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It is easy to make fun of the French and their pompous pretense to the grandeur they shed a half-century ago when their loss of honor under Vichy, and then their loss of empire, relegated them to the rank of second-class power. But the fun is over.

Tracking Trends Great & Small: You, yes you, you are worthy of Box Office Record
This is just a small rant, but it always annoys me. I've read in several places comments about Man From Cold River 2 breaking box office records. (This isn't a comment on the movie which I haven't seen yet although I intend to). This is a comment on economic ignorance or in some cases just laziness. We constantly hear of movies breaking box office records or record breaking gas prices or some other such, but the figures quoted are almost always unadjusted for inflation.
• Economic Ignorance [Dymock's 'Top Ten' bestsellers list: I did not have relations with John!]
• · Election seasons flood the airwaves with cold minded ads: Why are campaign commercials so bad? [Do pundits care that all candidates are millionaires? Americans have a choice in November — they can vote for millionaires John Kerry and John Edwards, or cast their ballot for millionaires George W. Bush and Dick Cheney ] ((Swing Party of Punters The swing vote isn't just a story, it's a fun house, a riddle, with no penalty for guessing wrong))
• · · See Also Ivory Project: Advertising Soap in America 1838-1998 ((The Limits of Media Dream Machines...))
• · · · See Also Deering Literary Agency: A genteel racket for Great Rejected Masses
• · · · · See Also Decline of Australian relative power ((Homes boom widens the wealth divide))
• · · · · · See Also Fascists hate homosexuality, but many fascists are gay. Scratch the homophobic surface and there’s a spandex swastika underneath