Welcome to the New Economy… bitch.

We pause briefly for a quick huddle up with our favorite CEO, Teddy Dickhead.

“Damn! I thought Lincoln ended slavery!”

The War is Over.

After 8-years, a war I was only vaguely aware I had been fighting, drew to a close. With it, a source of energy that both powered and inhibited whole parts of my consciousness faded into submission, leaving me spent and mostly unsure of where to go next.

I didn’t fight for my country, but I have always identified with the troops. I have always easily been able to close my eyes and imagine the unimaginable.  The nagging fear, the sheer terror, the sapping fatigue, the moments of joy, the unbreakable bonds of friendship and — always — the debilitating longing for home.

Today brings a New Beginning — a state of both relief and responsibility.  A state of knowing full well that the misery I endured was in the end, one of my own creation.  I allowed it to happen. I knew the fragility of my precious democracy and did not act.  In victory, I have found as much pain as I have pleasure. And Never again will I spectate. Never again can we leave my fortune to chance.

Never again will I assume that everything turn out okay all on it’s own.

Today, one war ends and another, happier one begins.  We can all get on with life once again, bringing with us everything we learned in battle.

Yes, the Good Guys won.

Thank you, Barack Obama.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Of all the millions upon millions of words that have and will be spoken and written about this election — in every language, tongue and dialect across every continent, country, state, province, county, city and neighborhood it will be discussed in — no words will ring truer than this:

Tomorrow changes everything.

The next 24-hours will play witness an earthquake that could very well rock our future to its foundations.

The progressives are here. The conservatives, liberals, independents too.  The white, yellow, brown, red and black have come to have their say.

The children are watching.

The World is standing by…

More useless bullshit from the Black Peanut Gallery

In one of his latest political entries for the Hoover Institutution, author and black conservative extraordinaire Dr. Shelby Steele (whose likeness we will not be posting) offers more, uninvited commentary on why Jesse Jackson hates Barack Obama (never mind why he does).

Now, if you managed to make your way through any of the other entries on this blog, you probably have a decent idea about this writer’s political orientation, so spare you the invective.

Liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican — we could truly care less: Be you blue, red or purble or translucent, Master Benobi has one simple rule: No bullshitters. If you don’t know your history, if you’re astranged from the facts, if you have no background information on the subject, then you have no idea what you’re talking about, then don’t you dare to voice an opinion.

Especially you throngs of ex-Bushie, conservative wannabes who now somehow fancy yourselves as libertarians and especially you conformist minority types who’ll embrace which ever political doctrine happens to be popular at the moment. But, even as denuded as the modern American conservative movement is now (did Bill Buckley create a monster or what?!), I maintain great deal of respect for many of what are traditionally conservative political tenants. When pressed for a straight answer, suffice to say it’s not black conservatives that give me such pause, it’s black conservatism as a racket that truly disgusts me.

Reading through Mr. Steele’s latest piece, one passage in particular held me up and prompted me to look “Mr. Bound Man” up once again:

“To be a projection screen for the cultural aspirations of both blacks and whites one must be an invisible man politically… and so Mr. Obama’s political invisibility — a charm that can only derive from a lack of deep political convictions — may well serve his cultural appeal, but it also makes him something of a political mess.“

Now just to refresh your memory, this is the same Shelby Steele that so astutely predicted that “[Barack] Can’t Win” during the 2008 presidental primaries. Invalid premise. Embarassing byline.

See it’s not enough that Bar  … that Mr. Steele with all of his lofty insight and conveniently self-supporting construct of baseless, circular arguments  …instead of giving credit where credit’s due, instead of tipping his hat to the super-talented young brother and then pointing out his differences with him, Steele takes the low road (which to him is the high road) and plays the Uncle Tom M.D. standing over the patient then diagnosing and dissecting him like some high and mighty M.D. – and you, me and the rest of racist America in the process — younger and more talented Obama, is the doctor,

Like others I agree that both Shelby Steele and Jesse Jackon are caught in a Time Warp, but anyway so much for that premise.

