According to this post on TMZ, Charlie Sheen has in fact expressed interest in starting a "porn family" and he wants the "actresses" to all live in the same house. It's not clear whether or not he actually went through with the plan. Regardless, that sounds like a sitcom Rob ought to pitch. If only he hadn't taken that sexual harassment course...
- Kamofie & Co. is the Venice, CA jewelry store (the white building) from which Lindsay Lohan allegedly stole a necklace. Fun fact: the former headquarters of Ricochet South is directly to the right of the store.
Music from this week's episode:
- This Is Why We Fight by The Decemberists
- My Funny Valentine by Chet Baker
The direct link to this week's episode. But make it easy on yourself and subscribe. Don't use iTunes? Visit our Feedburner page for a number of other subscription options.
The Ricochet Podcast is sponsored by Encounter Books and their Broadside series. Our featured title this week is Why America Must Not Follow Europe by Daniel Hannan. Available at EncounterBooks.com and for Kindle at Amazon.com.
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Comments :
Dec '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Kiribati is pronounced Keribass for the same reason Kiritimati Island is is pronouced Christmas Island. The Christian missionaries who went to the Pacific used a thirteen letter alphabet. Don't ask me why.
If you want an amusing book about these islands try The Sex Lives of Cannibals.
Jan '11
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Who can follow a post about missionar(ies) sex and cannibals?
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Is Mark going on about those college photographs again? Get some new material! ;)
"Do women not feel comfortable in these situations in Egypt today?"
Ask Lara Logan. What idiot thought putting a pretty American blonde with uncovered hair in the middle of an Egyptian mob was good idea?
Peter, that's a great point about Republicans making a rhetorical mistake with the budget focus. Republicans must frame the budget as a moral issue. For example: "Americans aren't deadbeats. We honor our debts and live within our means."
Talking about how we're stealing from our children is a mediocre argument (beyond conservatives) because it shifts focus to the future. People are more responsive to immediate fears. Republicans must tie the budget to life here and now to reach the voters who do not yet understand what a serious mess we're in.
James, you're right that Republicans are generally terrible communicators... which is why, whether they run for President or not, politicians like Lt. Col. Allen West, Chris Christie and Paul Ryan should be the voices of the party. The GOP needs to identify its best communicators now and work to get them more airtime and ink.
Dec '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
The title of the above book has very little to do with its content. The inhabitants of these islands are not cannibals, although there is a good chance that they are descended from cannibals. The book only has a few notes on their sex lives, for example the natives will bite off the nose of their mates if cheating is suspected.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Mark: "They think that because that's the way it's been that it will always be like that."
Exactly! This is why even many conservatives don't comprehend how severe our present situation is. They simply can't imagine America ever not being the world's premier superpower (military, economically, culturally).
Sally: "We really are on the brink."
That's what separates Tea Partiers from other Americans. It's the belief that "unsustainable" is a gross understatement.
Here's my reservation about the Tea Party movement. Sally says people have to be "phoning and emailing and pressuring". What pressure? Congressmen have voting history records. They know if the person calling always votes Republican.
And if they're not up for reelection for another 18 months, why should they worry about voter complaints? In that time, any number of distractions will arise, emotions will fade, and those politicians can vote Right on other issues so they have a record they can spin in the next campaign.
Do shouting voters really scare politicians more than quiet ones? It's not like Tea Party rallies are often shown on TV, anyway. How do rallies affect politicians who are just beginning their terms?
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Sally: "It lets the Left know that we are here and they don't own us anymore."
Well said. Please don't mistake my last comment for a dismissal of the Tea Party movement. These are the benefits I see.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Can't get enough of Mark's Detroit rants.
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Hay, The Logo,
Can We add another argument to settle?
Is it huh-ras-ment (Thanks Lileks)
or
Is it har-uhs-ment (Thanks Squish.... uh, Long)
Steyn's accent can be forgiven.
Jun '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Great pod cast guys. Laugh out loud funny.
Jun '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Oh, just about forgot, nice way to end with Chet Baker.
Jun '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
VERY insightful comment Rob on the mistaken idea that our problem is a "communication problem." It sums up the Detroit ad and it sums up this President.
You can almost see B.O., every speech he gives, saying, "why can't you people realize how good of an idea all this stuff is!"
But, "we have a dog food problem, not a dog food marketing problem" (Steyn, M., 2011, hilarious interaction).
Jun '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
@ Mark Steyn. Thanks for calling out Mr. Daniels. He'll never win spouting such nonsense as, "we need to leave these social issues behind."
You can recognize the urgency of our financial situation while still realizing that other issues are of great or perhaps greater importance. Kenneth, Tommy, and I discussed this over on Emily's post about Chris Christie going to Washington.
If we go into the 2012 election with Mr. Daniels and he's still putting this statement forward, we're going to get rolled. You don't see B.O. leaving any libbie social issues behind as he puts a motor on our canoe and hurls us down Mr. Steyn's waterfall.
Jan '11
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
The descriptions of sensitivity training and sexual harassment education gave me the chills, and not in a good way. Thankfully I've never had to undergo this orwellian torture, but two things struck me.
One. The way the computer monitored Rob's reading is exactly like a passage in the Sci-Fi book Snow Crash by Neil Stephenson. A woman working for the 'Feds' has to read memos from on high every day and she is allotted a certain amount of time to read the memo. In the novel this was considered very bad. Not something to emulate.
The other thing that chilled me was James' description of the second guessing that went with his sensitivity exercises. "Am I doing something wrong without realizing it? What are the rules here? Should I have picked another color for the roof?" This is straight from Orwell, or indeed any totalitarian system worth its salt. Keep the rules vague, if not entirely non-existent, so as to induce a paralysis in the populace.
Of course there is a huge difference between sensitivity training and the Gulag, but nonetheless those two stories gave me the willies.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Jimmy Carter: Hay, The Logo,
Can We add another argument to settle?
Is it huh-ras-ment (Thanks Lileks)
or
Is it har-uhs-ment (Thanks Squish.... uh, Long)
What did we fight the British for, if not to ditch their silly language?
Dec '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Aaron Miller
What did we fight the British for, if not to ditch their silly language? · Feb 17 at 7:07am
Try going to other web sites with comment sections. English is not much spoken. Moronese seems to be the norm.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Rollicking!
Nov '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
This podcast was an *excellent adventure* indeed!
Mark Steyn is hilarious and Peter Robinson's laugh continues to infect us all.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
It was either that or Weezer's Undone -- The Sweater Song:
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Who cares about Chet Baker when we can have Mark Steyn.
A Mark Steyn rant is music to the ears. :D
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #57: How About A Sweater?
Guys,
It must have taken an awful lot of self control not to title this podcast "A Bevy of Hookers".