End of the World

End of the world movies have always mesmerized the viewing audience - especially in the United States.  I am not sure whether people in Tibet watch films or care if the world ends.  In some cultures, perhaps they await the end the way some sixteen year old boys await the last day of their being a virgin.  In the United States, end of the world films are resilient - facing the test of time and financial support by viewing audiences.

Yet so often the end is merely a new beginning (2012).  Planet of the Apes is great, except the end is merely the beginning which ends where it began and begins again with humans in charge followed by Apes - a singularly circular life we cannot escape.  I am Legend - a great film, except life does exist outside the walls of New York or whatever the city.  Smith doesn't know, but eventually learns of the colony in the upstate area (in one version of the film) - again, not the end, a new beginning, with far less traffic.

Dawn of the Dead - in some ways similar to the end of I am Legend - thinking, evolving zombies ... a new beginning?  In any case, there are scores of humans alive around the world and we meet them in various other films.  Enough to repopulate at some point - a new beginning, even while you must kill off the zombies or at least await their demise from lack of brain food.

Armageddon, Deep Impact, Core - all start off as end of the world events and we are saved by heroic deeds and man continues.

Day after Tomorrow or Day After - life continues, minus 200-300 million people at most.  Earth manages fine.

Independence Day and Battle LA, Skyline, Cloverfield - potentially devastating, but the Marines will win the day and capture or kill whatever it is.  We win in each, even if 100-300 million die, mankind continues.

12 Monkeys - idiotic.

Terminator:  Requires man to survive for the film to exist.

However, there are a few films that really do take us where we fear to tread - the End of the World.


Knowing !!!  1 of 5

On the Beach !!!  2 of 5

Seventh Sign !!!   3 of 5

When Worlds Collide !!!  4 of 5

Questionable ??    The Day the Earth Caught Fire!!  Although this one is not a certainty.  5 of 5



This is it.  The End.  After watching the first 4, you'd walk the streets telling all to repent and prepare!














the end

Oliver Stone: Delusional and Out of Context

There is not much to say.  In 1991, I believed Oliver Stone was taking a stand, exposing the dark-side, giving us the truth (albeit his version).  His JFK sent him into the Hollywood wilderness for several years, and when he came back he was roaring to go - and expose the darkest secrets and darkest moments of America ... all out of context.  He wanted to show Cuba, Russia, Venezuela and every other anti-American state as the troubled and beleaguered hero standing against the goliath US.

I respected Oliver Stone in 1991.  Today I will never watch anything this man produces or has involvement in, again.  His time in the 'wilderness' exposed him to some serious shit and whatever it was, I am very confident it was delusions of idiocy.  He is pathetic and that does not mean the Jewish lobby is not powerful, rather, taking that bit and extrapolating to where you suggest Hitler was misunderstood (same with Stalin) ... pathetic.  That numbers alone determine how evil one is.  If that is the case, he should show Pol Pot as a hero of some sort - only 2 million dead.  On the other hand, Mao did 50-80 million - he should be a real evil-doer.  Numbers alone.  Pathetic.






Oliver Stone: 'Jewish-Dominated Media' Prevents Hitler from Being Portrayed 'in Context'

By Alana Goodman
Sun, 07/25/2010



Director Oliver Stone belittled the Holocaust during a shocking interview with the Sunday Times today, claiming that America's focus on the Jewish massacre was a product of the "Jewish domination of the media."

The director also defended Hitler and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and railed against the "powerful lobby" of Jews in America.

Stone said that his upcoming Showtime documentary series "Secret History of America," seeks to put Hitler and Communist dictator Joseph Stalin "in context."

"Hitler was a Frankenstein but there was also a Dr Frankenstein. German industrialists, the Americans and the British. He had a lot of support," Stone told reporter Camilla Long during the interview, which can be found behind the paywall on the Sunday Times' website.

Stone said that, "Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30 [million killed]."

The Sunday Times interviewer then asked why there was such a focus on the Holocaust.

"The Jewish domination of the media," responded Stone. "There's a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years."

The director, who recently met with Iranian President Ahmadinejad, also slammed the U.S. policy toward Iran as "horrible."

"Iran isn't necessarily the good guy," said Stone. "[B]ut we don't know the full story!"

The Scarface screenwriter had even more encouraging words for socialist Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, who Stone called "a brave, blunt, earthy" man. The director has recently been promoting his Chavez-praising documentary called "South of the Border."

When the interviewer pointed out that Chavez has had a less-than-stellar record on human rights, Stone immediately dismissed the criticism.

"The internet's fully free [in Venezuela]," said Stone. "You can say what the hell you like. Compare it with all the other countries: Mexico, Guatemala, above all Colombia, which is a joke."

While Stone has not been as blunt about his views on Jews and the Holocaust in the past, he has been outspoken in his fondness for Chavez and his disagreements with the U.S.'s policy on Iran.

On ABC's Good Morning America on July 28, the director told anchor George Stephanopoulos that he "absolutely" believes Chavez is a good person, and claimed that there was "there's no pattern of censorship in this country [Venezuela]."

Stone also said that if the U.S. pursued sanctions against Iran, "it's going to be like North Vietnam again."





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Stone cold stupid

Hollywood and the Unbelieveable Gymnastics Required

Idiots on Parade.  I am amazed.  Yes, Steven, it failed because the American people do not appreciate being lectured on Iraq.  Hurt Locker is not proof this is not the case.  Hurt Locker is not a run away money maker.  Few people went to see it, and quite likely, the same ones who saw it will buy it on DVD, which means still no one saw it.  The fact it won anything has nothing to do with the American people, and their interest or desire to see make believe reality, it has more to do with Hollywood make-believing anyone cares.





Why 'Green Zone' failed



March 15, 2010
Steven Zeitchik
LA Times Blogs
 

It's dispiriting to sit back today and soak in just how poorly "Green Zone" performed over the weekend, earning a meager $14.3 million. Depression sets in because the Paul Greengrass movie is legitimately great, a potent thriller and action picture that entertains no matter your politics (we're not the only ones who feel this way -- the movie is the second best-reviewed wide release of the year according to meta-review site Movie Review Intelligence).

But what's even more discouraging about the results is that they offer definitive proof that even the highest-quality filmmaking and the most palatable marketing hook can't save a movie set in a tumultuous Middle East. This was a movie retailed as a Jason Bourne-like thriller made by the director and the star of same, with all the double-crosses, chases and explosions one would want from such a union. And yet no matter how deftly it was executed, audiences didn't see past the topicality. The simple presence of Iraq kept people home, as it has before for films of so many different stripes, tones and budgets.

What's less clear -- and, indeed, what gets under our skin -- is the debate over how specific politics are responsible for the film's failure. "Did politics sink Matt Damon's 'The Green Zone'?" an Atlantic blog asks. Andrew Breitbart's Big Hollywood compares the opening of "Green Zone," unfavorably, to the Damon-Greengrass collaborations "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Ultimatum" and implies that politics did this one in. "Gee, I wonder what the difference was [compared to those films]?" the piece asks sarcastically. (Never mind that those two movies were sequels based on a huge Robert Ludlum franchise.)

And in a New York Times op-ed column today, Ross Douthat faults "Green Zone" for "refus[ing] to stare real tragedy in the face, preferring the comforts of a 'Bush lied, people died' reductionism." (Incidentally that's not true -- sure, there's a one-note Paul Bremer-Douglas Feith character played by Greg Kinnear. But the movie is rolling in nuance and is particularly adept at showing internecine Iraqi tribal politics, something no scripted feature has previously done well.)