——————-

Good Ol’ Shelby.  Since you guys already know how I feel about black conservatism (as a “racket” vs. an honest political orientation), I’ll . But I must again say how much this fellow, his condescending “perch” at Stanford’s Hoover School and the whole, backhanded way he’s attached himself to the Obama movement (like a leech) truly turns me all the way off.

I think that every interested party should know just how badly this highly educated, Chicago (where’s the love, Shelby?) native would love to be Barack Obama…. in fact, maybe Shelby should write a follow up piece entitiled, “Why I hate Barack Obama Too”.

The Emperor Has No Clothes

Ok, scratch that: Truth be told and, based on Bush’s latest slide into outright insanity, this demented loon is running around buck fuckin’ naked and he honestly don’t care who the hell knows it?

Dug these two gems up on YouTube the other day and proceeded to watch in utter shame, horror, disgust and disbelief.

RTE (Ireland’s PBS/BBC) journalist Carole Coleman squares off with W in the now infamous library interview in a quaint little sit down with George W. Bush (circa June 2004) in what rapidly descends into an all-out bout with W in Full Iraq Monty.

As you may have read, The White House reportedly backed out of a second interview with the RTE citing Coleman’s “repeated interruptions and disrespect” (paraphrased) for Ole’ King George. As if his own, blatant interruptions of her follow up questions were somehow any more dignified.

Then, a few months later, NBC’s Matt Lauer almost literally goes toe-to-toe with the master of disaster, prince of pronunciation, the king of calumny, the emperor of insanity himself…

For a minute there, I thought ol’ W was fidna to take his coat off and go to work! Matt kept his cool but still never got a straight answer out of this clown… mostly through the copious use of the same brutish GOP tactic of attacking the interlocutor while viciously seizing the role of victim for himself.

“You can’t expect me to protect your family without giving me all the tools I need to do it…” sounds like dialing 911 for a burglary only to have the police firebomb the entire neighborhood in response.

Remember: If an alien race landed on Planet Earth tomorrow, this is the guy they’d end up talking to. Might as well lie and show them to straight to McLean, because the net effect would be no less fatal for the prospect of human life on earth.

JESUS. HOW MANY MORE DAYS DO WE HAVE LEFT OF THIS SHIT AGAIN?

Open Letter to Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois)

Dear Senator,

Knowing in advance the great sense of respect you have for your constituency, our Constution and the groundbreaking political movement you started, it appears you are currently facing one of the biggest and most loaded decision you have/may ever face as a candidate – and quite possibly your Presidency.

This issue goes to the heart of the matter at hand in this great country — whether or not the body of laws that form the very fabric of our union are to be obeyed by the President or whether in fact he/she has some unknown, unreferenced and implicitly inferred authority to ignore laws that Presidential power is derived from in the first.

To walk out/cave in/tear up the existing framework for Foreign/Domestic surveillance is to abandon the pedestal upon which we – your supporters Senator Obama — placed you on.

Senator, we are not naive. As comparative bystanders, We understand that we cannot possibly conceive of the magnitude of diametrically opposed, tectonic political forces that are acting on you, your family, your thoughts, words and actions with regard to your historic run for the Presidency.  

At the same time, you must also stop, close your eyes and step outside your own experience for a moment and remember Us as we engage in and wage our own personal idealogical battles with friends, neighbors and those who seek to, both passively and actively, to invalidate our belief in and support of this Movement and what it means to be an American. In an America that is often times deeply and violently disturbed by those who seek to CHANGE IT in favor of balance, equality and justice, we need you now more than ever.

In talking to others both for and against you (and us), it has become clear that:

1. you are fulfilling your promise — one that you’ve repeatedly said is woven into your DNA – to reach out to those whose allegiance to our cause for true democracy seems a far-fetched and foolish waste of resources. But as our Candidate, the call is yours alone.

2. that in giving up ground on the left-of-center issues (aka, ”moving to the middle”) you are not making the ”safe” play, but are in fact taking a huge risk by seeking consensus with an ever- shrinking number of Americans who are not either drastically for or against something as Constitutionally relevant as UNCHEKED POWER and so, quite possibly, you are angling for a Net Loss.

It’s like the dog (pardoning) who drops one ball in favor of chasing another: Should you lose 20% of your support only to gain 10% elsewhere, you will have lost twice: First in the math, but mostly in your principles.

