Greg Mitchell's Blog, page 204

That 'Turning Point' TV Moment

NYT with an interesting piece today on a key moment in TV history--you may find this hard to believe--which simply involved an alleged mix-up of babies on the popular Dick Van Dyke show.  I probably watched it at the time.   It featured a good gag--Dick and wife Mary Tyler Moore think they may have come home from the hospital with the wrong baby, but when the possible other couple shows up at their door, they are....black.  You'll need to read the story to make sense of this probably.  But here's the clip below--the other couple arrive just after the six minute mark.

Iran's Leader on the 'Holocaust'

The day after his UN appearance, he calls the Holocaust clearly a 'crime,' in CNN interview, and also sends greetings to Americans.   But does not back off view on Israel policy vs. Palestinians.

Asked in the CNN interview about his view of the Holocaust, Mr. Rouhani said, “Any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews, is reprehensible and condemnable.

“Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews, we condemn,” he said. “The taking of human life is contemptible. It makes no difference whether that life is Jewish life, Christian or Muslim. For us it is the same.”

At the same time, Mr. Rouhani also condemned the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, without referring to Israel by name. Repudiating crimes like the Holocaust, he said, “does not mean that on the other hand you can say Nazis committed crimes against a group, now, therefore, they must usurp the land of another group and occupy it.”

Plame Speaking on Female Spies

Our favorite former (outed) CIA analyst, Valerie Plame, reviews for the Wash Post in a slide show plus captions ten portrayals of female CIA types from Claire Danes to Halle Berry to Naomi Watts (as Plame).  So who gets the "reality" prize? Hint:  As I'd guess, Zero Dark Thirty gets the booby prize, so to speak.

'After Tiller'

Name of new must-see documentary on the handful of physicians still doing late-term abortions and death threats.

For Ted Cruz

Van Morrison and Rogers Waters, "Comfortably Numb"--your lips move, but can't hear what you're saying....

Bono Does Bill

He rolls out a swell Bill Clinton imitation and Bill responds (but not by singing "The Real Thing").

Hey, Babe, Take A Wal(K) on the Wild Side

If you're a baseball fan, you may remember the publicity around the recent discovery of a few seconds of new (old) home movie footage of Babe Ruth in his prime at Yankee Stadium, striking out.  Also, a glimpse of Lou Gehrig.  Coverage noted the efforts by archivists, and Keith Olbermann, to  pin down when it was shot.  Now the NYT just reported that the code has been cracked.  See their write-up and video here.  It has link to the blog of guy who cracked the code. The date:  September 9, 1928.  Other Babe footage follows.  See part of my baseball card collection from that era here.

Train in Vain?

The great Amy Davidson with piece at The New Yorker on what she sees as The Coming Hillary for President Train Wreck.  A strong warning from a smartie who says she'd really like a woman president but Hillary's "debts" may come back to haunt her.  And people forget--she lost to a longshot in 2008, why should it be different this year?

Koch Fueled

That "Creepy Uncle Sam" anti-Obamacare commercial funded by Koch Brothers with a different message:

Meet the 'Goldberg'

Ace pianist Jeremy Denk, who I interviewed for my Beethoven book (he has since become a semi-regular New Yorker writer), coming out with his much-awaited take on Bach's Goldberg Variations,  and has already written well and wittily about.  How read more and listen to much of it at NPR site.