But even accepting Douthat's one-dimensionality argument, it's hard to see how that played a role in the picture's dismal box office. Douthat draws a contrast to a little Iraq movie that just swept the Oscars. " 'The Hurt Locker,' of course, was largely apolitical," he writes. "Throw politics into the mix, and there seems to be no escaping the clichés and simplifications that mar Greengrass’s movie."

But "Hurt Locker," for all of its character study of one outlaw type, was hardly apolitical -- it just showed the effects of politics (a battle whose enemy we don't understand and can't fight) instead of the causes. Yes, Damon speechifies in "Green Zone." But there's an argument to be made that by showing the toll politics has taken, "Hurt Locker" is far more ideological. Besides, it's not like "Hurt Locker" lighted up the box office either, just as Iraq-set movies that are decidedly less political, like "Body of Lies" or "Brothers," underwhelmed too.

"Green Zone" does plenty of things that are policy-neutral. The film traffics in the slipperiness of intelligence-gathering and the shadowy nature of foreign enemies -- a staple of thrillers long before the current Middle East conflict. Even the film's main message -- that the U.S. government bungled the immediate post-war operation -- is a fact that can be tossed off by pretty much any high schooler. Sure, there's a cardboard character and some wooden moments. But the film is not, by most measures, an ideological provocation.

What the film does achieve lies with its formal rigor. Greengrass' masterful editing and neo-verite camera work make us feels like we're in Iraq, for perhaps the first time in a studio feature. And that may be the true problem: It wasn't the ideology that was the issue for filmgoers, it was that it all just felt so real. And American moviegoers -- as one look at the receipts for "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland" show -- aren't much in the mood for real these days.

It can take months or even years for a movie with difficult subject matter to catch on with the public. This seems like a syndrome that particularly afflicts Greengrass, who's been the victim of his own success before. The director's "United 93" was condemned by many for some of the same reasons as "Green Zone." "I don't want to feel like I'm on that plane," people said. "Why would I pay money to see that?"

Of course putting us on the plane, just as he puts us in Iraq, is exactly what makes Greengrass so skilled and his movies so great. "United 93" went on to land two major Oscar nominations and do nicely on DVD. Here's hoping "Green Zone's" battle is also far from over.












Iraq and Hollywood

Hanks, Iraq, and Stupid Comments

The Washington Post (2/26/10) had an article about the Hurt Locker - the headline was "Some Iraq, Afghanistan war veterans criticize movie 'Hurt Locker' as inaccurate'" were not happy or in agreement with the film. 'Some' - as in, maybe 10 or 15, what is SOME anyway? What if the headline read: Iraqi War Vets Critical of Hurt Locker. Does that headline sound / read differently than 'Some Iraqi War Vets Upset with Hurt Locker'?



What if we had a headline six years ago - "A few people were protesting the Iraq War" - when the number was about 10-20,000. Versus those who supported the action, even though they opposed the fact we were laboring too long in the desert. The headlines never read 'a few' ... they were always 'Protestors' or 'Thousands Gather ...' Does it matter? Most certainly it matters - the bias cannot be mistaken, and to rearrange the boxes to suit your purposes - so you might argue that no one cares, is really quite stupid. The entire point of protests over the war - so Bush could hear and see the masses of people who wanted it stopped or ended or ... so Bush could LEARN from the events. Yet it seems that those who write these biased columns fail to learn - the American people are simply not interested in your alternate reality. That point has been made time and again and again and again.


So why has The Hurt Locker done so well --- please don't mistake one thing for another, for you will not only be stupid, but ignorant as well. Hollywood votes for the award, not the American people, and Hollywood has opposed the war since February 2003 (that is, BEFORE it ever began). Of course they would nominate it, and support it. It is NOT a runaway popular film. It has barely made back its costs. It is not a great film, and even if people buy the DVD, does not mean they agree with it nor like it - they buy the DVD because they buy movies - good and bad movies. That percentage may be small - 5-6%, but when the movie sits on a fence costing $15 million to make and earning just that much back, deduct the 5% and it is still losing money. In no way does it suggest even a minimal support for the film around the country. The foreign funds will save it from being a flop, but then again, most foreign movie goers regard Americans as reckless and this film proves it.

For Tom Hanks to make such an asinine statement - of course he is entitled to his personal opinion, for the time being, while it is still a right to express idiotic statements, BUT the headline should not read - Hanks angers CONSERVATIVES over his comparison of WWII and Iraq ... Hanks should offend every living veteran of World War II, every veteran from Iraq and Afghanistan, every enlisted man in the military today, every family members of any veteran from any war .... and that is not an exclusively conservative bunch.








Tom Hanks Angers Conservatives, Comparing 'The Pacific' in World War II to Iraq


Hanks and Matt Damon's 'Green Zone' Under Fire From Conservatives for Stances on Iraq War

By LUCHINA FISHER
ABC News
March 17, 2010—



It's no surprise that some conservatives love to hate Hollywood.

Michael Moore and Sean Penn are perennial favorites. But Tom Hanks?

The star of such flag-waving films as "Saving Private Ryan" and "Apollo 13" and producer of the World War II miniseries "Band of Brothers" has come under fire recently for remarks he made while promoting his current project, "The Pacific."

In an interview with Time magazine, Hanks, who is producing the HBO miniseries, compared the World War II conflict in the Pacific with the current one in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The Pacific" began airing March 14.

"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods," Hanks told Time. "They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"

Richard Pearle, former secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan, told ABCNews.com that Hanks has got it wrong.

"What he is suggesting, that the coalition forces are acting out of racist motives, is preposterous," Pearle said. "We're there at the request of the Iraqi government, which is trying to put together a democracy, and we've lost Americans trying to help them do that. I'm not at all clear what Mr. Hanks has in mind.

"He's an actor. He ought to go back to 'Saving Private Ryan,'" Pearle said. "I think if personalities that have a big megaphone by virtue of their acting talent are going to make political statements, they ought to be careful."


Hanks an 'Ignoramus'

Hanks' remarks lit up the conservative blogosphere. Pajamas Media's Victor Davis Hanson did not hold back: "Hanks' comments were sadly infantile pop philosophizing offered by, well, an ignoramus."

Brad Schaeffer, writing on Frum Forum, took Hanks to task for making the comparison to the current war on terror. "To make the claim that we are waging war on Islamofascists because, presumably, we view Muslims as 'different' not only is an insult to the nation but betrays a stunning ignorance of contemporary history."
Tom Hanks Draws Conservative Fire


Hanks did not stop with his comments to Time. In an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," he said the Pacific battle against the Japanese represented a war of "racism and terror," where the only way to complete the battle was to "kill them all."

"Does that sound familiar to what we might be going through today?" Hanks said.

When questioned about his comments by a journalist from conservative CNS News, Hanks clarified his remarks, substituting the word "ignorance" for "racism."

"His first statement was absurd," Pearle said. "The fact that he's trying to back out of that indicates how ignorant the first statement was."

It appears there's no backtracking when Hollywood and politics meet.

Bill O'Reilly has taken swipes at Hanks on three different occasions. In one, he said Hanks has "gone off the rails." In another, two nights ago, Karl Rove, who was promoting his new book, joined in.