The “fact” is, most Americans who truly understand what is at stake here are in your corner.  Those who know that we are a Nation of Laws and those who know that a very specific set of laws (FISA) ALREADY EXIST which allow the Executive gather and monitor private communications while protecting the rights of law abiding citizens is already in place, are FURIOUS at the idea that more, unchecked power (both to “spy” and absolve the “spies”) is in the works under this law.

Conversely, those who do not understand how well protected we are under existing law are all to happy to give up rights they do not understand. In seeking to be safe from some unknown menace, this portion of the American Electorate would leave itself open to more sinister threats and abuses from within.

I leave you (and my friends and family) with this not-so-gentle reminder of where we are in this battle: Second only to Jesus of Nazareth himself, the United States of America was founded by the Greatest Bunch of Liberals That Ever Walked the Earth – both Christians and Americans alike should agree that no progress, no justice, no attainment of true freedom, security and salvation was EVER secured by bowing to a conservative establishment.

It was true for Jesus in his time and trials, it was true for Adams, Franklin, Jefferson, Paine, Hancock and the rest  — and it is most certainly true now as the timeless documents inspired and authored by these Great and Unforgettable human beings are once again under all manner of assault by those who seek unchecked, unlimited power.

Simply stated, whatever the costs — WIN OR LOSE — you, sir, must not — We must not — falter in our judgment, resolve and direction at this critical juncture of the American Experiment.

 Whatever your decision on July 8th — whether your quest finds you for or against what appears to be yet another draconian overreach of Executive authority — do not fail to clearly and properly explain yourself to your faithful supporters.

We may not agree with you in the end, but to leave Us in an idealogical bind would in the end cost you much more ground than any you might win on the other side.

“Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.” — Abigail Adams

 

How to Reboot a NeoCon — Part I

For the first time in many, many years the deep, frozen tundra of mass media in hibernation — a state of being that has been the hallmark of the major media networks under the Bush Administration (and during the bitter, partisan bludgeoning of the Clintons’ latter years) – producers, editors, anchors and reporters all across the nation have begun to awaken from their forced slumber. As they shoudk, many of them have lots and lots of hard, difficult questions for those whose Kool-Aid it turns out they’ve not only been drinking, but effectively force-fed as the entire picture of the Bush/Cheney Propaganda machine begins to resolve…

First (stretching the term, hard to tell where the “original” sin actually was) it was the revelation that, beginning in 2002, the Pentagon had actively maintained and deployed a systematic, taxpayer funded program in which retired military officials (“Message Force Multipliers”, a jarheadism meaning “paid stooges”) were recruited, trained and cultivated to push the Bush war agenda by regurgitating Adminstration talking points, propaganda, and other one-sided information across all the major media networks (mostly FOX, of course).

What began as the Pentagon Military Analyist Campaign, soon became yet another scandal in a blur of Bush scandals that stretches back to the “election” drama of 2000 (or as we like to call it, the Original Sin). This corps of trained Pentagon parrots were integral to the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld attack strategy; the generals posed as “expert analysts”, thereby lending the appearance of credibile, 3rd party legitimacy to what was essentially a campaign of misinformation.

the vanguards of moderate media (read, “every network but FOX and Clear Channel”)

 have begun a subdued yet seething offensive bound to result in many more ugly truths about the Bush years being dug up, dissected and hung out do dry. 

You know that that thing that “conservative types” do when they argue their point? Actually it’s not called arguing at all, it’s more like shouting people down with meaningless “power” words like “terror” or “liberal” or “freedom”, “America” and all that, but you know what I mean?

Like, you say something like, “Well, there’s more than one side to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict!” and then before a good debate can be had, they say “You just hate America!” or “You’re helping our Enemies!” or some other, loud and simple and patent falsehood.

Well Bill Moyers wants you and me to know that that thing has a name… that strategy of redirecting words with other words that do nothing but confuse, anger and frustrate all logic… is called LYING, and apparently, he and many other of media professionals (and their bosses)  have had enough of it.

