Patterico's Pontifications

6/27/2007

Cheney: The Executive Branch Guy Who Isn’t

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 5:39 am



Dick Cheney invoked executive privilege to avoid disclosing who he met with when forming an energy policy.

Now his office is apparently claiming he is exempt from legislative oversight of the executive branch, because he is a member of the legislative branch. Because, you know, once in a blue moon he casts a tie-breaking vote in the Senate.

At first glance this strikes me as laughably hypocritical. But I’ve been extremely busy, so I haven’t had time to read up on it. Maybe there’s some plausible defense out there. It’s hard to believe there could be, but I’m willing to give you folks the chance to make the argument.

Is anyone willing to defend this seemingly indefensible position?

P.S. It’s not clear that this really is Cheney’s position. The article relies on anonymous sources for that assertion. But if it’s not his position, he should explain publicly why he is resisting oversight.

The Return of the Professional Man on the Street

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 5:36 am



Guess who’s first in line for the new iPhone?

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

To claim his 15 minutes of fame, Greg Packer started queueing to be among the first paying customers in the world to own an Apple iPhone a full 101 hours before the much-hyped mobile phone goes on sale on Friday evening.

. . . .

Packer, who says he’s an Apple fan despite not owning an iPod or a Mac, says he intends to hang on to the phone rather than try selling it for a profit.

Packer, the Apple Fan, is also a serial media hound. He’s a fan of whatever is hot right this moment.

And, God help us all, now he’s blogging about it.

Previous Packer sightings here.

Concerts and Proximity

Filed under: Music — Patterico @ 12:02 am



So the wife and I saw The Police on Saturday, and Glen Phillips last night.

We spent a lot less on the Glen Phillips concert, and probably enjoyed it more.

I think a lot of it had to do with our proximity (or lack of it) to the performers.

If you gave me one of those nice long Ping drivers, I could have leaned forward and poked Glen Phillips in the kneecaps without significantly lifting my behind out of my chair.

Whereas we saw The Police at Dodger Stadium, with about 54,998 other people. We sat in deep foul territory on the third base side, and without the binoculars I forgot to being, the members of the band were antlike in appearance. Even with the video screens, I had to take Christi’s word for the fact that Stewart Copeland was wearing glasses.

The Police sounded fine. Don’t Stand So Close to Me was oddly soulless, and Sting pussed out on some of the notes in Roxanne. And on one of the songs, it sounded like he sang the whole first verse in a different key from the instruments. My friend Amy, who is very musically savvy, agreed.

Those minor nits aside, they sounded great.

But there’s really something missing when you can’t see the artists’ faces. I can fire up one of my favorite artists’ CDs or DVDs any time. But if I can watch them perform close up, it’s an experience that can’t be duplicated by a DVD — whereas a DVD beats a crappy seat at a huge stadium concert, every time.

IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL POSTSCRIPT: At a dinner Thursday night, we learned that a couple we know would also be attending the concert. We joked about how we’d see them there. Ha, ha! With 50,000 people attending, what were the chances?

We saw them in the parking lot.

P.P.S.: This guy had better seats than we did.


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