Rove told O'Reilly, "I didn't write this book with the expectation that it would be picked up by Tom Hanks and Danny Glover and Sean Penn as part of their book club. He is impervious to rational discussion. He has no intellectual curiosity."


It remains to be seen how Hanks' new series will do in light of his comments. Viewers have shown they can be fickle about war films.

The success of "The Hurt Locker" at the box office and the Academy Awards was a first for films about the Iraq conflict, although conservatives have largely championed that film as apolitical. The dismal box office showing of "The Green Zone," the Iraq war film helmed by Matt Damon, has been more typical of the response to films about Iraq and Afghanistan.


Success of HURT LOCKER? The Success? The film cost $15 million to produce and it has brought in $15 million. THAT is NOT success. If it brings in $20 you are looking at something less than a miserable failure. ANyone knows that to be considered a success you need to make back a portion of the cost plus the cost. Who is trying to alter history here? ABC News Entertainment?

Conservatives have implied that politics are sinking "The Green Zone," since the film, directed by "United 93" director Paul Greengrass, focuses on the touchy area of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Politics and Hollywood


In the New York Times, conservative columnist Ross Douthat said "The Green Zone" refuses to "stare real tragedy in the face, preferring the comforts of a 'Bush lied, people died.'"

"Throw politics into the mix, and there seems to be no escaping the cliches and simplifications that mar Greengrass's movie," Douthat said.

Clearly, politics and Hollywood are a combination guaranteed to cause controversy.















Iraq

When is a Dictator not a Dictator? When Sean Penn says so.

Sean Penn is a fool, all that pot from Ridegmont has given him some serious blowback in the form of a - his inability to distinguish between fact, fiction, reality, fantasy, dictators, and tyrants, credible elections, and farcical jokes called elections.

I pray, when the day comes that Chavez is removed from the office he has violated, that the Venezuelan people will demand Penn return to face the truth about Chavez so that Penn might live out the remaining years of his life wracked by guilt and shame.

You are seriously a fool Mr. Penn.  You have very little that is redemptive.  I will assume you are a good father, thus you have that one saving grace.  You are not a great actor, good enough, but not great; and you most certainly have no clue about reality.




Chavez thanks Sean Penn for slamming his critics



Fri Mar 12, 2010
Associated Press

 CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is grateful that actor Sean Penn has defended him against his critics within the U.S. media.

In an appearance on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" last week, Penn slammed Chavez critics who refer to the socialist leader as a dictator.

The Oscar-winning celebrity noted that Chavez has won repeated elections and suggested that media critics who call him a dictator should be jailed.

[What about in the US - should we jail everyone who called Bush a tyrant, dictator, or other scurrilous name?]

He says that "there should be a bar for which one goes to prison for these kinds of biases."

[The same level for a bar in the US when you and Sarandon and Fonda were accusing Bush of delusional crimes?]

Penn has visited Chavez several times and frequently defends the president's leftist political policies.

Chavez welcomed Penn's comments Wednesday and thanked the actor for standing up to his detractors.

Hollywood knows, yet refuses to confront the issue. Pretending the elephant is not in the room doesn't make it go away.

Why.  I mean it stares you in the face.





The One Place on Earth Not Destroyed in '2012'


by Jonathan Crow · November 3, 2009

When I interviewed director Roland Emmerich a few months ago about his upcoming disaster flick "2012," the first question I asked was, "Why do you like killing the world?" His response: "It makes for a good story."

Over the past fifteen years, Emmerich has crafted some great tales about global doom, featuring some spectacular scenes of destruction. He had aliens zap the White House in "Independence Day," he let a massive lizard flatten New York City in "Godzilla," and he sent killer tornadoes through downtown Los Angeles in "The Day After Tomorrow."

For "2012," Emmerich set his sites on destroying the some biggest landmarks around the world, from Rome to Rio. But there's one place that Emmerich wanted to demolish but didn't: the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure located in the center of Mecca. It's the focus of prayers and the site of the Hajj, the biggest, most important pilgrimage in Islam.

"Well, I wanted to do that, I have to admit," the filmmaker told scifiwire.com. "But my co-writer Harald [Kloser] said, 'I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie.' And he was right."

Emmerich went on: "We have to all, in the western world, think about this. You can actually let Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol, you would have ... a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is. So it's just something which I kind of didn't [think] was [an] important element, anyway, in the film, so I kind of left it out."

Traditionally, a fatwa has meant religious opinion by an Islamic scholar or imam. The term has gained currency in the West after Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a death sentence in the form of a fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie for alleged blasphemies in his book "The Satanic Verses" in 1989. As a result, the Indian-born writer was forced into hiding for most of the '90s.

Emmerich has no qualms about wrecking other major landmarks, however. The massive dome of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican rolls on top of a crowd of churchgoers. The huge Christ the Redeemer statue that looms over Rio de Janeiro disintegrates. And, of course, the White House gets crushed when a wave drops the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy on top of it.

The director was also reportedly approached by people hoping to get their famous landmarks trashed, like Taiwan's Taipei 101, which is the tallest completed building in the world. There's no word yet if that structure will meet the same on-screen fate as the Vatican and the White House. "2012" opens nationwide on November 13.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
2012

Hollywood, Islam, Mohammad, and Edgy Epics

So cutting edge, so in your face, so willing to take on tough issues and stand up to real evil, Hollywood - the force of goodness and stranegth in times of despair - we look to Charlie Sheen or John Cusack, Barbra Streisand, or Scarlett Johansson for inspiration.  After all, they are more than willing to provide it - simply let any of them go on any subject political and grab the diaper!

Then we have the director / writer of Boondock Saints - Hollywood stood up to him, he was knocked down and kicked to the ground, stomped on, and treated like shit for .... no one knows, but we can assume it was his ego, his treatment of people, his arrogance, his boorish behavior ... in other words - he was just like a typical Hollywood director/actor, but Hollywood went way out there to punish this guy - they have been mad at him for over a decade, and for the moment, do not look like they will give in. 

Hollywood - standing up to tyrants and dictators ... unless they are real and seek death and destruction on a people, or have tried to exterminate a people, or may still be trying to destroy a people or a civilization.  Hollywood - guts and glory, backbone, character ...

Now they are making a 'blockbuster epic' about Mohammad.

What will we see in this edgy epic ... his message of peace.

So go ahead, give it a try.  It's all about peace.  We're not that insecure are we.




Matrix producer plans Muhammad biopic

Barrie Osborne, part of the Oscar-winning team behind the Lord of the Rings films, says the new production 'will educate people about the true meaning of Islam'


Xan Brooks and agencies guardian.co.uk,
Monday 2 November 2009

Producer Barrie Osborne cast Keanu Reeves as the messiah in The Matrix and helped defeat the dark lord Sauron in his record-breaking Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now the Oscar-winning American film-maker is set to embark on his most perilous quest to date: making a big-screen biopic of the prophet Muhammad.

Budgeted at around $150m (£91.5m), the film will chart Muhammad's life and examine his teachings. Osborne told Reuters that he envisages it as "an international epic production aimed at bridging cultures. The film will educate people about the true meaning of Islam".

Osborne's production will reportedly feature English-speaking Muslim actors. It is backed by the Qatar-based production company Alnoor Holdings, who have installed the Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi to oversee all aspects of the shoot. In accordance with Islamic law, the prophet will not actually be depicted on screen.

