The face of the right-wing

This is another one of those moments when I wish more actual right-wingers read this blog. Because, I'd like to be able to ask someone...seriously...how can you possibly sit still for this?













That's a picture of conservative radio host Mike Gallagher, who has four sons of military age, none of whom are serving. He's leading a counter-protest against Cindy Sheehan. Just to refresh your memory as to who that is, and why she's doing what she's doing, here are a few words from Ms. Sheehan herself:

People have asked what it is I want to say to President Bush. Well, my message is a simple one. He’s said that my son—and the other children we’ve lost—died for a noble cause. I want to find out what that noble cause is. And I want to ask him: “If it’s such a noble cause, have you asked your daughters to enlist? Have you encouraged them to go take the place of soldiers who are on their third tour of duty?” I also want him to stop using my son’s name to justify the war. The idea that we have to “complete the mission” in Iraq to honor Casey’s sacrifice is, to me, a sacrilege to my son’s name. Besides, does the president any longer even know what “the mission” really is over there?

Casey knew that the war was wrong from the beginning. But he felt it was his duty to go, that his buddies were going, and that he had no choice. The people who send our young, honorable, brave soldiers to die in this war, have no skin in the game. They don’t have any loved ones in harm’s way. As for people like O’Reilly and Hannity and Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh and all the others who are attacking me and parroting the administration line that we must complete the mission there—they don’t have one thing at stake. They don’t suffer through sleepless nights worrying about their loved ones.

Mike Gallagher and his group or right-wing goons are chanting "we don't care" at this woman.

Let me make that absolutely clear. A group of conservative republicans are mocking a mother who lost her son in war. I want just one person to look me in the eye and tell me that is defensible on any level whatsoever.

Anne Hathaway needs to get some sun

That's all I'm saying. (Do you realize that was over 150 posts without my mentioning Anne Hathaway or running a picture of her?)

I can't fight this feeling any longer

I love Roger Ebert. Especially when he's bitchy. The mere thought of him taking on the likes of Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo is enough to make me start rubbing my hands together in gleeful anticpation.

But it was so much better than I thought it was gonna be. Read on, and kvell!

The movie created a spot of controversy last February. According to a story by Larry Carroll of MTV News, Rob Schneider took offense when Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times listed this year's Best Picture Nominees and wrote that they were "ignored, unloved and turned down flat by most of the same studios that ... bankroll hundreds of sequels, including a follow-up to 'Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,' a film that was sadly overlooked at Oscar time because apparently nobody had the foresight to invent a category for Best Running Penis Joke Delivered by a Third-Rate Comic."

Schneider retaliated by attacking Goldstein in full-page ads in Daily Variety and the Hollywood Reporter. In an open letter to Goldstein, Schneider wrote: "Well, Mr. Goldstein, I decided to do some research to find out what awards you have won. I went online and found that you have won nothing. Absolutely nothing. No journalistic awards of any kind ... Maybe you didn't win a Pulitzer Prize because they haven't invented a category for Best Third-Rate, Unfunny Pompous Reporter Who's Never Been Acknowledged by His Peers."

Reading this, I was about to observe that Schneider can dish it out but he can't take it. Then I found he's not so good at dishing it out, either. I went online and found that Patrick Goldstein has won a National Headliner Award, a Los Angeles Press Club Award, a RockCritics.com award, and the Publicists' Guild award for lifetime achievement.

Ebert doesn't mention this, but it's worth remembering that the studio that releases Schneider's movies had to invent their own film critic to get one of his last movies a good review.

On to Ebert's exciting conclusion!

But Schneider is correct, and Patrick Goldstein has not yet won a Pulitzer Prize. Therefore, Goldstein is not qualified to complain that Columbia financed "Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo" while passing on the opportunity to participate in "Million Dollar Baby," "Ray," "The Aviator," "Sideways" and "Finding Neverland." As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks.

Ahhhhhhhh...that was good, man...

(Hee hee hee...)

Where the Hart is

Egalia from TGW tipped me to a good post by Gary Hart:

If democracy only works when there is open discussion of opposing ideas and policies, and if the opposition party, in this case the Democrats, has hand-cuffed, blind-folded, gagged, and hog-tied itself to a failed invasion and occupation in the Middle East, where will the expanding majority of Americans look for a representative, a spokesperson, a voice for their anger, frustration, and distrust at being misled?

The circumstances suggest it should be a Senate or House Democratic leader, a recognized authority on foreign policy constantly seen on the Sunday talk shows, certainly one of the many “leaders” lining up to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination for president in 2008.

Strangely, no one in any of those categories comes to mind. Their voices are silent. Thus, both they and the party they claim or presume to represent look dumbstruck, awkward, pitiful, and timid. Where the single greatest issue of the day, and one of the most potent issues of our time, is concerned, there is no courageous opposition.