At the National Conference for Media Reform 2008, Bill Moyers had this beautiful, evil-crushing run-in with , one of Rupert Murdoch and Bill O’Reilly’s souless reporter-drones:

O HOW I PRAISE THEE, O TRUTH! THANK YOU BILL MOYERS, you sent the little man packing like a true gentleman. Your pity and concern for him and his plight as one of Fox News’ many truly wreckless and unworthy standards of  broadcasting really struck a blow for us all.

Back on May 15th, Chris Mathews

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-uptake/fox-ambushes-bill-moyers_b_106047.html

Take the venerable Bill Moyer, hardly

a left wing activist (unless you call PBS extreme), know for a taking I’ve seen (outside of Kieith Olberman/MSNBC and the Bill Maher HBO that is),

 

 

“And now, a word from the Coneheads…”

Well, we’re into it now, I guess.

The GOP is beating an all out retreat, searching in desperation for any and every stick, stone and harsh word they can bring to bear against their many foes (including many of their own) – mostly the political goliath that is Barack Hussein Obama.

On some silly conservative site called Human Events, Bay Buchanan (the decidedly uglier twin of the partially reforned Pat Buchanan) smeared this ugly little booger of a post back on June 4th, launching her own insignificant opening salvo of the General Election season. Let’s get to ripping:

But, let me first say that — DEAR GOD how I love the sight of the morally corrupt, conehead right-wingers digging their own graves in preparation for what should be the utter evisceration they are soon to receive at the hands of the American Electorate.

Listening to them sounds like the throngs of disenchanted, mistreated Praetorians, Senators and other abused Romans during the final, waning months under the rule of Caligula Caesar; the coffers empty, the military broken and the government’s credibility laid completely asunder in the wake the Emperor’s absolute defilement.

Here’s Pat, doing her best to polish the GOP’s smelly turd:

“…feminists [are] not going to be particularly impressed with McCain’s commitment to conservatives to appoint Scalia-like judges. (It was a commitment, wasn’t it?)”

Ya think? As with all John McBush’s “commitments”, this pledge has already been ditched in favor of better polling (which in McBush’s case means any percentage point greater than 10) that suggests that a majority of American woman insist on having at least a little a say in what happens between their thighs. Damn. Makes a guy wish for the 1950’s, when sexual abuse went by the much less threatening term of “my uncle”.

Besides, just how many Americans (let alone legal piers) really do believe (much less comfortable with) the extreme right-wing views like Antonin Scalia are representative of their own?

Apparently, not enough to keep the Straight Talk Express on the tracks.

Yeah right, John. Sure.

“…Hispanics may not vote for Obama because of the color of his skin. (Isn’t this called racism? Or is it only racism if Republicans are involved?)”

Yes, Pat–err– Bay: It’s only called “racism” if a white-skinned republican does it. Now what was your question?

“Obama may pay the price for a party built on dividing America one special interest group at a time.”

See this is where I get up, take my pants down and jam a red-stater’s nose right into the crack of my ass. Is she kidding? Why do they do that? Shoot somebody in the back and then toss you the gun. THEE party of divide and conquer slinging the “divisive” at the melting-pot party… what a stupid joke.

“Inexperience leads to mistakes — as in Obama’s remark before the Pennsylvania primary about bitter voters clinging to God and guns.”

Thanks, but don’t worry about it, Pat… ohh I–sorry–I keep doing that, don’t I.

Another worthless, McBushian talking point. I heard some sex-doll looking latina GOP-chick on MSNBC try this one last week. John McBush is a WALKING GAFFE and he’s supposedly got experience up the wazzu.

So if one or two gaffes (very true gaffes, mind you) is the price we pay for cultivating a monumentally historic and significant campaign (as compared to a monumentally goofy and completely insignificant GOP primary) — I’d say inexperience never looked so good, thank you very f*** much.

“Americans like new and fresh but if they develop serious reservations they will fall back to the default candidate rather than role the dice.”

Right. Given the choice, Americans will always choose 8-more years of economic ruin, perpetual war and fear mongering, outright lawbreaking and constitutional abuse and at least 935 distinct lies and a never-ending list of government scandals over what again? “The new guy”. You wanna bet?

“…whether it is the video of his minister trashing this country..”

