DanKohn.com

Nice meditation by lead Times reviewer AO Scott on what’s special about the movies: “The movies offer visions of a better world even as they are symptoms of everything wrong with this one. As such, moviegoing is perhaps still, in spite of the competing claims of newer media, the exemplary modern cultural activity.”

It cracks me up that Grey Davis’s campaign commercial, to show that California is doing well, points out that California has gone from the 7th to 5th largest economy. This is a hilariously impressive claim for a state campaign commercial. It also looks like we’ll pass the UK this year.

Is invading Iraq about pre-emptively destroying weapons of mass destruction (WMD)? Maureen Dowd has an alternative view: it’s about “turning Iraq into a model democracy/gas pump”. Great turn of phrase. Personally, I think it’s about all three, but I support it for the WMD and democracy reasons.

Bill Keller shows more vitriol than is common even by op-ed column standards. Congress really is as bad as he says, but then every democracy gets the government it deserves.

The NYT editorial page gets snarky:

A correction is in order here. Last week we mistakenly wrote that William Webster lacked any relevant experience to serve as chairman of the new oversight board for the accounting profession. It turns out that Judge Webster has some very relevant experience, but of the kind that should have automatically disqualified him from being considered for the post, to which he was appointed last Friday.

John Biggs of Vanguard has a rightly-deserved superb reputation, and obviously deserves the job, which is all about restoring investor confidence in auditing standards. The NYT concludes and I agree: “As for Mr. Pitt, there appears to be no bottom to the hole he keeps digging for himself and the S.E.C.”