24 returns with a two-part season premiere Sunday and Monday nights. Is it still relevant in the new Obama era?
** 24 RETURNS. The hit thriller series 24 is back, with a four-hour season premiere spread out over Sunday and Monday nights. The show, which swept the Emmy Awards in its fifth season in 2006 and endured a notably sub-par sixth season in 2007, was supposed to be back a year ago. But the writers’ strike, and the need to retool, wiped out 2008 for the show. So now its seventh season begins, amidst questions about its relevance.
The show had increasingly embraced torture as a foolproof means to get information. While that’s a useful story-telling crutch for a TV show with a ticking clock motif, it’s not a serious reflection of how things work, nor a worthy policy for America. Yet it’s still a dangerous world, if not as dangerous as many ideologues like to imagine.
I’ll write about the show at length after I’ve seen the season premiere.
** OBAMA TODAY – SUNDAY. President-elect Barack Obama continues work on his presidential transition in Washington. He appeared this morning on ABC’s This Week, where he focused on the economic crisis and his program – bumping up against a trillion dollars – to revive the US economy. He also said that, while he is going to close Guantanamo, as he said again Friday when he introduced his top intel leaders, it won’t be during the first 100 days. The outgoing administration, which treated every situation as if it were an episode of 24, has thrown together bad guys and non-bad guys, which with its messy procedures will take some sorting out.
Meanwhile, with Israel continuing its anti-Hamas offensive in the Gaza Strip – flying in the face of a UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire – Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says that the embattled country is close to reaching its goals. I’d say they’re about nine days away from that.
President-elect Barack Obama discusses the historic economic crisis in his weekly video/radio address.
** OBAMA TODAY – SATURDAY. President-elect Barack Obama continues work on his transition in Washington, and appears Sunday on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. He continued his campaign for his economic recovery program with his weekly video/radio address. You can watch it above and read excerpts below.
We start this new year in the midst of an economic crisis unlike any we have seen in our lifetime. We learned yesterday that in the past month alone, we lost more than half a million jobs – a total of nearly 2.6 million in the year 2008. Another 3.4 million Americans who want and need full-time work have had to settle for part-time jobs. And families across America are feeling the pinch as they watch debts mount, bills pile up and savings disappear.
These numbers are a stark reminder that we simply cannot continue on our current path. If nothing is done, economists from across the spectrum tell us that this recession could linger for years and the unemployment rate could reach double digits – and they warn that our nation could lose the competitive edge that has served as a foundation for our strength and standing in the world.
It’s not too late to change course – but only if we take immediate and dramatic action. Our first job is to put people back to work and get our economy working again. …
I asked my nominee for Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, Dr. Christina Romer, and the Vice President-Elect’s Chief Economic Adviser, Dr. Jared Bernstein, to conduct a rigorous analysis of this plan and come up with projections of how many jobs it will create – and what kind of jobs they will be. Today, I am releasing a report of their findings so that the American people can see exactly what this plan will mean for their families, their communities, and our economy.
The report confirms that our plan will likely save or create three to four million jobs. 90 percent of these jobs will be created in the private sector – the remaining 10 percent are mainly public sector jobs we save, like the teachers, police officers, firefighters and others who provide vital services in our communities. The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries. And they’ll be the kind of jobs that don’t just put people to work in the short term, but position our economy to lead the world in the long-term.
We’ll create nearly half a million jobs by investing in clean energy – by committing to double the production of alternative energy in the next three years, and by modernizing more than 75% of federal buildings and improving the energy efficiency of two million American homes. These made-in-America jobs building solar panels and wind turbines, developing fuel-efficient cars and new energy technologies pay well, and they can’t be outsourced.
We’ll create hundreds of thousands of jobs by improving health care – transitioning to a nationwide system of computerized medical records that won’t just save money, but save lives by preventing deadly medical errors. And we’ll create hundreds of thousands more jobs in education, equipping tens of thousands of schools with 21st century classrooms, labs and computers to help our kids compete with any worker in the world for any job.
We’ll put nearly 400,000 people to work by repairing our infrastructure – our crumbling roads, bridges and schools. And we’ll build the new infrastructure we need to succeed in this new century, investing in science and technology, and laying down miles of new broadband lines so that businesses across our nation can compete with their counterparts around the world.
Finally, we won’t just create jobs, we’ll also provide help for those who’ve lost theirs, and for states and families who’ve been hardest-hit by this recession. That means bi-partisan extensions of unemployment insurance and health care coverage; a $1,000 tax cut for 95 percent of working families; and assistance to help states avoid harmful budget cuts in essential services like police, fire, education and health care.
