Here's a story about where the various cable networks rank in the ratings. But that's not really what I want you to pay attention to. I want you to take a minute and skim through some of the comments by republicans waxing witty and hysterical over the idea that Cartoon Network gets better ratings than MSNBC or CNN.
In at least one case, coming off exactly like some sort of Buffy the Vampire Slayer bigbad...
I hope Obama does force his health bill debacle through, so we can see the annihilation of democrats in November. It will be repealed, rest assured. The republicans are already in the planning stages.
For the record, I voted for Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Prop 8, Sarah Palin, Goldman Sachs, Blackwater, Joe Lieberman and Mitch McConnell. You can vote here.
Ok, so you know I ain't thrilled with the prospect of "Tim Burton's" Alice In Wonderland. So you can imagine how pleased I was to see the world agree with me to the tune of $200 million.
However, I have just learned that the record it broke was The Passion of the Christ's.
Constance McMillen was a guest on the Wanda Sykes show tonight.
First, an aside about Sykes: She really needs to get better at reading the cue cards without looking like she's reading the cue cards. I haven't seen readings that stiff since a mid-'80s Bob Hope special or Anthony Michael Hall on Saturday Night Live.
Now, to Ms. McMillen: She said she plans to remain in Mississippi for college, and then move...to Tennessee.
“It is not by chance that you were born Jewish. Your grandmother and her grandmother did not dream that one of their descendants would one day remove the family’s future generations from the Jewish people. Assimilation has forever been one of the enemies of the Jewish people . . .
Well. I know An Education was acclaimed, but it looked hateful to me. However, you know how I feel about Hathaway, and Jim Sturgess was good in Across the Universe--I don't think Taymor used him as well as she might've but he was good.
So let's see what this is about. It's
about Dexter and Emma, who meet for the first time during their graduation in 1988, and proceed to meet one day every year for the next 20 years
Ok. Remember when I wrote here last November about the crazy high school principal in Alabama who tried canceling an entire prom rather than let two lesbian students attend together?
It's spreading.
Dateline: Jackson, "We'd Like To Be Known As Even Crazier Than Alabama" Mississippi:
The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi had given the district until Wednesday to change that policy and allow 18-year-old Constance McMillen to escort her girlfriend, who is also a student, to the dance on April 2.
Instead, the school board met and issued a statement announcing it wouldn't host the event at Itawamba County Agricultural High School in Fulton, "due to the distractions to the educational process caused by recent events."
Oh, I disagree. This is very educational.
The statement didn't mention McMillen or the ACLU.
Of course it didn't mention McMillen. Naming someone makes it that much harder not to treat them as a person.
Finally, notice something about the AP piece:
Anna Watson, a 17-year-old junior at the high school, was looking forward to the prom, especially since the town's only hotspot is the bowling alley, she said.
"I am a little bummed out about it. I guess it's a decision that had to be made. Either way someone was going to get disappointed — either Constance was or we were," Watson said. "I don't agree with homosexuality, but I can't change what another person thinks or does."
Other students are on McMillen's side.
McKenzie Chaney, 16, said she wasn't planning to attend the prom, but "it's kind of ridiculous that they can't let her wear the tuxedo and it all be over with."
The way I read it, both those quotes are on McMillen's side.
Watson said. "I don't agree with homosexuality, but I can't change what another person thinks or does."
This year's "Razzie" worst in film awards have been announced. I haven't seen most of the winners, like "Transformers" and Sandra Bullock in "All About Steve." But to mark an anniversary of the coveted awards, worsts of the decade were also selected, including:
Paris Hilton was chosen as the decade's worst actress for movies such as "The Hottie and the Nottie" and "Repo: The Genetic Opera."
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Hilton was not crap in Repo. Granted that it was a role she could easily knock out of the park, but still.
This is a warning. Longtime readers may remember my periodic mini-rants on Saving Grace, being as it's one of my favorite shows; not least because it stars the best, most luscious, beautiful and thrilling actress in America...
First, because in every such picture that I can remember seeing, the parents seem to be really, actively involved with the kids. You can't say that about all movie star parents, some of whom seem to view their children, from "baby bump" on, as just another way of getting attention from the media.
The Rotten Tomatoes Critics Consensus on "Tim Burton's" Alice in Wonderlandis in...
Sacrifices the book's minimal narrative coherence -- and much of its heart...A film of remarkable visual invention that lacks strong plotting or a sense of wonder.