"The film will shed light on the Prophet's life since before his birth to his death," Ahmed Abdullah Al-Mustafa, Alnoor's chairman, told al-Jazeera. "It will highlight the humanity of Prophet Muhammad."

The as-yet-untitled picture is due to go before the cameras in 2011. It remains to be seen, however, whether it will be beaten to cinemas by another Muhammad-themed drama. Late last year, producer Oscar Zoghbi announced plans to remake The Message, his controversial 1976 drama that sparked a fatal siege by protesters in Washington DC. The new version, entitled The Messenger of Peace, is currently still in development.

 
 
 
 
 
 
islam

Polanski Again

Polanksi according to the Times


[Robert] Harris [the author of the book] defended Polanski, attacking the authorities in Los Angeles for demanding the arrest of the director.

[...]

His past did not bother me, any more (presumably) than it did the three French presidents with whom he has had private dinners, or the hundreds of actors and technicians who have worked with him since 1977, or the fans who come up to him in Paris for his autograph.”
Polanski has strong support with at least 110 figures from the film industry, including Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Pedro Almodóvar and Tilda Swinton, having signed a petition calling for his release.

***********************************

We know much about the 3 past presidents of France - Mitterrand, would be, by most accounts, very close to being a pedophile given the age difference between he and the women and girls he was involved with. None of them are models of anything.

Tilda Swinton - odd one to haul out as a voice, given her very interesting life.

Woody Allen - the pedophile himself.

A list of who's who among the degenerates.










Polanski

The Gutless Wonder

I believe he has it about right.



Wanda Sykes’ Gutless Performance

by Ben Shapiro


Hollywood’s favorite phrase is “speaking truth to power.” It charts just above “She/he is the love of my life,” “Though we’re not together anymore, we’ll remain good friends,” and “Hey, where did I leave my underwear?”

Hollywood slings around the phrase “speaking truth to power” as if it were cocaine at a Sean Penn movie premiere party. And they particularly love slinging it around at the time of the White House Correspondents Dinner.

A couple years ago, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central was the beneficiary of the “speaking truth to power” Hollywood press machine. He headlined the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner, and laid ‘em in the aisles with brilliant lines like, “Over the last five years, you people were so good-over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn’t want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. … And then you write, Oh, they’re just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!”

Yes, when you’re a leftist, spouting leftist Hallmark cards cribbed from Democratic Underground counts as humor.

But at least Colbert said all this to Bush’s face. It took a peculiar kind of guts, but it took guts. It wasn’t truly “speaking truth to power” - after all, Bush wasn’t going to send Colbert to the gulag or force him into re-education camp. But by the watered-down definition of the media, it counted.

Wanda Sykes, by contrast, is the most gutless and feckless performer ever to grace the White House Correspondents Dinner.

Sykes, for those who haven’t seen her stellar work in gems like CondomNation, Brother Bear 2, and Over the Hedge, is a militant lesbian with a grating voice and an obnoxious strut. She recently proclaimed during the California Prop. 8 debate that “Everybody that knows me personally, they know I’m gay … Now, I gotta get in their face. I’m proud to be a woman. I’m proud to be a black woman, and I’m proud to be gay.”

Well, apparently she’s not so proud to be gay. Because when given the opportunity to make jokes about the nation’s leading proponent of opposite-sex marriage, President Barack Obama, she said precisely nothing. Instead, she chose to gently stroke his ego with jokes about his pecs, his dog, and his basketball skills.

Meanwhile, she saved her real ire for non-federal or non-active politicians and non-governmental figures like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. To Obama’s hysterical laughter, she said that she hoped Limbaugh would suffer kidney failure and accused him of being the 20th hijacker. She said she wanted Sean Hannity waterboarded by Keith Olbermann. She attacked Dick Cheney, stating that if her child had a choice between getting in a car with Dick Cheney and a car with a stranger, she would tell her child to choose the stranger.

Courageous, to be sure.

But she saved her most despicable gibe for Sarah Palin, who was not attending. Apparently, Sykes isn’t only a shrinking violet when it comes to her lesbianism - she’s a shrinking violet when it comes to her sex. Noting Sarah’s absence at the dinner (her husband, Todd, attended), Sykes said that Palin had pulled out at the last minute. “Somebody should tell her that’s not really how you practice abstinence,” she chided.

This is sexism of the highest order. Sarah Palin didn’t get knocked up before her marriage - her daughter did. Why didn’t Sykes blame Todd, who was sitting right there? Or why didn’t she blame Levi, who knocked up Bristol? Or why didn’t she blame Bristol? By focusing on Sarah, she perpetuated the stereotype that the woman is utterly and totally responsible for each and every individual act of the child - a stereotype Sykes would surely reject were she not so blindly hateful of Palin.

The bottom line: both feminism and homosexuality matter less to Sykes than kissing Barack Obama’s butt. She didn’t utter a single joke about Obama’s out of control spending. Not one joke about his teleprompter. Not one joke about his visit with Chavez, his messages to Iran, his Cinco De Mayo screwup, his mastery of the Austrian language, his “world without nuclear weapons,” his spreading the wealth around, his ownership of the car companies, his tax-cheat employees.

And most of all, not a single joke about Dan Choi, the first gay Arabic linguist fired by Barack Obama under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Not a single joke about Obama’s interracially married parents and his refusal to stump for homosexual marriage. Sykes pledged to “get in their face” about gay marriage, but refused to get in the face of the most powerful man on earth about it. Instead, she chose to go after Rush Limbaugh and oxycontin - a choice for which she will surely be praised by the leftist media.

In certain times, such posturing buffoonery would have been ripped as “Uncle Tomming.” Imagine Richard Pryor speaking at a White House Correspondents Dinner for JFK and failing to mention the civil rights movement, instead choosing to focus on Jackie Kennedy’s hairdo and JFK’s winning smile.

Nobody has the obligation to “speak truth to power” when given the opportunity. Sometimes it’s okay just to be funny. But if one is given the opportunity to speak truth to power, sees him/herself as a champion of “speaking truth to power,” and instead chooses to spend the time excoriating the power’s opposition, that would be sycophantic stupidity of the worst kind.
That would be Wanda Sykes.





Hollywood

Hollywood does the Obamanation 2

There is nothing new about Barack - he is a socialist. He feigns his dislike for government involvement - which means nothing. He says one thing and does another, and then uses the economy as excuses. He is an old time socialist in 21st century wrappings, intent on ridding the world of the evil of 'unregulated' capitalism (which leaves socialism).

He is no different, his administration has already been riddled with fiasco's and scandals - no one it seems pays taxes except for the Middle Class who will, shortly be paying more under Obama's future plans than they are now. And his storytelling that his programs will reduce taxes for a majority ... in some ways it does - it reduces (by returning money never given) taxes on the poorest and lower middle classes, and takes from everyone else. Even with that simplistic analysis, he is not different.

His tone, his actions, his behavior - nothing has changed.

And the Hollywood crowd are simply hateful, vile, and disgusting ...





Not funny: Barack Obama laughs at Wanda Sykes "joke" about wanting Rush Limbaugh dead

Toby Harnden
May 10, 2009
Telegraph.co.uk


What was Wanda Sykes thinking? Perhaps more to the point, what was President Barack Obama thinking when he laughed and smiled as the comedienne wished Rush Limbaugh dead?

