The New Agency

COMO LA CIGARRA

THE RETURN

Luke 15: 20-24

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.

THE (RE)RETURN

Loyal readers know that we exist primarily to precipate The Coming Societal Transformation.  In the last few years, The New Agency suffered terrible setbacks.  Our enemies got to us, and we fell apart.  It has been a dark time for the New Agents.  But we never ceased believing in the coming transformation of society.  We have returned and we begin anew in our struggle against the forces of human emancipation. 

THE RETURN

Luke 15: 20-24

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. 

The Oscars

Finally, the wait is over.  In less than 24 hours, the 81st Annual Academy Awards ceremony will take place and we will find out who actually won.  Behold, our predictions:

Best Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire”

Actor: Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler” 
Actress: Kate Winslet, “The Reader” 
Supporting Actor:  Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Supporting Actress: Viola Davis, “Doubt”
Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Animated Feature: “WALL-E” 
Adapted Screenplay: “Slumdog Millionaire,” screenplay by Simon Beaufoy 
Original screenplay: “WALL-E,” screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon; original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter 
Art Direction: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Donald Graham Burt; set decoration: Victor J. Zolfo
Cinematography: “Slumdog Millionaire,” Anthony Dod Mantle 
Costume Design: “The Duchess,” Michael O’Connor
Documentary Feature: “Man on Wire”
Documentary Short:“The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306″ 
Film Editing: “Slumdog Millionaire,” Chris Dickens 
Foreign Language Film: “Waltz with Bashir,” Israel 
Makeup: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Greg Cannom
Original Score: “Slumdog Millionaire,” A.R. Rahman
Original Song: “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire,” music by A.R. Rahman, lyrics by Gulzar
Animated Short: “Presto”
Live-action Short: “Spielzeugland” 
Sound Editing: “The Dark Knight,” Richard King
Sound Mixing: “The Dark Knight,” Lora Hirschberg, Gary Rizzo and Ed Novick
Visual Effects: “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron

THE RISE OF SPAIN

Rafa Nadal defeated Roger Federer at Wimbeldon on Sunday.  Federer had won the previous five Wimbeldons, this was Nadal's first win at Centre Court and his fifth career grand slam. We didn't watch the match, but we hear it was an instant classic (and hella long, too). Is this the beginning of the end of the once seemingly invincible Federer? Or is Nadal's win part of a larger trend of winning for Spanish players/teams? The Spanish National Footbal team won the European Cup a month ago. Is this a sign of things to come at the Olympics? What does it all mean? Who knows, but it was nice to see Nadal finally win at Wimbeldon.  With his win at the French Open earlier this year (also by defeating Federer) he is most certainly the favorite to win the US Open.  This could the beginning of a Nadal Era in men's tennis.

INDEPENDENCE

The New Agency wishes you all a Merry Day of Independence Action!  Yay!  God Bless America.  Yes, we have been absent from our bloggin' duties, but we need not remind you that New Agents always have a higher calling: to find the Pyrotechnic Tiger, the harbinger of universal change.  Not to worry, we're back.  As the New Agents are obsessed with all things historical, we bring you some facts about the this most hallowed day of grilling, parades, shimmering fire in the sky and loud booms (from Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge):

• The "Fourth of July" celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress, which announced that the thirteen American colonies were no longer part of the Kingdom of Great Britian. 
• The Continental Congress actually declared independence on July 2, 1776.  On July 4 it adopted the document which formalized this announcement, which is now the Declaration of Independence.
• The Declaration of Independence was not signed by Congress until August 2, 1776.
• During the 4th of July, Americans will consume 155 million wieners!

WE FORGIVE SPITZER, RESIGNATION NOT NECESSARY

As of 1:30pm EST, the NY Times was reporting that aides to New York Governor Eliot Spitzer expect him to resign from office after he was linked to a prostitution ring.  Spitzer appeared on television yesterday to apologize for his actions (see video below).  From his statement:

“I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and violates my, or any, sense of right and wrong,” the governor said. “I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better.”