Yep. Middle America has yet to see the Pastor Wright video. Shit I forgot. They just got Cable out there, huh?

“..his weak and foolish explanation for not wearing the flag pin..”

In the quaint little town people like Pat and Bay Buchanan live in, children are taught only to wear flag pins, not to actually understand and respect what’s on them. It worked for the Brownshirts, so I guess it works for the Buchanans.

“…[or] the photo of Obama’s hand at his side during the national anthem…”

FINE!!! SIEG HEIL!!!!! Happy?

“Then add that middle name: Point-Set-Match.”

Pat? You keep forgetting: You guys ain’t in charge no more! And since no one worth caring about gives a damn what you and your bigot brother have to say any longer, you won’t be able to control the election results with the mere mention of the word “HUSSEIN!” But please… be my guest: TRY IT!!!!

“By November there will be two Obamas…”

Actually, by November, John McBush will swear there’s at least three Obama’s whooping his old, cranky ass.

“It’s all up to Obama now — and a few 527s.”

WELL BRING IT, BITCH!

…the word of the d[ecade] is: SPECULATE.

spec·u·late

/ˌspɛkyəˈleɪʃən/ Pronunciation Key – Show Spelled Pronunc[spek-yuh-leyt]

5. to engage in any business transaction involving considerable risk or the chance of large gains, esp. to buy and sell commodities, stocks, etc., in the expectation of a quick or very large profit.

—Synonyms 1. think, reflect, cogitate. 2. conjecture, guess, surmise, suppose, theorize.

Ahem… now that we have that out of the way, on a day where the price of oil broke a PAIR of all-time records (record high $139/barrel and record one day SUPER-SPIKE of $10/barrel), I wanted to bring my point home…

Reading that Washington Post story early this morning concerning what is clearly developing into our newest economic crisis (the skyrocketing cost of crude oil) and the brewing likelihood of federal intervention into Crude Oil Trading — reminded me very clearly of two earlier crises this decade where consumer prices JUMPED off the scale, the government stood there doing nothing while Joe Public was raped, and we were all made to believe that the good old “free market” was to credit/blame:

1. The California Energy Crisis of 2001: Remember the brownouts? Remember us all watching helplessly as people sweltered in the heat while being forced to pay 2, 3, 4 even FIVE TIMES their normal electricity bill?

Remember one year later when Bush’s good buddies over at Enron hit the front pages for helming what was at the time the biggest cratering of an American corporation? Remember finding out that it was ENRON and their energy future trading speculators (guys paid to buy/sell kilowatts on the phone) who were actually behind all those “shortages”? Well if after the endless series of crimes, scandals you don’t happen to know what became of ENRON, it turns out, they were calling up California Power plant operators and telling them to GO OFFLINE DURING PEAK HOURS.

2. The Housing Bubble cum Crisis of 2003-07: We’re still in it, yeah, I know. But since the housing/mortgage conflagration actually set an even bigger worldwide fire last summer (the Global Credit Crisis), it’s even easier to see what happened in the rear view mirror.

The easy-money policies of the Greenspan/Bush duo (tied in part to defending the market against the Enron collapse, 9/11 and Worldcom) ushered in an era where it was no longer chic to own just ONE piece of the American Dream (a house). Instead, keeping up with the Jonses new required concerned Americans to own at least TWO pieces of that dream in order to claim they were doing their consumer duty. With the promise of short-term gains so tempting, real estate became the poor-man’s Enron — where normal, every day Americans gave themselves a much-needed promotion; advancing from the working class directly to tycoon status overnight.

This new class of speculators bet on (and invested in) in their 2nd and 3rd “homes” like 15-million robber-barrons freed from the jail space in a game of Monopoly. They hit the market running, buying up everything in sight (with aplomb and a sub-prime loan of course) in relative outskirts like Florida, Ohio, Michigan, Las Vegas, Phoenix and points farther west — each operating under the fatal but foregone conclusion that real estate would simply, automatically and irreversibly appreciate, no matter what happened to them, their jobs, their neighbors or the banks that made the whole dream (nightmare) possible.

