No, Debt Ceiling Standoffs Aren't Unprecedented

"You have never in the history of the United States seen the threat of not raising the debt ceiling to extort a president or a governing party." -- President Barack Obama, Sept. 18, at the Business Roundtable

Obama's statement is sorta like saying fish are always found in the water -- it's mostly true and helpful without being literally true. (Some fish live most of their lives on the land.)

In this case, the problem with Obama's statement is a past Congress has demanded concessions from a past president--and the president gave in. A little bit.

It gets lost a bit in the shadow of the much more serious budget showdown of '95, but there was also a debt ceiling showdown in '96. You had the same ingredients--blustery ultimatums and calls for drastic government cuts.

But ultimately, the Republicans were bought pretty cheap. In March of 1996 a debt ceiling hike was passed, which included two items from the Contract for America, including the Congressional Review Act, which made it a tad easier for Congress to strike down executive branch regulations. (You can read more about this here.)

You could argue that the latter part was just some window dressing to make the Republicans' capitulation, after their threats, taste better going down.

All the Unhappy Bat-Families

It wasn't because she was gay that Batwoman was denied matrimonial bliss, DC Comics co-publisher Dan Didio said on Saturday. It's because DC is against weddings. Or, specifically, Bat-weddings.

For those unfamiliar with the recent controversy, two writers for the Eisner-nominated Batwoman monthly series, J.H. Williams and W. Haden Blackman, recently quit in protest of what they claimed was constant last-minute meddling by DC Comics editors. Among the list of complaints--they were not allowed to show Batwoman, aka Kate Kane, actually marry her lesbian partner, (to whom she already was engaged to, in the issue "Batwoman #17"). This news spiraled into a controversy for DC--already reeling from the recent Orson Scott Card fiasco--and led to heated denunciations and, according to Williams, threats of violence towards specific DC publishers.

Speaking at a panel at the Baltimore Comic-Con to a few hundred DC fans Saturday morning, DiDio strongly denied that their decisions had anything to do with Kane's sexuality. Rather, it had to do with their philosophy about the nature of characters with the prefix "Bat." Since 2011's New 52 reboot, DC has maintained that characters in the Batfamily--(Batman, Batgirl, Batwoman, Batwing, Nightwing, etc.)--do not have "happy personal lives," DiDio said.

"They put on a cape and a cowl for a reason," he said. "They're committed to defending others, at the sacrifice of all their own personal instincts."

2013 Fantasy Football Team #2

QB: Cam Newton
WR: Calvin Johnson
WR: Victor Cruz
RB: Jamaal Charles
RB: Darren McFadden
W/R: James Jones
TE: Tony Gonzalez
K: Justin Tucker
D/ST: Denver
BN: Michael Vick
BN: Rashard Mendenhall
BN: Lance Moore
BN: Kenny Britt
BN: Bryce Brown
BN: Vick Ballard

11 Pics Of Batman Reacting To The News About #Baffleck

When Warner Brothers announced on August 22 that Ben Affleck -- the actor/director best known for playing jovial Boston brahs, lame Marvel action heroes and gangsters who inhabit the worst movie of all time -- would play Batman in 2015, the reaction on Twitter was immediate and furious.

But the ferocity of the Twitter-storm was nothing compared to the reaction of the Caped Crusader himself when he got the news.

We visited some of the DC's 52 universes and caught a few pics of the Dark Knight as he absorbed the news....

Can Batman Be Black?

After Warner Brother's maddening decision last Thursday to cast Ben Affleck as Batman in the upcoming Batman/Superman flick, movie critic Matt Zoller Seitz jokingly mentioned Idris Elba as the ideal choice.

Some quick Googling showed that not all Elba-as-Batman fans aren't joking. They've taken to editorials, Buzzfeed, and Facebook to push the statuesque and intense British (and black) actor as an ideal Caped Crusader choice. Elba, best known as the enterprising drug dealer Stringer Bell in "The Wire," has become a staple of Hollywood summer flicks, including this year's "Pacific Rim" and last year's "Prometheus." (He's likely to be in the Oscar discussion later this year for playing Nelson Mandela in "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.")

But that raises the issue--can you have a black Batman? This is something that pops up in superhero entertainment every couple of years. In fact, Elba himself has been at the center of it before, when he played a Norse god in "Thor." And the Fantastic Four reboot has generated some controversy with reports that Michael B. Jordan, a black actor, will play Johnny Storm.

My 2013 Fantasy Football Team #1

QB Colin Kaepernick
RB Arian Foster
RB LeSean McCoy
FLEX DeMarco Murray
WR Roddy White
WR Marques Colston
TE Tony Gonzalez
D/ST Bears
K Justin Tucker
BE Miles Austin
BE Ben Roethlisberger
BE Denarius Moore
BE Le'Veon Bell
BE Isaac Redman
BE Chris Givens

Some Spoiler-Riddled Thoughts On "Star Trek Into Darkness"

"Star Trek Into Darkness" is fun. It's a muscular, rousing piece of summer entertainment of the sort that J.J. Abrams has mastered.

I find it almost impossible to say more without spoiling the myriad of plot surprises built into its plot. Others apparently aren't having this difficulty, so feel free to read them if you're spoiler-phobic.

Believe me, this movie has surprises.

So seriously, if you don't want to have your surprises stolen, stop reading. I'm not talking about a spoiler here or a spoiler there. I'm going to spoil the whole darn thing, right till the end. Might as well go whole hog here.

This is your last chance.