Ah, Gary Hart. The proto-Clinton. The same capacity for greatness..

You know...

...my birthday is coming up...

...and it's been marked down, too...

The August of "no major news" continues

"Just 38% of Americans now believe the U.S. and its Allies are winning the War on Terror," according to a new Rasmussen Reports survey.

-Political Wire

Yay real women

Pandagon links to and comments on a

list of 10 movies that have female characters that aren't unbelievable icons of strength or bumbling idiots or some other stereotype but actual well-written, believable characters

We also learn about something called

The Mo Movie Measure: It’s and [sic] idea from an old Dykes to Watch Out For cartoon. The character “Mo” explains that she only watches movies in which 1) there are at least two female characters with names, who 2) talk to each other sometime in the course of the movie, about 3) something other than a man. It’s amazing how few movies can pass the Mo Movie Measure.

Yeah. Roxanne could pass, but My Best Friend's Wedding couldn't.

Some good choices on the original list, and in Amanda's addition and comments from other Pandagon readers. I've certainly got no problem with:

Ripley in Aliens
Auntie Mame in any version except "Lucy's Folly."
Kind of surprised to see Catwoman in Batman Returns on the list--kinky sexy, sure, but...
Annie in Bull Durham (that name sounds familiar...)

And I like the argument the original list makes for

Star Wars (1977) In The Empire Strikes Back, Princess Leia's tough talk is just that -- talk -- because, like the rest of America, she's falling for Han Solo. In Return of the Jedi, she's a longhaired love slave in a chain mail bikini, with very little to do but wait for her rescue. But back in 1977, when Leia bravely faced off against Darth Vader, she was the brightest of heroes. Even as a captive, pint-sized princess with cinnamon buns for hair, she showed little girls a new of idea of what a princess could be: defiant, politically able, impervious to torture, and, if that weren't enough, the best shot in the rebel forces. It was a promise no movie heroine has matched since -- not even Leia herself.

So who would I add? Well, apart from Stephanie in Grease 2 and Mabel in The Pirate Movie...no, I'm kidding.

Holly Hunter in Thirteen, and Broadcast News, and Living Out Loud, and Home For The Holidays...I like Holly Hunter's work a lot. Have I mentioned that to you?

Anne in The Fisher King (that name sounds familiar...)

Veronica in Heathers

Sera in Leaving Las Vegas

Emily in Morgan Stewart's Coming Home, a guilty pleasure.

Jordan in Real Genius

Ladies, anyone on your lists?

Writings that are likely to come back and bite you in the ass

A couple of months ago, our friend James "the" Mann wrote in his blog:

Finally, a rightwing site that doesn't look like an insane asylum. Redstate.org seems to be a levelheaded sort of place, but then again, I've only read one article...

Demonstrating once again the truth of the old addage, "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

Today, someone at that site (via The News Blog) called Cindy Sheehan a whore.

Enter August, no major news, and a media still smarting over the President's re-election despite everything they threw at him. Cindy Sheehan returns entering stage right -- this time a left wing media whore in the form of a grieving mother.

It's worth remembering that rightwing sites in general, and redstate.org in specific, had no trouble playing off Gannon/Guckert as "an objective, professional journalist."

So, let's review. To the rightwing sites:

Cindy Sheehan, a grieving mother who lost her son in Iraq=whore.
Gannon/Guckert, who performed sexual favors for money=not a whore.

There are no sane, levelheaded rightwing sites, James.

PS: Oh! And get this! No major news? The president embarking on a five-week-vacation at a time of war isn't major news? A chief mouthpiece of the administration having a meltdown on television isn't major news? Bush's numbers dropping further with every poll isn't major news? Peter Jennings dying isn't major news? A CIA commander saying we let Bin Laden get away isn't major news?

Man. Those poor rightwing sites. The world in which they live must be absolutely frenzied if none of that even merits a blip on the radar.

There are no sane, levelheaded rightwing sites, James.

How many times do I have to say it?

Tucker Carlson is an awful human being.

Summer

And so we come to the end of my little Eric Rohmer retrospective. Unforunately, it did not end on a happy note.

I should have known there was trouble ahead when I read in a review book that the dialogue was largely improvised. As one or two of you may know, I hate improvised dialogue. How much do I hate improvised dialogue? Ever hear of a movie called Dancing at the Blue Iguana? It's a largely improvised film about strippers. This is a movie that features Daryl Hannah, Sheila Kelly, and Jennifer Tilly in various states of undress throughout. And I have never been able to sit through it.

That's how much I hate improvised dialogue. It's like watching actors in a circle-jerk. And reading it in subtitles sure doesn't help.