Now, given the magnitude of the challenges we face, none of this will come easy. Recovery won’t happen overnight, and it’s likely that things will get worse before they get better. …
Obama’s inaugural committee also announced that the president-elect will host a “bipartisan dinner” the night before his inauguration toasting his Republican opponent, John McCain. There will also be dinners that night honoring Colin Powell and Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, the vice president-elect is in South Asia today. Biden, in his guise as outgoing chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – he had himself sworn in to the Senate earlier (he won re-election in November as he was also elected vice president) – is leading a congressional delegation which finished visiting the Middle East and is now on the South Asia portion of its tour. That means Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan are on the itinerary. Biden is pushing Pakistan’s government to be more forthcoming about the Pakistani role in the Mumbai attacks to avert war with India and examining the troubled situation in Afghanistan.
Biden is in Afghanistan today, meeting in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and General David McKiernan.
There were protests across the Islamic world on Friday against Israel’s anti-Hamas offensive in Gaza.
Speaking of war, the US finally went along with a UN Security Council call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza crisis. But Israel is not complying, at least, not so far. The clock is ticking on Israel’s push to pull the teeth of Hamas.
On another front, Russia is relenting on its cut-off of natural gas to Europe occasioned by its dispute with Ukraine. The European Union and Russia signed an agreement on the details of the monitoring of the flow of Russian natural gas through Ukraine to Europe. Now Ukraine must sign the deal. But even if Ukraine signs swiftly, natural gas shipments won’t begin again until Monday at the earliest.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has private meetings and discussions today around his state of the state address on January 15th and California’s chronic budget crisis.
** CIA: PARSING THE PANETTA PICK. … From my Monday column.
** OBAMA: VACATION’S END. … From my January 2nd Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included.
Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. After crashing over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, crude oil closed yesterday at $40.83 per barrel. Energy markets are closed on the weekend.
The drop of $107 per barrel since the record high over the summer comes on acknowledgment that the weak US economy will cut future demand and on the easing of previous geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. It is clear that that, contrary to much chatter, neither the US nor Israel is about to launch a strike against Iran. And the Russian war with Georgia, confounding much speculation and reporting to the contrary, actually decreased the geopolitical risk premium in the oil market.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
Read 
| Comments (44) |
Good speech by Obama.
Israel’s building a big backlash.
That’s for sure. Those are demonstrations across the world.
It’s a very good speech. I have a feeling Barack is going to give many speeches on this.
Oh, I think that’s a safe bet …
The scope of the demonstrations has to be daunting for Israel.
># Capitol Boy Says:
January 10th, 2009 at 11:36 am edit
That’s for sure. Those are demonstrations across the world.
True.
># Jonas Blane Says:
January 10th, 2009 at 11:25 am edit
Israel’s building a big backlash.
GAZPROM & (GECF) Vs (USI/MIC)
Over the past weeks (RT) Russia Today has done nothing less than a Superior Job of covering the various “Micro” short term problems concerning the Russian Federation Gasport and (GECF) Gas Exporting Countries Forum group, which will of course have long term effects, depending on the “Macro-Big Picture” short term effects of the current geo-political factors, the rising tensions in the Middle East and Central Asian which the (USI/MIC) United States of Israel Military Industrial Complex named the “evil crescent”, and whatever doesn’t fit into its Imperialist Plan and the Grand Chessboard Strategy, of (FSWD) Full Spectrum World Dominations meets the criteria of “Evil”.
The question that now faces The Russian Federation and those of the “Evil Crescent, is will they be the producers and owners or simply the labor force within the New World Order of the (USI/MIC), and this is a question that needs to be faced now, as the sand is running rapidly thru the hour glass of history, and the “Dooms Day Clock” is entering the time of the second hand over the minute hand. In a short period of time (20K) twenty-thousand more (USI/MIC) armed forces, a Field Army will be deployed to the “Evil Crescent”, and the last of (3) three critical military entry points into the Russian Federation, The Crimea, as the (USI/MIC) are already positioned at the Balkans, and Caucasus region, (USI/MIC) missiles will soon be introduced into the area as a “defensive measure”, against or in preparation for a “pre-emptive” attack, the question is by who against who, as the “Grand Chessboard Strategy” embraces the use of a massive “Pre-emptive” Thermo-Nuclear Attack, to victory.