You don't fucking say.
In other words, a Tim Burton movie.
(Think about that for a second...less narrative coherence than the book...)
(Sorry...I'm just feeling bitter because this movie is going to be huge at the box office, while The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus slipped through the cracks...makes me want to take cyanide.)
A new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center has unearthed shocking data about the rise of militias, antigovernment groups, and other right-wing extremist groups. The report, titled “Rage on the Right,” has found that there has been an increase of 244 percent in the number of these extremist groups in 2009.
Early last year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned about the rise of “rightwing extremism in the United States,” sparking an uproar among many on the right who derided DHS’s warning as merely “paranoid accusations of liberal bloggers.”
Because, Obama voters (like me) sometimes feel disappointed in him. We wish he'd just Do the Right Thing; do the things he said he would, and basically be the liberal champion that racist conservatives say he is. We worry that he's strangled his administration with "Washington insiders."
However. Most of the time when we feel this way, we can always depend upon John McCain to come along and remind us that while the Obama administration may sometimes be disappointing, a McCain administration would've been catastrophic.
McCain To Propose Amendment Prohibiting Changes To Medicare Using Reconciliation
But!
Republicans have consistently supported far larger cuts to the Medicare program than what Democrats are currently proposing and are always complaining that the Medicare “entitlement” program will bankrupt the nation.
...The proposal helps estates worth more than $7 million in the case of couples. I guess struggling millionaires deserve the same empathy we feel for those without a job.
And notice this: Especially in the Senate, what passes for "bipartisanship" too often involves a Democrat such as Lincoln allying with a Republican on behalf of the wealthiest interests in the country. And we're supposed to cheer this?
Addressing Obama, [Senator] Barrasso suggested that we might be better off if people were insured only for catastrophic care. "Mr. President, when you say [people] with catastrophic plans, they don't go for care until later, I say sometimes the people with catastrophic plans are the people that are [the] best consumers of health care in . . . the way they use their health-care dollars."
"A lot of people" with insurance, he added, "come in and say, 'My knee hurts, maybe I should get an MRI,' they say. And then they say, 'Will my insurance cover it?' That's the first question. And if I say 'yes,' then they say, 'okay, let's do it.' If I say 'no,' then they say, 'Well, what will it . . . cost?' And 'What's it [going to] cost?' ought to be the first question. And that's why sometimes people with . . . catastrophic health plans ask the best questions, shop around, are the best consumers of health care."
Obama played the old TV character Columbo, who thrived on posing seemingly naive questions: "I just am curious. Would you be satisfied if every member of Congress just had catastrophic care? Do you think we'd be better health-care purchasers?"
Barrasso answered in the affirmative, though he didn't propose that senators dump their present coverage. Obama came right back: "Would you feel the same way if you were making $40,000?"
Democrats on the whole believe in using government to correct the inequities and inefficiencies the market creates, while Republicans on the whole think market outcomes are almost always better than anything government can produce.
That's not cheap partisanship. It's a fundamental divide.
Have you been watching Rachel Maddow and/or Keith Olbermann recently? If so, you'll know that one thing both of them, but she especially, has been doing lately is calling out Republicans for this hypocrisy:
Claiming to be against the stimulus whilst, and at the same time, practically begging for money from the stimulus.
Now, it might have occurred to you, if you've been paying attention around here, that ever since it became clear how popular this hypocrisy was amongst the GOP...
more than 110 GOP members of Congress who voted against the economic Recovery Act last year, but later touted the funds or asked for more money
...I have been waiting. Waiting for what? For this:
Like His Friends In Congress, GOP House Candidate In Tennessee Also Guilty Of Stimulus Hypocrisy
2. Nevertheless, on account my loathing Tim Burton with the heat of 1,000 suns, I have no intention of seeing her in "his" Alice in Wonderland.
This interview with the traffic-stopper actress and her costar Helena Bonham Carter, however, is instructive on at least a couple of fronts. First, dig the way they both suffer the fool of an interviewer gladly, or at least, with professional smiles (and polite feigned laughter).
And second, the psychological gobbledygook they ascribe to the film makes me, if anything, less likely to see it.
This morning, I tried logging in to my Facebook, to get this message:
Account Unavailable: Your account is temporarily unavailable due to site maintenance. It should be available again within a few hours. We apologize for the inconvenience.