Since the dialogue is such a wash, the best parts of the movie come when the characters are silent, and we can watch them and imagine what they are feeling or thinking.

It also may be that four Eric Rohmer movies in as many days is too much--like him though I do, he does have a definite style and taste.

A confession

I don't give a ratfucking piss about the Rolling Stones. And I'm going to go that one further: Nobody gives a ratfucking piss about the Rolling Stones. Except boomers desperate to cling to the illusion that the bands they liked when they were in college, and therefore themselves, are still relevant.

And in the case of the Stones, that hasn't been true for at least 20 years--and I am being very, very generous.

That's what all this bullshit tempest in a teapot about the "jab" the Stones are taking at the Bush administration on their new album is all about. And the blogs are all atwitter and CNN is all abuzz.

It's a publicity stunt, you idiots. It's another Rolling Stones album that you won't be able to name one song off of by the time their next album comes out.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

According to The Hill...

there are signs that an...intriguing McCain-Kerry ticket could be in the works. If such an improbable thing comes to pass, its genesis might well be traced back to a one-on-one breakfast meeting July 27, when the two decorated Vietnam veterans huddled for more than an hour at La Colline restaurant on Capitol Hill.

Now, that's a disturbing enough idea. Although I've liked some of the things McCain has said and done, I'd have to think long and hard before I could vote for him. And Kerry, well, I still haven't forgiven Kerry. For so many things, really.

But here's where it starts making me want to scream and tear my hair out.

Guess it’s unlikely there will be a Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign if McCain and Kerry team up in 2008.

Yes, certainly, the republicans would never be so crass and opportunistic as to impugn the patriotism of a man who spent years as a prisoner of war. Because they've been such reasonable people of good will when it comes to their smear tactics in the past, haven't they?

I tell you, this is what makes Democrats (or whateverthehell I am) crazy: The fact that this kind of stuff is going on ALL THE TIME and it just seems to go through our cutural memory like water through a sieve.

The future exhibit "B" in my coming stalker trial

The lovely and sarcastic Amanda Marcotte, of Pandagon fame, has posted a link to a few photos of herself and her friends..

Going down to South Park, gonna see if I can't unwind

In Denver, a group of townspeople has mounted a protest against a city librarian. The protest is obstensibly against a Spanish novella with sexually explicit illustrations recently added to the collection.

But, of course (sigh), that's not really what this is about. It's about xenophobia and hypocriscy.

An exchange between two women revealed the deep division. Wanda Weatherford has lived in the U.S. all her life. Gabriela Casillas' parents are Mexican and moved to America when she was a little girl.

"You need to speak English," Weatherford told Casillas.
"I am speaking English, but I can speak Spanish too," Casillas replied.

"You need to speak (English) all the time," Weatherford said.

Justin Irwin of Loveland came to protest the novellas because he has four children and said he doesn't want them to be exposed to pornography.

"They are explicit and graphic and violent towards women," Irwin said, wearing a T-shirt with silhouetted pictures of naked women that said, "Experienced professionals wanted. Several positions available. Flexible hours."

Baah!

Our old friend James Dobson, he who compares stem cell research with Nazi experiments during the holocaust, has some tips that might have reassured David Parker that his son was absolutely not going to turn out to be gay. Posted via Hullabaloo:

It features a full rundown of symptoms, like "is different" and "likes to play with girls" that are clear signs of impending homoism.

Well, I ought to be turning any day now, because virtually every one of the so-called "warning signs" applies to me. Except the bit about "A persistent preference to play female roles in make-believe play," of course.

(Uh-huh. And you write about what?)

And-I know this isn't exactly a novel observation-but once again I'm struck by just how...I don't know what the word is..."open to interpretation" the pro-life religious-right's approaches to childrearing are. You'll remember a couple of days ago when they offered

a great way to teach your kids about the "birds and the bees" without taking off your own clothes.

Now we find Mr. Dobson, cautioning that if they don't want their sons to grow up to be homos, the thing for a father to do is introduce his son to his penis immidiately.

the boy's father has to do his part. He needs to mirror and affirm his son's maleness. He can play rough-and-tumble games with his son, in ways that are decidedly different from the games he would play with a little girl. He can help his son learn to throw and catch a ball. He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard. He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger.

Hey, there's going to be a concert!

Our public opinion polls are in the toliet, but...

She poses foot on the chair, Coconut shy but...

I can recommend the September 2005 issue of Vanity Fair, the "Jen Finally Talks!" issue, and for more than just the interview and pictures of America's favorite cover girl. But about that--looking at the magazine racks at the supermarket over the last few days leads me to the question: How good is your PR (or how famous are you) when your cover story in one magazine becomes the subject of cover stories in other magazines?