Although the Left is reporting her White House Correspondents' Dinner speech as "taking shots" at Limbaugh and mocking everyone, that's a gross misrepresentation of what turned into a hateful and disgusting diatribe.

I was at the dinner and I began by laughing at Sykes's gentle teases about the press loving Obama so much they never capture him on film smoking but often seem to get him on the beach.

It was amusing when she quipped that Obama trying so hard to be all things to all men that the next thing is he'll be seen mowing the White House lawn.

But the speech took a very ugly turn when she laid into Limbaugh.

This is what she said: "Rush Limbaugh said he hopes this administration fails, so you're saying, 'I hope America fails', you're, like, 'I dont care about people losing their homes, their jobs, our soldiers in Iraq'. He just wants the country to fail. To me, that's treason.

"He's not saying anything differently than what Osama bin Laden is saying. You know, you might want to look into this, sir, because I think Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker. But he was just so strung out on OxyContin he missed his flight."

She then concluded: "Rush Limbaugh, I hope the country fails, I hope his kidneys fail, how about that? He needs a good waterboarding, that's what he needs." Obama seemed to think this bit was pretty hilarious, grinning and chuckling and turning to share the "joke" with the person sitting on his right.

There's not much room for differing interpretations of what Sykes said. She called Limbaugh a terrorist and a traitor, suggested that he be tortured and wished him dead.

What was his crime? Hoping that Obama's policies - which he views as socialist - will fail.

That's way, way beyond reasoned debate or comedy and Obama's reaction to it was astonishing.
Imagine if a comedian "joked" that Obama was a terrorist who was guilty of treason and should be tortured and allowed to die. There would justifiably be an outcry.

But when the "joke" comes from a liberal, Obama-supporting comedienne and the target is a right-winger then the likes of Hilary Rosen and Donna Brazile are on CNN saying it's just comedy and Limbaugh is "fair game".

And Obama laughing when someone wishes Limbaugh dead? Hard to take from the man who promised a new era of civility and elevated debate in Washington.








Obama

Hollywood does the Obamanation

Spotting stars at the White House Correspondents dinner
By Linda Feldmann
May 10, 2009 edition
Christian Science Monitor


After all these years, I have figured out the best way to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner ­ or at least this year’s dinner: with a 16-year-old girl.

Rebecca had an eagle eye for celebs, some of whom I would never have recognized. Ludacris? I’ve heard of him, but that’s it. But there he was on the red carpet, with his mother (smart guy!), and I wasn’t completely clueless.

Other folks were easy to recognize, but Rebecca was much better at spotting them in the crowd. There’s Owen Wilson! Will he pose for a picture with a young fan? Sure.

Same with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Eva Longoria Parker, Demi Moore, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Jason Bateman, Amy Poehler, and on and on. We also tracked down Ed Westwick, the wonderfully arch Chuck Bass on “Gossip Girl,” with the help of Ana Marie Cox, Wonkette emeritus.

I hate to say this, but it was almost star overload. You’d be heading for one (I won’t name names), then you’d see someone even more cool ­ in one instance, the stunning Padma Lakshmi of “Top Chef” — and detour over to her, lest you miss your chance.

I have two favorite memories: Rebecca spying a tall nerdy guy wearing a red bow tie and saying, “Peter Orszag! I have to say hello.” Her best friend babysits for his kids, and oh by the way, he’s President Obama’s budget director.

Favorite moment No. 2: Walking up to a friendly-looking old man and striking up a conversation about Woodrow Wilson High School here in Washington, where Rebecca goes. This man graduated from Wilson more than 60 years ago, and when I mentioned the connection, he said, “Oh, a Tiger!” and launched into the Wilson fight song.

Then he said, “I’m going to whisper a stock tip in Rebecca’s ear, and you take our picture.” OK! Eventually, Rebecca figured out who this jolly grandpa was: Warren Buffett.

Obama and Wanda Sykes killed with their post-dinner speeches. The videos are all over the web.

I have a suggestion for next year: Send all 2,000 tickets to Hollywood and let the stars divvy up the tables and decide which journalistsand politicos to invite.






Obama

Why is Hollywood not championing Roxana Saberi?

I suspect Simpson has it right, and worse than that, we see that it becomes necessary for the left to sell their principles for a belief they cannot sustain, yet must sustain at all costs or lose everything - for once they have sold their virtue, they have nothing left if their beliefs are shown to be vapid and feckless.





Why is Hollywood Silent on Roxana Saberi?
by John T. Simpson

I see a great story in Roxana Saberi. Don’t you? A can’t fail, high-concept, four-quadrant script with a unique storyline. In fact, I’d expect a bidding war no less severe and cutthroat for the rights to Roxana’s story as that for Lone Survivor. You know. A MARIE in Iran meets MISSING kinda thing.

A young and beautiful former Miss North Dakota and reporter for the BBC and NPR, among others, falsely arrested by misogynist Iran and tagged with a series of escalating charges, from buying wine to reporting with expired credentials to espionage, charges even Roxana’s lawyer has not officially seen to date, but upon which Ms. Saberi was just sentenced to eight years in the Iranian Hell of Evin prison in a one-day kangaroo court trial. Coercion was also involved, including a threat to kill her.

Any questions as to who and what we’re really dealing with here now? According to ABC News, Roxana is now officially a pawn in the Great Game between Un-Islamic Iran and the Great Satan. How much more of a blockbuster storyline could you ask for?

And that doesn’t even scratch the surface of all the world-turning subplots of international intrigue, conflict and sinister intent that drove such taut films as “North By Northwest,” “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Team America: World Police.” With me so far?

Oh, and I say un-Islamic, because the Hitlerite child-murdering and kiddie martyrdom-training fascist Nazi regime in Iran has nothing to with Islam or God. Just the opposite, in fact. They may call us the Great Satan, but you tell me who acts more like Lucifer here. What has Argentina ever done to Iran to deserve terror attacks and the mass murder of civilians? Am I Reich?

But I digress. We writers do that in moments of passion. Onto the subject at hand.

The backstory. Roxana was arrested on January 31, eleven days after Barack Obama was sworn in as President of the United States. A test? If so, more drama. On March 5th, SOS Clinton demanded Roxana’s release from Iranian custody. The very next day, March 6th, Iranian authorities said they would release Roxana ’soon.’

On March 13th, Human Rights Watch issued a statement calling Roxana Saberi’s detention unlawful under international laws and conventions, in effect declaring her a hostage. Being as the media is so on the ball lately, I didn’t hear about that bombshell HRW press release until five days later, and even then I had to search for it. Somebody has to report this stuff.

Yet, in a twist of fate, I had declared Roxana Saberi a hostage that very same day. Not so much based on international law as knowing how much un-Islamic Iran loves to punk the Great Satan.

Roxana’s parents, father Reza and mother Akiko, flew into Tehran recently with assurances that Roxana’s release would be speeded up, only to land and see their daughter sentenced to eight years in Evin prison for espionage. Which she will not survive. In protest to this abomination of justice that’s S.O.B. in Iran, Roxana is now on a hunger strike. Her situation is precarious at best.

Some in the press have mused that Roxana may even be a pawn in Iran’s own nationwide elections in June. A rouse to the hardline un-Islamic base, who love nothing better than to see the Great Satan get a black eye. Makes them more prone to overlook troubling domestic issues that are hounding Ahmadinejad et al right now. The hardliners are even using Team Oscar as their Willie Horton against moderates. “Who invited the Great Satan in!” That kind of stuff.

