The Futurist by James P. Othmer has been named the top novel of 2006 by Amazon.com. We loved the book, so we invited Mr. Othmer on the show to discuss this wicked satire of American business and culture.
Here is what the critics had to say about The Futurist,
�??A frighteningly accurate send-up of modern corporate culture.’�??
�??Fortune magazine�??The Futurist is at turns glib, trenchant, cynical, heartfelt, daffy, and harrowing�??often on the same page.�?� �??Entertainment Weekly
�??This intelligent, wise-cracking debut satire takes a hard look at what�??s cool, what�??s not and what people are willing to buy into morally, emotionally and culturally�?�Othmer leaves us with a taste of fear in our mouths even as we�??re laughing at Yates�?? ridiculous life.�?� �??USA Today
An indication of what a great writer James is, he was invited by the New York Times to write a column for the September 11 edition, and he gave us a preview of that as well.
This is also available as a download at iTunes, just search Pundit Review Radio Podcast.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Hailed as �??Groundbreaking�?� by Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Boston�?? Talk Leader.
New York Times
September 2, 2006
Opium Harvest at Record Level in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 2 �?? Afghanistan�??s opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels ever recorded, showing an increase of almost 50 percent from last year, the executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said Saturday in Kabul.
The new media blogosphere often provides a glimpse into tomorrow’s news today. This story is the latest example. Back in April, milblogger and citizen journalist extraordinaire Michael Yon wrote about Afghanistan’s record opium crop on his blog,,
There�??s lots of money in the addiction-business, and opium injects more liquidity into Afghanistan than all those 85 other products combined. Afghanistan is the Opium Poppy King, producing nearly all of the world�??s supply. Continuing the trend of the past several years, the 2006 crop is believed to be the largest in the history of the world. This, I am told, is closely related to the coincident rising tide of violence in this country…
…As the Beechcraft drops lower, the poppy fields become more obvious, the farmers sowing it brazenly practically right next to the air strip. Farmers do not like uncertainty, and the fact that it is impossible NOT to see huge swaths of poppy fields next to major roads, and next to the airfield, makes it clear that economically, the enemy is growing here at the speed of Papaver somniferum.
On August 13, we had the pleasure of speaking once again with Michael on Pundit Review Radio. He was invited back to give us his grim assessment of the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is why Michael is a such a beloved member of the new media. He goes to where the action is and provides an honest assessment, the good, the bad and the ugly. He discussed at length his negative outlook for Afghanistan and why that was based largely on the record opium crop that he had seen throughout the country during his recent travels.
You can listen to that interview by clicking here.
Stay one step ahead via the blogosphere.
One hopes after the latest IRS data just released (ealry to the Wall St. Journal subs req- the official report will be out Tuesday online) that we can all move on with regard to the efficacy of the 2003 Bush Supply Side Tax Cuts. Those on the redistributionist left claimed they would “destroy the economy,” “blow a hole in the deficit,” and that the “jobless recovery” was the worst since “Herbert Hoover.”
They left-class warriors like Kerry and Pelossi were proven wrong on every account, and not one intellectually honest liberal who opposed the very tax cuts that have benefited their contituents and themselves the most (i.e. Warren Bufett who greatly beniefited himself and his shareholders as a direct result of the cut in dividends and cap gains to 15%) has acknowledged this fact.
Now, just in time for the November mid-terms they are ignoring all this and attempting to re-frame the debate by now claiming, that regardless of the nearly 4% GDP growth over the past 3 years since the tax cuts went into effect, the $13 trillion increase in asset values over the past 36 months, and the jobless rate of 4.7%, that “yes the economy is doing well but but only for the rich.”
This assertion like the others are false. Here are the facts.
The poor are paying less income taxes under Bush than they did under Clinton:
First, the new data show that the bottom 50% of Americans in income — U.S. households with an income below the median of $44,389 — paid a smaller share of total income taxes in 2004 (3.3%) than in Bill Clinton’s last year in office (3.9%). That 3.3% is the lowest share of total income taxes paid by the bottom half of earners in at least 30 years, and probably ever. The majority of American families with an income below $40,000 pay no income tax at all today, and many of them also get a welfare subsidy from the Earned Income Tax Credit that effectively offsets much of what they pay in payroll taxes.
The Bush tax cuts have been highly “progressive” as we have said all along.
