Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Blue Yeti ·
Feb 23, 2011 at 5:01pm
What do Mitch Daniels, Scott Walker, Muammar el-Qaddafi, Jeri Ryan, Bongbong Marcos, and James T. Kirk have in common? Why this podcast of course. Our good friend Jonah Goldberg joins us for the full hour. Not one of our longest, but definitely one of our best.
These links don't run:
- Culver's is the home of butter burgers and frozen custard. Their website goes to great lengths to point out that the food at Culver's isn't as fattening as a dish named butter burger might suggest.
- One day, we will do a post about the dogs of Ricochet. Until that day comes, here are Illy Long and Cosmo Goldberg.
- Rob's comment "stroking a cat while in your wheel chair" is a reference to the Bond super villain Ernst Stavro Blofield, who appeared in numerous Bond films and was played by a number of different actors, most famously by Donald Pleasence and Telly Savalas. And yes, Dr. Evil was a parody of Blofield (but also of SNL producer Lorne Michaels).
- As far as we can tell, you cannot purchase a bronze bust of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Yet.
- Gaylord Nelson was a Democratic politician from Wisconsin. He was the principal founder of Earth Day.
- William Goldman is an American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. He wrote an incredible string of hit movies including Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Hot Rock, Marathon Man, All The President's Men, and The Princess Bride and wrote uncredited on dozens more. He also wrote one of the most famous books about the movie business, titled Adventures In The Screen Trade, in which he famously declared that in Hollywood, "nobody knows anything." He meant that no one could really predict what would be a hit.
- According to Quora, Twitter had about 345 employees at the end of 2010. Facebook appears to have about 1000 employees at the moment. Both companies are less than 5 years old.
- Muammar el-Qaddafi has been the leader of Libya since a coup in 1969. And now you know how old Jonah Goldberg is.
- The phrase "only Kirk can go to Kronos" is a reference to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. We honestly have no idea what that has to do with Wisconsin or California.
- Wisconsin Democrats have been holed up at the Best Western Clock Tower Resort in Rockford, IL, which indeed includes a pub called "The Tilted Kilts." But apparently at this pub, it's not dudes who wear the kilts.
- According to the latest census report, Chicago's population has indeed dropped by 200,000 in the past ten years.
- James is blogging about his issues with the snow removal services in Minneapolis on his blog at Lileks.com.
- Detroit's abandoned buildings were poignantly captured in this photo essay by Sean Hemmerle for Time Magazine last year.
- Jeri Ryan is an American actress best known for her role of the liberated Borg Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager. Ryan was married to investment banker and Republican Senate candidate Jack Ryan. They divorced in 1999, but during the campaign of 2003, the local Chicago media successfully petitioned for the release of the divorce records. The records revealed that six years previously, Jeri had accused Jack Ryan of asking her to perform sexual acts with him in public, and in sex clubs in New York, New Orleans, and Paris. Jeri Ryan described one as "a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling." Jack Ryan denied these allegations. Although Jeri Ryan refused to comment on the matter during the campaign, the document disclosure led Jack Ryan to withdraw his candidacy; his main opponent, Barack Obama, then won the Senate seat.
- There are numerous reports on the horribleness of Qaddafi's sons. This includes their lavish spending habits, abusing of women (including a pregnant wife), and of course, basic looting of the country's treasury. They seem like terrific guys. And yes, according to Wikileaks, they spent a ton of dough hiring American pop stars to perform for them, including Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey, Beyonce, and Usher.
- Alas, Paul Wolfowitz's column is behind the WSJ paywall, but if you have a subscription, you can read it here.
- Heinous: Libya's ex-justice minister was quoted as telling a Swedish newspaper that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people in 1988.
- By comparison, Ferdinand E. Marcos, Jr. (also known as Bongbong) is the only son of Ferdinand E. Marcos, the former president of the Philippines (1965–1986), and former First Lady Imelda Romualdez-Marcos. He is a former representative and former governor of Ilocos Norte before his election to the Senate in 2010.
- In a rambling speech on Libyan TV yesterday, Colonel Qaddafi accused protesters in his country of being "drug-fueled mice."
- Pennsylvania does in fact have large reserves of natural gas, but it is trapped in shale and not easy to access. The process of removing it from the ground is called "fracking" and can sometimes result in the unfortunate phenomenon of being able to light your tap water on fire as seen in this clip from the documentary Gasland.
- Ricochet member Ken Sweeney gets the coveted podcast mention of the week for his post Borders Bookstore Bankruptcy Reflects Excess Supply of Low Quality Books.
- Jonah's eulogy to his brother Josh may be read here.
- In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Klingon blood is indeed shown to be Pepto-Bismol pink. However, this was likely done to avoid an R-rating as it ends up being splattered all along the walls of the ship.
Music from this week's episode:
- This Is Why We Fight by The Decemberists
- Indiana Wants Me by R. Dean Taylor
The direct link to this week's episode. But don't be a Muammar 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 :
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
"...drug fueled mice"? That's awesome - the guy is the Chris Christie of north Africa.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Drug Fueled Mice sounds like the name of an Indie Rock band.
Jun '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan . . . the center has collapsed. Dems can't win on the coasts alone.
Oct '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
An entire show with Mark Steyn followed by an hour with Jonah? Yer spoiling us!
I'm saving it for tomorrow.
Jan '11
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Blofeld may have stroked a cat, but did he ever purchase a bronze bust of Jeri Ryan?
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Exactly. We may all be of good cheer.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Peter, can we, please, please, please do a Talk Like a Pirate segment? I think Dave Limbaugh and Claire would be excellent for it, though we'd all secretly love to hear Professor Epstein give it a go.
Jan '11
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Mr. Goldberg rails against Obama (and rightly so) for not offering the merest word of support for oppressed Lybians.
Since we conservatives have found the Commander-in-Chief morally weak, and a person who is either incapable of disguising or unwilling to hide his displeasure at opposing a U.S. enemy, would his insincere words in defense of peaceful Lybian protesters against the dictator do any good, either for the people there or for U.S. interests?
Dec '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
You started the podcast with a comment that it always more than an hour long and then proceeded to go on for just under an hour.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
That was my fault. One of our hosts had to be done by a certain time and I didn't let James know ahead of time. We'll make it up to you next week.
Dec '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
The Jeri Ryan bust that most men are interested in does not include her head.
Dec '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Are you channeling Dave Barry?
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Blue Yeti
That was my fault. One of our hosts had to be done by a certain time and I didn't let James know ahead of time. We'll make it up to you next week. · Feb 23 at 8:56pm
Does that mean that Sty-ian is on next week?
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Europe must not follow Europe? I agree, but Mr. Lileks, have you given up on USA?
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
The NPR-voce is classic. I am going to start using it in the street.
Aug '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
This episode is one of my new favorites. I listened to it twice driving back and forth between Orange County and San Diego this evening. Great interactions, entertaining, and informative. Anytime Jonah Goldberg is on the podcast I know it's going to be an instant classic.
Aug '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Oh, and by the way, I love the Star Trek references.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
Question. Since the Wisconsin Senate is only restricted on voting on financial matters by the run away Democrats, why has the GOP seized the opportunity to move forward a whole raft of legislation that the opposition would oppose?
Examples include:
Voter ID requirement
Concealed Carry
Educational Voucher system
Right to Work legislation
Dismantling regulatory apparatus
Redistricting
etc etc etc.
After all, never let a crisis go to waste....
Jan '11
Re: Ricochet Podcast #58: Indiana Wants Me
This was great. I've listened to it a few times...