I got a similar (but not duplicate) message for a while last night, but that was fixed in, as best I recall, less than an hour. Searching around for info I find that some people have been stuck in this maddening situation for months.
At least I still have my blogs...
ETA: Deleting my entire browsing history and restarting the computer seems to have done the trick.
You know...it's not like, to be honest, I ever thought Jennifer Love Hewitt had much more to offer than the body curvy with the breasts and all. She may be passable as a dramatic actress (please note my use of the word "may"), but she damn sure can't play comedy.
However, I'd be a hypocrite if I said there was necessarily anything really wrong with that. True, I prefer a woman who has a little more talent (your Alyson Hannigans) to those that don't (your Jessica Albas).
But oh, gee, a woman made it in Hollywood more because of her body than her talent. I'll alert the media.
Now, however, she's starting to worry me with her bizarre behavior. This weekend, it seems, was her birthday, and she had what was billed as an "'80s" theme party.
Go ahead, follow that link. She thinks that's '80s?
A conservative blogger saw 'socialist' books in the White House library. He photographed them, and crowed that he finally had evidence of Michelle Obama's leanings.
You kinda see it coming, don't you?
Turns out, the books have been in the library since Jackie Kennedy put them there. Which means through Nixon, Ford, Reagan and both Bushes.
You know...there are few things I like in life more than a truly perfect fool.
Let me explain what I mean.
It is not enough, simply to be a gay-hating moron...
...you have to be a gay-hating moron who comes off like some bad SNL character from the past 25 years (in other words, an SNL character from the past 25 years).
Human nature is a rational substance in relationship to the intelligible end of the reproductive act of reproduction.
OK. I'm pretty good with the words things (that example notwithstanding), but I've looked at his sentence forwards, backwards and sideways.
I can't even understand what he's trying to say for more than a third of it. And the part I do understand, he's wrong about:
Human nature is a rational substance...
Really. Humans including Tiger Woods and Lindsay Lohan? Including that sad fuck in Texas who couldn't just kill himself, no, he had to kill someone else along the way and injure a dozen others? Humans like Pamela Anderson and Sarah Palin?
Human nature is rational. Like hell.
(I don't even want to get into "the reproductive act of reproduction.")
And oh yes, there's more. After the GOP crowd, to their credit, start booing him:
"The lesbians at Smith College protest better than you do!"
He says it twice, even though it wasn't funny the first time. But again: I can't even figure out who this is meant to insult!
The said lesbians? But he's comparing them, favorably, to people in his own party.
Is he taking a shot at people booing him? Maybe...but in an really odd, praising-with-faint-damns kind of way.
(BTW, should any lesbians at Smith College happen to stumble across this entry, his turn of phrase was born to be on bumper stickers and T-shirts.)
This is what I mean when I speak of a perfect fool.
ETA: Just noticed that the prick is from my beloved home state of California, too, which is just the cherry on the cake...
Updating that story about the loon who called for my Senator to be hanged...the woman (!) who said that now says the remark was perfectly okay, because
"Nobody had a rope to hang Patty Murray,"
Oh, well all right then. I mean, I'd like to see Sarah Palin bled to death, so it'd be okay if I called for it a public rally, as long as nobody there has a knife that could do the job. Good to know.
That, BTW, was the woman's second or third attempt to get away from her own words. First
she denied to The Associated Press that she was the speaker, [then] said Thursday night that the rest of the statement was that she wanted to "hang Patty Murray, by vote."
Because that's an ordinary expression, something you hear every day.
Just as a side note: In the comments on that story, there's a fellow who tries to convince either the other readers or himself (I'm not really sure which)
that the majority of these tea party people are independents who are pissed off at both republicans and democrats. These are the SAME people who gave Obama his victory because independents crossed over and voted AGAINST Bushes term.
No, they're not. They just describe themselves that way for a smokescreen.
This begs the question: What if it was a three-party race?
The answer is: That would ensure the election of the Democratic candidate. :-)
The Democratic candidate gets 45 percent in both scenarios, but the GOP candidate's share of the vote drops from 47 percent in a two-way contest to just 33 percent with a Tea Party candidate on the ballot.
"How many of you have watched the movie Lonesome Dove?," asked an unidentified female speaker from the podium. "What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd. He got hung. And that's what I want to do with Patty Murray."
How many of you are surprised that she didn't know it was a book, too?
"I think the President would love to," Gibbs said when asked if President Obama would appear on "The Daily Show." "Just maybe not Colbert," he said.