We don't know about the rest of you, but that's good enough for us.  A quick look at his career demonstrates his commitment to go after big-business. He didn't get the nickname "Sheriff of Wall Street" for nothing.  He's too valuable to lose. The man apologized and instead of the usual persecution of such an individual, we say let's forgive and move on.  To quote Alan Paton: “When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive.” 

WE RESCIND OUR ENDORSEMENT (Updated)

We officially rescind our endorsement of Barack Hussein Obama for president of the United States.  We now realize we acted in haste.  While our friends over at MuchoPolitico made some sound arguments in favor of Obama,  we need more time to examine his stand on the issues.  One of the most important to us is ending the Iraqi Occupation.  The following article on Znet (by Paul Street) questions the idea that Obama is, or even has been, truly anti-war.  As the article points out, he continues to refer to the US as a "nation at war."  This is problematic for two reasons. First:

Americans are not dodging IEDs, artillery shells, cluster bombs or even suicide bombers on the way to and from American workplaces, schools, shopping malls, and homes. They are not under attack from other nations’ “foreign fighters.” Where’s the war? The United States is engaged in one-sided imperial violence – a monumentally illegal and immoral war of colonial aggression waged against a weak and impoverished nation many thousands of miles away.

Second, "The... phrase ...sustains the militarization of  US politics."   The focus becomes on who can be the better "commander-in-chief"  rather than the better president.  This blog post further complicates the notion of Obama as anti-war.  On his  website, Obama says he has had a consistent record against the war and yet:

"Obama has repeatedly voted to spend billions on the invasion since his arrival in the U.S. Senate. He has inveighed against the antiwar “Tom Hayden wing of the Democratic Party” and has told congressional Democrats they would be “playing chicken with the troops” if they dared to actually (imagine) de-fund the Cheney-Bush “war.”

We are not planning on endorsing  Hillary Clinton,  or any  other  candidate at this time.  We will take our time and  make sure that when, and if, we next endorse a candidate we have  done our homework.  Our apologies for any inconvenience.

UPDATE:  Check out The Progressive's "Ten Reaons Obama Slipped."

CLINTON, NOT FAVRE, SHOULD QUIT

We had hoped we would be reading about Hillary Clinton withdrawing from the presidential race this morning.  Instead of losing Texas and Ohio to Barack Obama, she won these big states.  And to top it all off,  The Great Brett Favre is retiring from professional football.  The world is all wrong today!

John Harwood, over at the NY Times, provides a concise analysis of last night's results here.  His verdict: Clinton proved resiliant, but Obama remains the favorite.  Which all means the fight for the nomination continues.  Also, check out MuchoPolitico for an on-the-ground report from a Texas caucus.

How did Obama lose in Texas and Ohio?  Our West Coast political analyst, Elijawon, sets out Obama's mistakes below:

1. Most importantly, (the Obama campaign should have nipped the Canada-NAFTA thing in the bud. Instead of denying that there was ever a meeting and not 
letting Goolsbee talk to the press for a day or two, they should have 
immediately said that they had met but that the content of the meeting 
had been misrepresented.
2. Same thing with Rezko: as soon as the campaign said 'all these questions still need to be answered,'  just answer them all. Put it to rest..
3.  Instead of making a clever  red phone response ad, (Obama) should have pressed her fear mongering much harder.
4. Only after losing last night did he finally start pointing out that she and mccain are echoing each other.  Obama should have been pointing out that she's 
basically campaigning for McCain all along, and he should have been directly 
attacking the claim that more years in Washington equals more qualified with something like "if that's the case, then we should all just vote for McCain. Of course that's not the case. More years in Washington does not equal more qualified, it means more corporate and lobby ties, more cronyism, more resistance to change, more of the same."

And finally, check out this brief homage to The Greatest Quarterback in the History of Football, Brett Favre.  What a sad day.  Viva Favre!