Is the Former Soviet Republic of Georgia, being resupplied by the (USI/MIC), are more troops being introduced into the “Evil Crescent”, are more missiles being introduced into the overwhelming military presence that the (USI/MIC) already has in the Caucasus Region, is there a growing military presence in the “Horn of Africa” Somalia by the (USI/MIC), did the (USI/MIC) give its (51st) State, the “Point of the Spear” into the heart of Islam, the Manager State of the “Evil Crescent” the OK! To attack the Islamic Palestinian Peoples of the Gaza Territories and block all (UN) United Nations efforts to bring the fighting to an end, and does the Russian Federation and the member state of the “Evil Crescent” making up Gasport and (GECF) Gas Exporting Countries Forum group, want to be producers, owners, and operators of their business interests or simply the labor force of the “New World Order”?
Israel’s really going to escalate more in Gaza?
Blah blah blah
TRIATHLON Says:
January 10th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
GAZPROM & (GECF) Vs (USI/MIC)
Triathlon, why here? Have you considered sharing these insights with the Flash Report and the Kos?
New video today?
TRIATHLON:
If you have to post here (and I think I speak for my than myself when I say I always skip over your posts), can you post without acronyms or parentheticals? They’re total turn-offs. Paranoid ranting is, too, but acronyms are the worse.
Well, except for LOL.
“I think I speak for MORE than myself. . . ”
“Acronyms are the WORST. . . ”
(You’d never know I used to teach English)
Jack’s back.
># Jonas Blane Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 7:59 am edit
New video today?
To a point.
># Len Says:
January 10th, 2009 at 4:34 pm edit
Israel’s really going to escalate more in Gaza?
Lol is evidently very important for the world we live in …
># Prospero Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 8:14 am edit
TRIATHLON:
If you have to post here (and I think I speak for my than myself when I say I always skip over your posts), can you post without acronyms or parentheticals? They’re total turn-offs. Paranoid ranting is, too, but acronyms are the worse.
Well, except for LOL.
I’m very interested in watching “24″ tonight.
I think “24″ has about run its course.
THE JABALYA INCIDENT
On Friday and Saturday, (9th & 10th), of January, (2009) The Human Rights Watch, observed as (IDF) Israeli Defense Force, artillery units, placed fuses into white phosphorus artillery rounds, known as “Willie Peter”, and stood helpless as it was used in a massive attack upon Jabalya. The “Willie Peter” shells could be clearly seen exploding each shell releasing over (100) One-hundred phosphorus wafters, leaving a tendril trails thru the air covering a wide area of the densely populated city, numerous structure fires could be observed burning as the phosphorus ignited them.
The Use of “Willie Peter” is permitted under International as an “obscurant” to cover troop movements and prevent enemies from using certain guided weapons, but the use of the chemical in Gaza with (1.5M) One Point Five Million residents one of the most-densely populated places on the globe, violates the requirement under International Humanitarian Law “To take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian injury and loss of life”, which in the case of Palestinian Gaza Territory.
Each White phosphorus chemical wafter, when exposed to air begins to burn with “White House” intensity, and cannot be extinguished until it is separated from exposure from it. “Willie Peter” burns everything it touches, from infrastructure’s structures, homes, and will burn human flesh away down and thru the bone, leaving painful chemical burns around the injury.
The (ICRC) International Committee of the Red Cross reports that the (IDF) Israeli Defense Force Command were fully aware of the use of “Willie Peter” did not assist the wounded, nor allow member of either The Human Rights, or the Palestinian Red Crescent to assist the wounded.”
Saturday 10, January the death toll is (800) eight-hundred Islamic Palestinians of the Gaza Territories, among them at least (257) two-hundred-fifty-seven children and (56) fifty-six women, have been killed during Israel’s (2) two week, aerial bombardment and ground offensive, according to the (UN) United Nations, with (13) thirteen (IDF) Israeli Defense Force killed, a factor of (62::1).
RON PAUL (RT)RUSSIA TODAY GUEST
Israel’s critics and enemies will see the United States as the side to be blamed for the ongoing violence in the Gaza Strip, believes Congressman Ron Paul. He says the US should review its unconditional support of the Jewish state.
AND MORE, ALL CONSTITUTIONAL CONSERVATIVE AND ALL ON THE HEAD! YES! YES! YES!
“on the head.” Appropriate.
lol
I still like “24.”
Capitol Boy Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 10:32 am
I think “24″ has about run its course.
Do take a chill pill, old man.
TRIATHLON Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 11:24 am
THE JABALYA INCIDENT
Okay, “24″ is still good.
I liked it. I’m glad Tony Almeida is back. He sure seems like a bad guy, unfortunately. So he probably is a good guy.
I give it a week.