Back in the here and now, during the next few months, we are going to hear lots about the cause(s) behind the run-up in crude:

On the right, you’re going to be subjected to the baseless rants of capitalist coneheads as they claim that about the “demand”; that China and India (but not 5-car having, SUV-driving Americans) are doing to the oil market what was done to real estate … buying too much of it and that the answer is to loose the chains of regulation, march up to Alaska (and/or beyond) and unleash the ravages of our knock down, drag out, oil addiction onto ANWAR, or the California coast, or whatever the next Middle Eastern nation is that we deem worthy of “liberation”…. anything but check into economic rehab and KICK THE HABIT.

Over on the left, you’re going to hear all sorts of theories, some wild and conspiratory, some honest and spot on (come on Barack, let ‘em have it!!): That the evils of corporate-driven foreign and domestic, right-tilted political and economic policy-making and the larger problem of the global oil market effectively being controlled by ten families, really have all somehow combined into a market effect not unlike the vast right wing conspiracy once described by a certain New York senator.

As always, the truth lies somewhere right in the middle — but even still will create an even more painful reality for everyone on the planet than the picture either of the blowhards on each side of the ideological divide want to deal with.

Professional Speculators, individuals and institutions with the deep pockets to buy up Oil 1, 2, 3 months (and beyond) in advance, are staking a claim on tomorrow’s oil — and they are doing at prices that say they believe you, me and the rest of the world have no choice but to continue squandering our retirement money, our kids’ college money — even our grocery, clothing and housing money on what they have to resell — not because we want to, but because — by way of our grudging acceptance of perpetual wars for oil, the election of an oil-services political administration and a government that we could force to serve our best interests (by investing in new technology and setting a wiser more economically sound example for American car companies, for example), but won’t — we have in fact chosen to bankrupt ourselves and run our great system onto the rocks.

Before the oil even sees the light of day, it’s been bought and sold 2-3 times. The Saudi (or Iraqi, or Russian, or Iranian or Mexican, or Texan…) receieves a sum just over the previous middleman’s offer for for every barrel, but he/she is buying by the millions so each $1 really adds up.

After a few more transactions, Exxon or Shell buys it and offers it for sale to 1-2 other speculators (who each bet on a markup) while the tanker is still crossing the Atlantic. By the time it gets here, the price we pay is equal to the cost of pumping the oil, plus the cost of every super-rich speculater that took a bet that you, me and our federal government would be willing to pay for it at the pump — even it that’s $50/gallon.

Corrupt? Yes. Destructive? for some (most). Perfectly and totally legal? Ohh yeah.

If you saw the movie Syriana (and payed attention)… you may remember the following exchange, which has a ring of both truth and irony. This will go on as long as we let it.

Finally, I’ll leave you with one, last frightening stat:

Taken together, the Airline industry will spend FOUR BILLION DOLLARS MORE FOR FUEL TODAY THAN THEY DID YESTERDAY!!! And that’s MINUS about 3,000 cancelled flights/routes.

Between this and the prospect of a black president, it’s gonna be a longggg hotttt summer.

Picking a Side in the High-Def Format War

Alright that’s it. For once, I’m with Sony on this one.

Indoctrinated on the Sony brand very early on, Dad’s purchase of that first silver, push-button 19″ Trinitron (circa 1980) was for years the driving force behind every home electronics purchasing decision I made. I still remember being the only one in my family who cared enough about those 200,000 little red, blue and green dots on my Trinitron to tell everyone in my extended family how much more special the “Sony picture” was than anything else ont the market.

By the time mom hooked me up in middle-school with my first gold Walkman, it was over. I was Sony Fo Life. Yup… me and Grandmaster Flash sold a lot of Sony for Sony that summer..

looked so much more special than — My last year and a half of school was spent using a knack for hashing program code to pay tuition and eventually a degree and a real job. Working my way through it all, I looked back and began to see a pattern: From Betamax to Looking back though

For one thing, tech blog dbtechno.com reports that
PS3 Owners are due to get bigger doses of porn on Blu-Ray in 2008 than their HD-DVD owning bretheren. And since we all know — regardless of whatever bells, whistles, features, add-ons and accessories that nice kid at BestBuy is so apt to sell us on — in the end, when it’s time to bust out the American Express and head to the checkout counter — all it’s really gonna boil down to , is how much booty will end up being available on our format of choice.