As for the interview, well, allowing for spin, she seems like a very nice person. As for the pics... they're the best "my husband left me for another woman, I need reaffirmation of my sexuality and adorability" photos I've seen since Uma Thurman.

How good are they? Well, If I were Brad Pitt, I'd be seriously considering eating my heart out about now. Which is one thing if you're Hugh Grant and risked a relationship with Elizabeth Hurley for Divine Brown.


But prior to this, I would have said Pitt had made at least a lateral move...until I saw these pictures. So I'm saying she looks good.

But I promised there was more to recommend the issue than little miss got-it-goin'-on, didn't I? And so there is, including a good look at "Rovegate" and a funny piece by James Wolcott about a new literary genre: The porn star memoir.

Making a fanciful analogy worthy of a metaphysical poet, Jerry Butler compares erectile disfunction to bottled-up legislation: "sometimes your dick become like Congress. Even though the President puts a bill in to become law, Congress still have to vote on it. Sometimes your penis stalls on the bill."

Now that's a metaphor.

Autumn Tale

...as you've probably guessed if you've been paying attention for the last couple of days, is the title of the latest film on the program in my ongoing homage to Eric Rohmer.

And boy oh boy, if there was ever a film to see if you want to know why Rohmer engages me personally, this is the one. A talent for dialogue (given that I have to assume that through the translator), an exploration of love and friendship, a taste for writing about women, misunderstandings, a wedding, an ambiguous ending, dancing.

Those of you who know my work: That sound familiar to anybody?

No lesbians, but given the way French women are always kissing each other and holding hands, it doesn't take much to imagine a certain subtext.

In Ebert's essay, the one that started all this by jump-starting my interest in Rohmer's films, he calls Marie Rivière's character in this film "perhaps the most lovable of all [Rohmer's] heroines." It's all a matter of taste, I suppose, but my eyes were more taken with one Alexia Portal...

Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves...and justice!

Cheerleaders' chant helps identify driver

They didn't have a pen or paper handy.

So, Kimmie Ostrowski and the other members of the Lincoln High School varsity cheerleading squad did what came naturally when a driver fled the scene after causing a chain-reaction car crash Wednesday near the University of Michigan campus: They turned the license plate numbers into a cheer.

And they cheered and cheered and cheered, committing the license plate to memory for police while their coaches rendered aid to a woman injured in the crash at Packard and Thompson streets.

"We just started to chant it so we'd remember it and help them get the guy,'' said Ostrowski, a senior captain, who with junior co-captain Amy Sirois led the nine-member squad's impromptu performance until the Ann Arbor Police arrived.

This is great!

A fella at WorldNetDaily has written a commentary entitled, "Why women's rights are wrong." Amanda at Pandagon has made some remarks about it, which are as love-filled as you might expect.

But for once, I'm going to suggest that you bypass Ms. Marcotte and go directly to the source. You know I love her, but in this case she can't hold a candle to the sheer greatness of one Mr. Vox Day. Who, among other things, has all the writing style of the ranting luntatic you expect to see outside stores begging for change.

Let's watch.

Men's increasing unwillingness to marry stems primarily from two causes -- the feminized family court system that transformed marriage from a mutually beneficial contract into a financial and emotional liability, and the removal of paternal responsibility for the sexual behavior of young women. Ergo, the need for marriage has been eliminated while its liabilities have increased. As Blue America and de-Christianizing Europe increasingly show, in the absence of religion there is now very little impetus for marriage.

I had to look that up--I didn't believe there was such a word as "Christianizing." Turns out, there is. But to quote William Goldman, "I do not think it means what you think it means."

Onward!

The women of America would do well to consider whether their much-cherished gains of the right to vote, work, murder and freely fornicate are worth destroying marriage, children, civilized Western society and little girls. They can at least console themselves with the thought that, in the long run, it doesn't matter what they do, because the women's-rights ideology is an evolutionary dead end, and it is increasingly apparent that societies embracing it will not survive.

Wait. Women have the right to murder? Damnit, Amee, Moya, you gals have been holding out on me. Here I thought you were just running around, living your everyday lives, when really you've been out there exercising your right to murder.

Lucky. I never get to murder anybody...

(Although come to think of it, actually it all makes sense. That's what the whole "your voices reminding us of music" thing is about, isn't it? It's a Siren Song. You're luring us to our deaths!)

Finally, I know what you're wondering. Who is this Vox Day who is so learned in the ways of women?

Vox Day is a novelist and Christian libertarian. He is a member of the SFWA, Mensa and the Southern Baptist church

Christian. Libertarian. Sci-Fi writer. Mensa. Baptist. That's a good combination...