Monkeysuits and Manners.

The guys over at Instapunk have an interesting post concerning the recent White House Correspondents' Association dinner.

Since class warfare has been initiated, I'm prepared to defend the unpopular position of, well, class. Since it's been entirely forgotten by all sides. Just not by me.It interests me that conservatives are struggling with why they were offended by the White House Correspondents Dinner last night. On the one hand, they know they were offended by Wanda Sykes's monologue and by the fact that Obama laughed at it. On the other, they think they're trying to be fair, trying to put it into perspective, not getting all bent out of shape by it because Ann Coulter is mean too, etc. Oh, and yeah, they're above it all somehow. Or just plain tone-deaf. Which?

It is an interesting read, and at the end, they note something about GWB that I knew all along.

So just who is threatening you, Congressman?

Back at his home, Emanuel appeared "beet-red," according to an ABC News cameraman who was invited inside by Emanuel to use his bathroom this morning.

"I'm getting regular death threats. You've put my home address on national television. I'm pissed at the networks. You've intruded too much, " Emanuel said, according to the cameraman.

I'm thinking that cameraman is going to need a porta-john from now on, though.

This looks pretty bad. Of course, if the congressman would quit farking lying through his teeth, maybe the reporters would farking go away.

But maybe not. Jeez, and I thought it was going to take till the summer for Obama's administration to screw up.

Dude, there are sharks circling, and you are the crew of the Indianapolis. And you farking did it to yourself, you silly retread.

You just had to lie about it.

You. Just. Had. To.

Tell 'em, Ed.

Happy Birthday, USA.

Bob Krumm has a report of 1,215 soldiers reenlisting this day in Iraq.

This country is lucky to have such citizens. They make it possible that, as Washington wrote to Moses Seixas, "...everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid."

Enjoy the day, yourselves, your family and your country. Have a fig. And remember.

Thanks, Chuck.

Requiescat in pace.

Reading Faces.

Virginia Postrel has a post on the 1930's photogragher-to-the-stars George Hurrel.

Postrel says:

...Not even the most gifted photographer can create charisma with only lights and a retouching pencil. Hurrell didn’t invent Joan Crawford’s drive or Jean Harlow’s sexuality. Rather, he encouraged the stars to reveal their innerselves to his lens. Then he intensified their defining qualities, while creating mystery with light and shadow.

True enough for clearly defined personas as Crawford and Harlow (though, as the article goes on to explain, less so for Garbo). But I'm skeptical at how reliably something as genetically determined as facial appearance can reveal character. Maybe we want to believe we can see character in a good portrait, because that would suggest we can accurately judge character from the faces we see every day.

Still, there's something to seeing a person's character in their face, I think.

Just take a look at a mug shot sometime.

This article also made me remember something I stumbled across, here. Yes, Kim, that last photo does show just that.

More of Hurrell's photo's can be seen (and even bought!) here. Check out Norma. Whoa.