Bill Bradley Says:
January 10th, 2009 at 11:39 am
The scope of the demonstrations has to be daunting for Israel.
“24″ was solid fun tonight. Jack was Ollie North-esque. I was worried we would linger in the Senate hearing too long. Instead, we jumped into action. It was nice to see inter-agency cooperation.
Tony’s character has always been a reflection of Jack, sometimes darker, sometimes lighter. Jack can learn to understand the choices Tony made since both men have had everything taken from them. The show hasn’t always been consistent with this theme.
I really do hope the producers throw a bone to long-time fans and say Tony was trying to find out who Nina was really working for. Looking forward to tomorrow’s episode.
Deep sky.
What new video today?
Jack’s back.
Capitol Boy Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Okay, “24″ is still good.
“Biden is in Afghanistan today, meeting in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and General David McKiernan.” Will he be asking for a share of the opium profits to help pay for the phony war of terror? Or is he there to hand CIA asset and failed puppet Karzai another blank check to dole out to the taliban warlords? Will he be touring a training camp where the CIA set up and armed the mujahadeen/al-queda?
Okay, I will bite.
What is “deep sky?” I googled it and I know it’s some code but I don’t see what it means.
Bill Bradley Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Deep sky.
The camps were in Pakistan, weren’t they?
Paul Burton Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 7:40 am
“Biden is in Afghanistan today, meeting in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and General David McKiernan.” Will he be asking for a share of the opium profits to help pay for the phony war of terror? Or is he there to hand CIA asset and failed puppet Karzai another blank check to dole out to the taliban warlords? Will he be touring a training camp where the CIA set up and armed the mujahadeen/al-queda?
The phrase “deep sky” reveals many things about what’s going on. Things are not as they seem, and there are yet more levels to the conspiracy.
># Capitol Boy Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 7:54 am edit
Okay, I will bite.
What is “deep sky?” I googled it and I know it’s some code but I don’t see what it means.
Bill Bradley Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Deep sky.
A phony war? You mean because there are no Islamic jihadists? Blank checks to the Taliban warlords? Ah, no.
Incidentally, the CIA did not run training camps in Afghanistan, nor did they set up the Mujahideen or Al Qaeda.
># Paul Burton Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 7:40 am edit
“Biden is in Afghanistan today, meeting in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and General David McKiernan.” Will he be asking for a share of the opium profits to help pay for the phony war of terror? Or is he there to hand CIA asset and failed puppet Karzai another blank check to dole out to the taliban warlords? Will he be touring a training camp where the CIA set up and armed the mujahadeen/al-queda?
So it seems.
># Jonas Blane Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 7:11 am edit
Jack’s back.
Capitol Boy Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Okay, “24″ is still good.
The ISI ran camps, not the CIA, which is one reason why Afghans were fairly unaware of the US role in ousting the Soviets. And the camps were in Pakistan.
>Capitol Boy Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 7:55 am edit
The camps were in Pakistan, weren’t they?
Very good insight about the Tony-Jack dynamic. However …
># Vladimir Bierko Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 11:50 pm edit
“24″ was solid fun tonight. Jack was Ollie North-esque. I was worried we would linger in the Senate hearing too long. Instead, we jumped into action. It was nice to see inter-agency cooperation.
Tony’s character has always been a reflection of Jack, sometimes darker, sometimes lighter. Jack can learn to understand the choices Tony made since both men have had everything taken from them. The show hasn’t always been consistent with this theme.
I really do hope the producers throw a bone to long-time fans and say Tony was trying to find out who Nina was really working for. Looking forward to tomorrow’s episode.
Obama and his intel chiefs and Bush’s probably farewell press conference.
># Jonas Blane Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 7:11 am edit
What new video today?
I don’t think so, but I’ll have a much fuller view and write about it after tonight.
># Capitol Boy Says:
January 11th, 2009 at 10:32 am edit
I think “24″ has about run its course.
lol
Bill Bradley Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 9:00 am
A phony war? You mean because there are no Islamic jihadists? Blank checks to the Taliban warlords? Ah, no.
Incidentally, the CIA did not run training camps in Afghanistan, nor did they set up the Mujahideen or Al Qaeda.
># Paul Burton Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 7:40 am edit
“Biden is in Afghanistan today, meeting in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and General David McKiernan.” Will he be asking for a share of the opium profits to help pay for the phony war of terror? Or is he there to hand CIA asset and failed puppet Karzai another blank check to dole out to the taliban warlords? Will he be touring a training camp where the CIA set up and armed the mujahadeen/al-queda?
Incidentally, NWN passed 77,000 comments sometime in the past week.