It’s called externalizing. Any good dictatorship worth its salt excels at it. Make us look so bad that they look good, no matter how much bad shite they pull. Others in the press believe Iran may be setting up a swap of Roxana for Iranian diplomats arrested by US forces in Iraq, curiously with no questions from the media as to it being an unseemly act. Anyway, lots of storylines. No doubt many in Hollywood will be lining up for the rights to the story of Roxana Saberi.

I only wish they were lining up right now to speak up for HER rights! Where ARE they? They’re the Human Rights Champs! Right? You want to see something REALLY sick? Twenty-six videos on YouTube for Roxana Saberi, and most are news reports! There are 35 alone for Jim Carrey’s video on Burma’s imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, 168 for George Clooney in Darfur. Not counting playlists.

UPDATE: Eighty-four videos now. Still no celebs. So where is Hollywood on Roxana Saberi?
Totally MIA, from what I can see. Or can’t, I should say.

Hell, Clown Man is protesting Iran more than all of Hollywood combined! Speaking of clowns. Or Stooges, I should say. Former Team Oscar leader and Academy president Sid Ganis is still too busy on the Mad Mullah Promo Tour to have a clue. Annette Bening is no doubt still raving about how fabulous Iran and women’s rights for filmmakers are there.

Tell it to Tehmineh Milani, Annette! She was sentenced to death for her celluloid slanders! Tell it to Iranian-American filmmaker Esha Momeni, who awaits trial in Iran before a political tribunal on similar charges for filming a women’s rights documentary in Tehran for her masters degree!

Hopeless. Like the rest of Team Oscar, none of whom has mentioned Roxana Saberi to date that I can find, they are too busy living the fantasy of Iran to see the cold, hard realities staring them in the face, even when those realities involve imprisoned fellow filmmakers and the extermination of gays as state policy. Or an American woman being held hostage, even as they partied it up in Tehran.

Where is UNIFEM Ambassador of Good Will Nicole Kidman? She should be front and center on this! Not one statement on Roxana Saberi I can find. In fact, a search of UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund For Women, comes up a big fat zero on a Roxana Saberi site search. What you will find is “Women’s Voices Raised on Climate Change” and “Training of Gender Audit Facilitators.”

In fact, the last UNIFEM entry on the stoning of women in Iran, of three total on the entire site, was from 2002, though it’s gotten much worse since. Iran even imprisons women indefinitely for protesting stoning now! They gonna stone them, too? Wouldn’t put it past them! They feed off that shite! What do you expect from Nazis? Won’t find that at UNIFEM, either. In fact, Iran wasn’t even mentioned at their 53rd Session last year, and they’re the worst offenders on the planet!

How lame is that? Some “spotlight on violence against women” THEY are! Oh, but they do have a spotlight on violence against women in Canada. My women’s rights heroes. UNIFEM. Just as silent on Roxana Saberi, Esha Momeni and the horrific abuse of women in Iran as Hollywood. Yet one more useless UN bureaucracy we’re paying for. Good press, though. PR is all. Right, Nicole?

Gwyneth Paltrow, also silent, is probably too busy boycotting we greedy, unintelligent and uncivilized Americans and prepping for Iron Man 2. She may denigrate and boycott us from Britain as the world’s real capitalist enemy, but she sure seems to know where her Socialist bread is buttered. You Go, Girl! Bravo and Tally Ho! And I do mean Ho. What else do you call someone who sells their virtue for money?

I think I’ll wait to see Iron Man 2 for free. Borrow the DVD. I can boycott on principle, too.

You know what the most pathetic thing is here, people? Even the real Stooges spoke out against the fascist dictator of their age more than all of Hollywood today. Seen any Hollywood rips on Ahmadinejad or Iran at all? Sorry. Shhhh. Don’t want to offend anyone. Walk softly, but carry a big carrot. And no gay jokes about that big carrot, either! Got it?

They don’t like those. Not one bit. Gays, I mean.

I have to wonder. To paraphrase Jon Stewart, Is this Hollywood Diplomacy Inaction? Like they’re afraid if anyone in Hollywood said anything bad about Iran, it might set back the Obamamessiah’s ‘reaching out’ to today’s Third Reich? Or if AMPAS said anything bad about Iran in a press release, they might not be allowed back to apologize, or train Iran’s propaganda film stooges again?

Or is all of Hollywood just so totally duped by the Mad Mullahs of Iran, or so blinded by the Obamamessiah, Roxana doesn’t even register? I do know one thing. If this Roxana Saberi Hostage Crisis occurred on Bush’s watch, how many in Hollywood would have blamed him for Roxana’s horrific situation? Not the hostage-takers, mind you. Don’t answer, it’s a rhetorical question.

No, my guess is, Hollywood Diplomacy is in full effect for the Obamamessiah. Don’t bring up Roxana Saberi, their shady nuke program, their stoning of women, their executing of children, their killing of bloggers, their threats of genocide, not even their gay extermination program: “Don’t give them anything else to apologize for. We have enough already!”

Walk around those blogger-murdering, Jew-bombing, women-stoning, gay-hanging, kid-executing, Armageddon-threatening un-Islamic Nazis like we were in a minefield? NOT ON YOUR LIFE!

What are we gonna do speaking up? Make things worse? HOW? But no. Give Peace a Chance. Here’s what Peace Hath Wrought, Hollywood. The Team Oscar olive branch slapped out of Obama’s hand with the demand for apologies and submission. The Obama Peace Video met with scorn, derision and ‘Death To America’ rallies. And the Roxana Saberi Hostage Crisis. Not to mention all the horrors they’re inflicting on their own people as we speak.

And now this: ‘On Tuesday, Reuters reported that a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, Ali-Reza Jamshidi, had termed calls for Ms. Saberi’s release from American officials “utterly ridiculous.”

Based on Iran’s total contempt for international law regarding Roxana Saberi, and the mountains of bloody and horrific evidence on un-Islamic Iran staring us in the face, I’d tell everyone in Hollywood that we are dealing with an irrational fascist regime in Iran, and to start speaking up for Roxana Saberi, Iranian-American filmmaker Esha Momeni, the abuse of every other woman in Iran, the executing of children, and the ruthless and brutal anti-gay pogrom Iran is now exporting to Iraq.

If there were anyone rational left in Hollywood to say that to. Used to be. To be sure, if there are any Hollywood celebrities who have been pulling for Roxana Saberi and I just didn’t find you, appy-pollie-logies. But I had to kick some asses here. I hope you understand.

Speaking of which, here’s AMPAS. Tell them Academy members need to start speaking up for Roxana Saberi, and starting acting like the human rights champs they play on TV and claim to be. And see if they can roust Sid and Annette from their next Iran promo video long enough to say a few words on behalf of Roxana Saberi and Iranian-American filmmaker Esha Momeni.

Not holding my breath. But how nice would it be for the next act of Roxana: A True Story to open with crowds of well-known Hollywood faces twisted in outrage over Roxana’s abysmal human rights situation, not to mention the rest of Iran’s. Roxana’s a lucky one. Oh, and to make one point perfectly clear, the question here is not whether Iran recognizes Roxana’s American citizenship. The real question is, do we? She was born here. Good enough for illegals, ain’t it?

