Q & A around the 'sphere

Q: So, are we in a recession or aren’t we?

A: Greenspan says we’re almost there! Just a few more pushes…just a few more nudges with the oil prices, and a little more talking down by the press and the economy will finally be in the recession he and the rest of the experts have been telling us we were in for the past 3 years. They want the “Bush left us in the worst economy since the depression” narrative (hell, they’ve been constructing it – brick by brick – for years) and they’re damn sure going to get it. They believe we’ve forgotten the Carter economy of double-digit inflation, 7.4% unemployment and 15% mortgage rates – and they may be right.

If only Congress worked half as hard at actually serving the nation as they do trying to “get” Bush. What great shape we’d be in.

Q: Speaking of Congress and mortgages…
A: I know, I know 23 of our senators won’t discuss details of their mortgages. Some of them, of course don’t have mortgages, and some of them, like Harry Reid don’t need mortgages, because they pay for their houses, with cash. Imagine being a Senator for 20-odd years -a public servant – and being able to do that! I don’t know that we need super-efficient details of anyone’s mortgages, but in light of the sweet deals Countrywide cut with Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Kent Conrad (D- ND) it seems prudent to at least check out the Countrywide angle.

Q: Wow, so this might be a big story, eh? Senators getting mortgage breaks from a disgraced lender?
A: Unless numerous Republicans become embroiled in the scandal, you’ll see less coverage of this story than you do on any of the good news in Iraq. Btw, bet you didn’t know that the US Military turned over control of the Anbar province to the Iraqi’s today, did you? Of course you didn’t. Now that Iraq has turned around, coverage is down 90%. No use reporting what does not fit the “quagmire” narrative. Jon Stewart wonders if it is not a citizen’s responsibility to keep informed and abreast of what is going on over there, even if the press is incurious and disinterested in dispensing that info.

Q: Maybe there isn’t any good news?
A: There’s lots of good news and Gateway Pundit notes that even the NY Times is finally admitting it, but you can tell it’s killing them.

Q: Does the press only like bad news?
A: Well, yes, during a GOP administration, they do. They like it so much the AP this week featured a handwringer of a piece meant to do nothing more than thoroughly depress Americans and (ahem) oh yeah, make sure they vote a Democrat into the White House this year (I’m not kidding, check out the last ‘graph!).
Fisking the piece of journalistic sludge, James Liliks writes:

It is amusing, really – after sticking people’s heads in the muck every day for years, promoting every faddish scare, fluffing the pillow beneath every yuppie worry, swapping the straight-forward adult approach to news with presenters who emote the copy with the sad face of a day-care worker telling the children that Barney is dead – in short, after decades of presenting the world through the peculiar prism that finds in every day more evidence of our rot and our failures, they wonder why people are depressed. Hang the banner, guys: Mission Accomplished.

Ed Driscoll has more on the Lileks piece plus an interesting video on the extinction of the media dinosaur.

Q: Geez, Anchoress, say something positive!
A: I’ve seen two really great movies in the past couple weeks. The first, everyone else has already seen: Ironman! The first superhero movie I have absolutely loved. Great shots, perfectly cast (I even liked Paltrow) and Robert Downey Jr seemed like he was born to play Tony Stark. The other great movie: Lars and the Real Girl, with Ryan Gosling, who is terrific playing a young man who finds a unique way to overcome his crippling shyness. I was going to write a longer review, but Julie at Happy Catholic has already done it, and I concur with her take on things:

You wouldn’t think that a movie about a man and a life-size, anatomically correct sex doll would be described as charming, heart-warming, and delightful but Lars and the Real Girl pulls it off.

It’s one of those surprising little sleepers you don’t expect much from and then fall in love with. Charming is exactly the word. Don’t let the doll scare you. She’s quite harmless and you’ll love her.

Q: Is that all?
A: No! MSNBC – of all outfits – is confirming that AlQaeda was in Iraq before 9/11 and that they had bio weapons. Apparently MSNBC said this a while ago – like 5 YEARS ago. Somehow it’s news now. Ed Morrissey warns he doesn’t know how this story played out.

Q: A little sloppy, there?
A: That’s what I get for blogging on two hours sleep!