Come on, don’t fight it. While it might just be a once in a while thing, with over $20B in annual sales in the U.S. you are FAR not alone in your love-hate relationship with porn, so don’t even stress it. Besides, take heart: The Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD conflict is over and, like so many other product wars that dragged on, wasting untold billions for businesses and consumers, you can go ahead and thank the hot, steamy world of Adult Video for putting the nail in an another dead-end technology coffin.

First it killed the Adult Film… then those creepy theaters. Then Adult content kept e-commerce from dying an untimely death in the early 2000’s by giving us something else to invest in after the tech bubble burst.

Screw the sales numbers. Forget the studio titles and ignore the ever-shifting list of consumer electronics and movie studios, media and entertainment brands jockeying for position in both camps: The format war is over. Blu-Ray has the Porn and that’s all there is to it.

It’s been my contention from the start that Blu-Ray had the cooler name to begin with and that ultimately, husbands and dads the world over would just feel sexier saying “I just bought Scarface on Blu-Ray” than they would if they had to choke on HD DVD while munching on pretzels and beer.

From the start, Sony hitched their wagon to the “blue laser” and, regardless of whether consumers understand the broad home theatre implications of the 400-nanometer wavelength or not, Blu-Ray just sounds… better.

Anyway, I definitely digress.

crazy. i know it always LOOKS like Sony is up to it’s old tricks (betamax. memorystick, etc.) with the whole “proprietary” thing, but in this case, the way the story goes, the HD DVD basically got caught sleeping. HD DVD is brought to you by the same techology board that has governed the current DVD format since the early 1980’s.

It’s a pretty interesting tale in risk/reward actually…

In the 90’s, broadcast HD was taking off and you could clearly see the need to put HD on a disc — an impossible task for standard DVD given HD’s huge data requirements (4x the 1s and 0’s). The whole “HD on a disc” thing thing is made possible by one of two methods: (1) adding a second physical layer to the existing (same physical format as DVD) , “red” laser format (twice the capacity) — OR (2) using a 2nd generation, high(er) freqency, “blue” laser that is much more expensive to manufacture.

Sony’s ALWAYS looking to get into new shit anyway, so when somebody finally found a way to make a reliable “blue” laser, Sony saw a chance to do an end around the entire industry and lock up the potential billions that would come from licensing the new techology for discs, players, logos, etc. (currently nobody pays royalties to Philips for the “dvd” format they practically developed on their own 25-years ago).

So Sony hooks up with the inventor of the “blue” laser, forms their own industry group and then spends the next few years trying to prove it can work. Meanwhile, the old DVD establishment (chaired by Toshiba) took the cheap way out by going the “dual-layer” route. They pioloted it with the same “red” laser technology as before, but beefed it up with an improved, higher capacity substrate (where the data goes) and a second one right underneath it (dual layer) .

Naturally, the studios preferred the this method. It meant they could play it safe with the “existing” DVD establisment, avoid dumping hundreds of millions into new disc manuacturing equipment — and — most importantly — allow them to market new technology to consumers (and charge us for it) without discs only to double back, rename themselves and go with the blue (higher wavelength = more data throughput). Somewhere in the middle of development (2003-5), Toshiba scraps “dual layer”, doubles back and starts over with “blue” laser technology (after Sony had already proven/perfected it). The dual-layer “advance” was going to end up meaning the same thing for Studios and consumers (new hardware) and so, much to the Establishment’s “embarassment”, they went “blue”.

This was basically when Sony won. The main part of the argument (how to read the discs) was already settled; now all they had to do to capitalize was get the players out there.

So on one side, you have Sony (the main actor in a cast that includes Apple, Dell, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, LG, Sharp and Sun, and others known as the “Blue Ray Disc Association” et. al) taking on all the risk (initially, before they started winning) of a new technology bet vs. Toshiba (whose seat on the long established DVD Forum included basically everyone else like Hitachi, Mitsubshi

But they brought in Microsoft and Intel to throw their weight behind their effort.

The Justice Department even tried averting the format-war, but by the time HP came in threatening to join forces with the HDDVD people