But the top 5% and 10% of earners saw an increase in their tax share over that same period, with the top 5%’s share rising to 57.1% in 2004 from 56.5% in 2000.
What about the top 1% you ask?
Between 2002 and 2004, the income tax share of the top 0.1% of earners rose to 17.4% from 15.4%. A reasonable conclusion is that much of this increase reflects tax payments on capital gains and dividends — which have soared by an astounding 79% and 35%, respectively, since the rate cuts.
For those like Gene Sperling- ex-Clinton economic advisor- who claim that the Bush Years have produced a “disappointing decade on inequality” unlike the “shared prosperity” of the Clinton years:
During the Clinton Presidency, the share of total income earned by the richest 1% increased to a post-World War II high of 20.8% in 2000, from 13.8% in 1993. By contrast, in the first four years of the Bush Presidency, the income share of the top 1% fell slightly to 19.0% from 20.8%.
Funny, I don’t remember seeing too many front page stories in the NY Times or any other major media pubication about the “inequality” of the “roaring 90s” but something tells me that’s all we will be hearing up until the Nov elections. When you don’t have the facts on your side, all you can do is lie and make it up as you go along.
This type of class warfare is unnecessarily divisive during a time in our nation’s history when we should be totally united in defeating the global Jihadists. But what else would you expect from people so despearate to reaquire political power that they would put politics over national security.
Is it just me, or this constant leftist criticism and sniping getting old for anybody else?
Pundit Review Radio
Sunday, 7-10pm EST
Streaming Live at WRKO
We are realy looking forward to book night on Pundit Review Radio this Sunday evening. We will be speaking to three different authors about three very different books.
7pm: James P. Othmer, author of The Futurist, named by Amazon as the best novel of 2006, so far. It is a great novel and social satire. We both loved the book and invited James to be on with us. He is a Boston guy, former Globe reporter, and Creative Director at Young & Rubicam, a major ad agency. James will be with us in studio.
So who is Yates, the Futurist?
“He once spoke before the graduates of a Bible college in Virginia about the future of God and one week later delivered the keynote address to the Adult Video Distributors Conference in Vegas about the future of porn, and received standing ovations at both.”
What are they saying about The Futurist?
“(An) acerbically funny book, clearly written by a refugee from corporate culture…Mr. Othmer’s voices echoes other, well-established ones: Max Barry’s for outrageously deft business satire, Christopher Buckly’s for geopolitcal comedy of errors, Bruce Wagner’s for free-floating malice…an impressive foray into satirical fiction.”
–Janet Maslin, The New York Times“A frighteningly accurate send-up of modern corporate culture.”
—Fortune magazine“The Futurist is at turns glib, trenchant, cynical, heartfelt, daffy, and harrowing–often on the same page.” —Entertainment Weekly
“This intelligent, wise-cracking debut satire takes a hard look at what’s cool, what’s not and what people are willing to buy into morally, emotionally and culturally…Othmer leaves us with a taste of fear in our mouths even as we’re laughing at Yates’ ridiculous life.” —USA Today
“A Candide-like tale where…Othmer skewers media-driven policymaking, as well as celebrity pundits such as Faith Popcorn, out-of-touch billionaires and business opportunities in the Middle East.” —The Wall Street Journal
8pm: Pat Buchanan will be on to discuss the #1 book in the country, State of Emergency: The Third World Invasion and Conquest of America
9 pm: Matt from Blackfive will be with us for another edition of Someone You Should Know.
For the remainder of the hour we will be discussing his must read new book The Blogs of War: Front line dispatchs from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Booklists’s Review,
Vietnam has often been called the “first television war.” In a similar way, the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan might be viewed as the “first Internet war.” That is, for the first time, Internet bloggers are having a significant impact in shaping the public perception of the planning and conduct of an ongoing war. Many of those bloggers are pundits or pseudopundits who have never been in harm’s way. But Burden, a veteran who has served with Special Operations and intelligence units, provides a glimpse into a new form of war literature, the military blog. Previously, war letters, diaries, and memoirs were published long after the actual experience of the writers. Burden, a blogger himself, has selected observations of ordinary men and women written and sent in real time as they endure the cauldron of war. Some of the writings are mundane, but there are also chilling descriptions of surviving a mortar attack and attempting to save the life of a severely wounded Iraqi. This collection is an excellent introduction to an emerging form of war reporting.
What is Pundit Review Radio?
Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week Kevin and Gregg give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Hailed as â??Groundbreakingâ?Âby Talkers Magazine, this unique show brings the best of the blogs to your radio every Sunday evening from 7-10pm EST on AM680 WRKO, Bostonâ?? Talk Leader.
The Belgian authorities have destroyed archives and records relating to the persecution and deportation of Jews in Belgium in the 1930s and 1940s. Some of this happened as recently as the late 1990s. This was revealed during hearings in the Belgian Senate last Spring. Though the Senate report dates from 4 May the Belgian press has not yet mentioned the affair. The Senate report says that â??documents about the period 1930-1950 have been destroyed on a massive scale.â?Â
The systematic destructions of the records of police and judiciary from the 1930s and â??40s happened chiefly in Brussels and Wallonia, the French-speaking south of Belgium. The Senate report states that in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking north of the country, archives have been saved thanks to conscientious archivists. â??This policy â?? of having competent archivists manage dead archives â?? contrasts with the disastrous situation at the offices of the public prosecutors in Brussels and Wallonia.â?Â
Entire Article here.
HT Janet Levy Jihadwatch
Washington Post Editorial
End of an Affair
It turns out that the person who exposed CIA agent Valerie Plame was not out to punish her husband
…It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House — that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame’s identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson — is untrue. The partisan clamor that followed the raising of that allegation by Mr. Wilson in the summer of 2003 led to the appointment of a special prosecutor, a costly and prolonged investigation, and the indictment of Vice President Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, on charges of perjury. All of that might have been avoided had Mr. Armitage’s identity been known three years ago….
…Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame’s CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming — falsely, as it turned out — that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush’s closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It’s unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.
The full editorial is here.
Those who suffer from Bush Derangement Syndrome will still regard Joe Wilson as a courageous truth teller. They will still claim that the 16 words were false. They cannot be convinced otherwise, which is exactly why they cannot be trusted, believed or respected.
UPDATE: In my never ending drive to be fair and balanced, here is Media Matters take (HT: DougH)
UPDATE 2: Here is DougH’s take,
Bottom lineâ??and this is in the Post editorial if you look closelyâ??Rove and Libby were involved, and it was still wrong
Bottom bottom lineâ??Even people on the left agree that Wilson was out of lineâ??the whole Plame mess is something the administration brought on itselfâ??unnecessarily. They could have attacked Wilsonâ??s claims on there own merits or lack thereof. This is the same sort of thinking that created more opposition to the Iraq warâ??making up not-fully-baked rationales (premature judgment on WMD, tenuous 9/11 connections that insulted the intelligence of the voting public) when they just could have said â??weâ??re going in because we shouldâ?– than they otherwise might have encountered.
Yay for the Post for turning on Wilson hereâ??but a victory dance by the White House would look Plame (I mean plain) dumb.
The mystery senator who was holding up a porkbusting bill has been identified. This is a great moment for the blogosphere. Here’s the inside the beltway pub Hotline, via Instapundit,
(Ted) Stevens’ admission “offered a glimpse into the increasing role that online pundits play in U.S. policymaking.” It came a day after Senate Maj. Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) “posted a Web entry asking colleagues to cooperate with bloggers who were trying to identify who was using the legislative maneuver to stall a vote.”
Yes, that is the same Ted Stevens that wanted to build a $233 million bridge to nowhere. So who besides Republican Sen. Ted Stevens have entered the Porkbusters Hall of Shame? Click here to find out.
Congratulations to all the bloggers who organized this effort and helped identify the mystery senators.
UPDATE: Chicago Tribune: Busted By Bloggers
When the porkbusters learned about the so-called “secret hold,” they issued a call for bloggers to contact their own senators and demand to know: Are you the anonymous blocker? Readers at TPMmuckraker.com and GOPprogress.com joined in, and within days they had denials from 97 senators.
That’s when Stevens decided to `fess up. The bloggers still weren’t satisfied.
By Thursday, Byrd was the only senator who continued to duck the question. Noting that Byrd’s “penchant for pork would probably win him the Pork Crown if he weren’t saddled with minority status,” TPMmuckraker pressed for an answer. By midafternoon, Byrd had admitted he placed a hold on the bill–and said he has now released it.
When they were caught, Stevens and Byrd offered lots of blather about why they were preventing taxpayers from finding out how their money is spent….
…It’s a good day for taxpayers and the bloggers who got to the truth. And a bad day for secrecy in the U.S. Senate.