And I am certainly hoping Roxana’s story has an ending in Evin prison more like Haleh Esfandiari’s than murdered Iranian-Canadian journalist Ziba Kazemi, who was beaten, raped, her fingernails pulled and her skull fractured, all for the crime of taking photos outside Evin prison. In other words, I’m hoping for an ending more Hollywood, and less un-Islamic extremist Iran.

By the way, Roxana turns 32 this Sunday. Friends of Roxana have set up an email account for well-wishers around the world to say Happy Birthday to Roxana at happybirthdayroxana@gmail.com One nice birthday present would be to see a lot more people in Hollywood and Washington speaking up on her behalf. If it’s not too much trouble, that is.

Raised voices helped free Haleh Esfandiari, Tehmineh Milani and others from the hell of Evin prison. They can do so once again for Roxana. Iran’s Thugocracy, like Hollywood, hates bad PR. Ruins their image. Speaking of which.

On that note, here’s Congress. Here’s State. Here’s the White House. Roxana is an American citizen, not a pawn, and she has been held unjustly in Iranian captivity for 81 days now. Where are the strong words? The Congressional resolution in support of Roxana, like North Dakota’s?
What good are they?

Our government should tell Iran to release Roxana right now, or we cut off their gasoline. For starters. See how fast they move then to avoid gas rioting at home! And if that doesn’t work, warm up the B-52s. And I don’t mean the rock band. But the other type will also be free to roam if they want to, i.e. take out government-financed terrorist training camps, nuke facilities, etc, etc.

Roam around their world. Rock their world, I should say. Do it for Roxana. But only if the gas thing don’t work first. No, I didn’t mean bomb ‘em right away. I’ll give peace, a gas cutoff and some gas rioting in Iran a chance. What do you think I am, a warmonger?

FREE ROXANA SABERI! LIKE RIGHT NOW!!!








Obama

Cher - her Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Stupidity

Stupid is as stupid does, these people make brain dead comatose patients appear almost Hawking-like.







Cher: Republican Rule Almost ‘Killed Me’
Friday, February 06, 2009
By Nicholas Ballasy, Video Reporter

(CNSNews.com) - Grammy award-winning singer and Academy award-winning actress Cher told CNSNews.com that living under Republican rule almost “killed" her, and she does not understand why anyone would want to be a Republican.

She also said that President Barack Obama’s “intelligence” and “spirit” are “so great” he will be able to do “more than anyone could possibly do.”

“His intelligence is so great and his spirit is so great, I believe he will be able to do as much if not more than anyone could possibly do,” Cher told CNSNews.com at the “Declare Yourself” inaugural ball.

“I just think he’s totally the right person at this time in our history," she said. "He brings something more in his spirit than maybe another president could be even with the same intelligence. There’s something about him that brings more with his spirit, and that’s what Americans need right now. Republicans almost killed me.”

When asked to explain how Republicans somehow “killed” her, Cher was not specific.

“You know what? I have so – I try to be charitable and there are some really good Republicans, but I just don’t understand how anyone would want to be a Republican. I just can’t figure it. I don’t understand,” she said. “If you’re poor, if you’re any kind of minority – gay, black, Latino, anything. If you’re not a rich – I don’t know. If you’re not a rich born-again-Christian, I don’t get it.”

Cher also said President Obama will not end the war in Iraq right away.“I think as soon as he can. I don’t think it will be easy. It would be kind of simplistic to think that’s going to happen right away,” she said.







Cher

Twilight

Somewhat defies standard understanding of what makes a hit.

No major actors.

No sex, in fact, kissing is very limited - your grandparents may be as active, or more.

No smoking, no drugs, and I don't recall any drinking and if there was - someone off scene was drinking.

Minimal violence, and nothing graphic.

Yet the film appears to be doing well. Friday night it was not busy - 1/2 the theater was empty, plus there was an entire second auditorium playing at the same time, but Saturday it turned into a major film experience with the lines everywhere.

It made over $35 million in the first night, and it was not as busy as Saturday.

A major film, and for no reason. It defies everything they believe makes a success.

I only comment on the film because it is an oddity. It defies conventional wisdom - and I like that.

Plus the idea of climbing a tree like a squirrel is intriguing, and worth a second film to close the holes, and finish off a character, perhaps expand upon the legends of that tribe - if the vampires existed, so then the wolves must have.


Update: Over $70 million in two days at a cost of $37 million.
A brilliant success.








Movies

Whoppi - For Effect.

One of the most ignorant statements that I have heard from any actor/actress / celebrity:

Senator McCain was on The View on September 12, 2008 at or about 1:10pm, when Whoopi, the Constitutional scholar on the talk-show, piped up with the following stellar comment:

"Should I be worried about being a slave, about being returned to slavery because certain things happened in the Constitution that you had to change?"



Whoopi - you are a fool, and worse, you have allowed your bias to so warp your reality, you no longer function in the real world.

When McCain said it was a good question - he was wrong. It is an idiotic question, and he is silly for having told you otherwise.

Strict construction of the Constitution would not, could not, does not in any way, shape, or form lend itself to slavery or the support of slavery. Just the opposite.

You were a condescending fool. Suggesting, as you did, some deep analysis, as you blurted out your idiocy. You are not qualified to offer your voice as useful in any way on what the Constitution means. You may disagree with the interpretation of the nine justices who spend all their time analyzing the Constitution, but you do not have the academics to analyze, outside of providing your opinion, which when taken together with 300 million other opinions, are just that - opinions.







Whoopi

Michael Moore is a Useless Fool

“I was just thinking, this Gustav is proof that there is a God in heaven,” Moore said, laughing. “To have it planned at the same time – that it would actually be on its way to New Orleans for day one of the Republican Convention, up in the Twin Cities – at the top of the Mississippi River.”


**************************************

You could argue he said it as a joke. I doubt he believes in God else he would not be supportive of the many issues he does support, so of course it is all a joke.

However, if a Republican had said the same stupid and ignorant comment, it would be held up as an example of religiosity, ignorance, intolerance, lack of compassion ...

Look fool - if there was God, as in your world view - He would send a hurricane to the Twin Cities and water be damned - He can do it. A hurricane a thousand miles away means nothing when you can flood the earth, you loser.

But for you to joke, after spending years blaming Bush, now you mock the property damage, the loss, the lives ... and you joke.

A silly man made a statement he would pray for rain last Thursday on Obama ... and the liberal press corp picked that one up and ran with it - religiosity, lack of compassion, intolerance, ignorance ...

Moore makes a statement that has a double impact given the history in New Orleans ...
















Michael Moore is a fool

24 - SAG Strike

July 11, 2008

Screen Actors Guild Rejects Producers' 'Last Deal'
Studios Hope Avoid Repeat Of February Writers' Strike

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― Unable for weeks to agree on terms for a new contract, Hollywood studios and the Screen Actors Guild have now found themselves unable to agree on whether negotiations will continue.The guild rejected the latest offer Thursday, turning down a deal producers insisted was their last."We made it clear our final is our final and that we're not interested in further counter proposals," said Jesse Hiestand, a spokesman for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

*****************************************************

So what does a possible SAG strike have to do with '24'? Not much - if they have last season err I mean, this season already finished, in the can, and ready to roll. They better - they have had more than a year to sort this crap out.

Given my state of mind on '24' and actors, it is less likely each day I will watch as often / regularly as I did when they actually had a series. Even less likely with a January start date.

The difference between Hollywood producers/directors / studio people and OPEC - OPEC is an illegal cartel.

The difference between Hollywood producers/directors / studio people and drug dealers - drug dealers are illegal.

Both treat the public the same. You believe we have no choices and will return. More people quit drugs each day and do not return. More people buy hybrids and a few have purchased electric cars and will never return to the days of yester year. With hybrids - you see the people less often. With electric - never. With people off drugs - yes, new people get on drugs, but not necessarily your drugs nor the same type. Maybe it is pills or pot and you sell hard stuff ...

Your TV programs and your checks and your future depends upon having the audience and honestly, the public is still not over the screenwriters destroying an entire season. If actors follow suit ... well, watch your networks and programs drop like flys. Hello HBO/Showtime movie channels, goodbye everything else. Goodbye million dollar checks. Hello unemployment and honestly - we just don't care that for everyone who gets a million there are 1000 who get $50,000. We don't.

You go on strike and 10% of you won't come through it intact, another 10% will lose the show they were on. perhaps its time Hollywood had a cleansing. Home mortgages have whittled down the mortgage industry, now Hollywood gets its colonic. unfortunately many people will lose their homes who have never got the million dollar checks - those people who make the films work - from lighting, electric, to sets ... and the blame rests with SAG.


Happy Days.










suckers

Take away their guns ... and they'll use their fists

Washington Post Staff Writers
June 11, 2008

4 Pr. George’s Teens Held in Fatal Beating

African Immigrant Kicked Repeatedly, Police Say

Four Prince George’s County youths, ages 14 and 15, have been charged with firstdegree murder after they “laid in wait” for a 56-year-old man, knocked him to the ground and kicked him so viciously that he died two days later, authorities said.

The victim of the May 28 assault, Aboubacar Camara, a West African immigrant, was robbed of his shoes and a pack of Marlboros, police said in announcing the arrests. The suspects, two boys and two girls, were charged as adults and are being held without bond, authorities said.

“It is a heinous crime, and we don’t have the slightest idea why someone would commit such a terrible act,” Prince George’s School Superintendent John E. Deasy said of the attack, which occurred near the playground of Bladensburg Elementary School.

A spokesman for Deasy said the four youths were enrolled in schools in Prince George’s, but he declined to say which ones, citing privacy concerns.

Deasy said the killing “just defies logic and understanding. It’s just horrifying.”

Homicide detectives said they arrested Regina R. Young-Bey and Justin E. McBride, both 15 and residents of an apartment complex in the 5300 block of Quincy Street in Bladensburg; Marcus L. Williams, 14, of the 3400 block of 55th Avenue in Bladensburg; and Calaisha L. Vaughn, 14, of the 5400 block of 56th Place in the Riverdale area.

McBride and Williams are ninthgraders; Vaughn’s grade was unclear.

Court records show that the four have not been assigned attorneys. Relatives of each teen either declined to comment or could not be located.

While being questioned by detectives, the four “provided written confessions,” according to a police affidavit filed in Prince George’s District Court. The affidavit mentions no motive for the attack.

Saliou Diallo, president of the Guinea Community of Greater Washington, said Camara came to the United States from Guinea in 1994 after working administrative jobs at the Guinean embassies in Belgium, Italy and France. Although he studied finance at colleges in Europe, Camara worked in Prince George’s as a laborer for a moving company, Diallo said.

Camara, who died May 30 at Prince George’s Hospital Center, was unmarried and lived with a friend in a Landover apartment complex. He was to appear in court June 5 on a charge related to urinating in public, police said. He had no other criminal record.

“People come here for freedom, and they get killed,” said Diallo, an uncle of Amadou Diallo, who was killed by New York police officers in a controversial 1999 shooting.

The police affidavit says that just after 7:30 p.m. May 28, Camara was in the 4900 block of Annapolis Road, “walking up the paved sidewalk from the area of the playground towards the top of the steps [leading] to the rear of Bladensburg Elementary School.” The four youths saw him and “immediately went to the top of the steps and laid in wait,” the affidavit says.

Vaughn asked Camara if he had a cigarette, and Camara replied that he did not smoke, according to the affidavit. The affidavit says that Young-Bey “stepped up to the victim and bumped him in the shoulder with her shoulder,” knocking him to the ground.

The four kicked Camara again and again, and at least two of them spat on him while “the victim was continuously coughing up blood,” the affidavit says.

Camara suffered extensive injuries to his head, chest and stomach, according to the affidavit.
At least one of the youths is a suspect in two attacks that were similar but targeted Hispanic victims, according to two law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. One of the sources said the youths took photographs of Camara that have been viewed by detectives.

Investigators think some or all of the teens were members of a neighborhood crew called the Skull Crushers or the Skull Krusher Crew, according to three law enforcement sources.
Police said they received tips from witnesses. Young-Bey and McBride were arrested June 2. They provided “written confessions to include details of their involvement into the deadly assault,” the affidavit says.

Williams was arrested June 4, and Vaughn was arrested the next day. They also signed “written confessions,” the affidavit says.

Spokesman Henry Tippett said police waited until Monday to announce the arrests because they wanted to be certain that there were no other suspects. The arrests were first reported by WTTG-TV (Channel 5).

“It’s totally outrageous that this happened,” Del. Doyle L. Niemann (D-Prince George’s), who represents the area, said of the slaying.

Niemann, who is also a prosecutor but is not involved in the case, said: “It’s really a comment in some ways on the disintegration of values in our society. . . . We’re going to have to take a serious look at the whole culture we have, a popular media that has glorified this kind of brutality. We’re reaping what we’ve sowed.”

Before moving into the friend’s apartment in Landover about a year ago, Camara lived for about two years in a Landover rooming house. Another resident of the rooming house, Patricia Harris, called him “a very dear friend of mine. We were roommates. He was a very nice person.”
The rooming house is a threestory red brick building in the 6100 block of Landover Road, less then a mile from where the attack occurred.

Camara’s former landlord, Lary Mitchell, said Camara always paid his $150 weekly rent on time. But he said he ordered Camara to move out after police brought him home intoxicated one night.
“It’s very tragic and really totally horrible,” Mitchell said.

Diallo said leaders of the 5,000-member Guinean community in the Washington area hope to raise $6,000 to pay for Camara’s burial.

“We need the parents,” Diallo said, talking about how to stop senseless violence. “Parents does not mean father and mother only. Parents means community. Parents means us.”





death by beating

cultural values

.

Which one of these doesn't belong ...

I always liked that bit on Sesame Street. I was usually wrong in my selection, but I enjoyed it none the less.

This bit, no less entertaining, but the real question is ... what's wrong with the following:

Hillary Clinton has a fund raiser in NY City at Radio City. Elton John is present as are all the Clintonistas and anyone who likes Elton (by this time, old foggies come to mind).

Bill introduces his wife, solicits money and Elton offers his bit of profundity:

"I never cease to be amazed at the misogynist attitude of some of the people in this country," he said. "I say to hell with them."

NOW ... let's think. What could he be referring to and who was a little uncomfortable as he said it!

Why I am No Longer a brain Dead Liberal

By David Mamet. Village Voice, March 11, 2008

Very good column. From the world of art a reasonable critique of the political field.


What can I write he does not. Nothing. Plus well worth reading. From the man on the left ... his personal confessions.