Gibbs explained his reasoning for avoiding Colbert: "I have yet to see a politician best Stephen Colbert in an interview on his show. I mean, he's really, really good."
Since the hate crime at Al-Farooq, however, there has been “outpouring of neighborly support” for the mosque, with neighbors helping to clean up the graffiti. “It made me sick to my stomach, because I don’t expect this in Nashville,” said resident John Tighe. At least 150 people — “including spiritual leaders from several faiths” — also went to an open house at the Islamic Center of Nashville on Saturday to learn more about the Islamic faith and pledge “support for local Muslims in the wake of last week’s defacement” of Al-Farooq.
Her executive producer, Bill Wolff, says Maddow gets just as exercised about wasteful weapons systems. "I don't think it's personal so much because she is gay and it's an issue of gay rights, but because it's an issue of military efficiency," he says.
If Maddow has an affinity for military issues, it may be because she is the daughter of an Air Force captain. She is writing a book on the military and politics. The key to her approach has not been standing on her soapbox, which would be predictable, but humanizing the issue by featuring men who want to serve their country -- and happen to be gay.
"I prefer having dissenting voices speak to Rachel on an issue," Wolff says. "We have a difficult time sometimes booking folks who don't agree with Rachel."
I'll bet.
Maddow accepts the fact that some critics believe she must be biased on the subject. But she offers a simple response:
"I can't do the show as a non-gay person. I don't have that option."
Terry Fox is a Canadian legend whose cross-Canada run, the Marathon of Hope, inspired Canadians while raising money for cancer research. Michael J. Fox is a Canadian actor who starred in the legendary "Back to the Future" trilogy and has become an advocate for Parkinson's disease research. They're pretty easy to confuse for each other. Right, NBC?
It's understandable to misspeak the name during a live setting, so we can give Meredith Vieira a pass. But the graphics are a little harder to explain, especially considering the broadcast actually showed Terry Fox before switching to the "Family Ties" star.
I'm guessing NBC would love to take a DeLorean back to last night to get this right. Zing!
You know how I know this was a really dumb mistake? Because, I don't care about, nor do I follow sports. In my own country, let alone the Canadlians. Many if not most of you know that.
This is stupid of me, but it actually warms my heart to see that I didn't use any of them while I was writing My Girlfriend's Boyfriend. I may have come close a few times, and there's one near miss, but nah: None of em.
I still don't understand how I ended up on Amy Ephron's "One For The Table" mailing list. But in her Valentine's Day "issue" there's a story about "My Best Date" by a woman named Anna Harari (I think she's a restaurant critic).
Finally, something on which I completely disagree with Rachel Maddow. For the most part, I love her wonderful sanity and the way she slams people who deserve to be slammed.
But tonight, she devoted the first segment of her show to presenting a case, somewhat in fun but with a serious undercurrent: That the reason this country can't get a grip on the changes that need to be made to the filibuster form of obstruction is because the word "filibuster" is
"the most boring word in the English language."
I respectfully disagree. Not about the need to reform the obstruction, I've been convinced that abuses have made that imperative. But about the word. And it's not just because it reminds me of a great West Wing episode, "The Stackhouse Filibuster."
Break down the word: Filibuster.
Filly-Buster.
Filly: A young (under the age of four) female horse.
Informal usage: "A lively, high-spirited girl or young woman."
Buster: "Originally a nickname ...from the word bust."
Secondary: A good name for a pet dog, or a cartoon rabbit, or a 1920s comedian, or a happy nightclub singer, or a comic strip character, or a make of footwear.
These are all things that I like, most most especially the lively; high-spirited young women and the word "bust."
Maybe "filibuster" excites me as a word because it connotates all that.
The White House has just released its letter inviting Congressional leaders to the health care summit on February 25th, sharing some detail about who will attend and how the summit will work.
The session will begin at 10:00 a.m. and be broadcast live in its entirety…
The President will offer opening remarks at the beginning of the meeting, followed by remarks from a Republican leader chosen by the Republican leadership and a Democratic leader chosen by the Democratic leadership. The President will then open and moderate iscussion on four critical topics: insurance reforms, cost containment, expanding coverage, and the impact health reform legislation will have on deficit reduction.
Since this meeting will be most productive if information is widely available before the meeting, we will post online the text of a proposed health insurance reform package. This legislation would put a stop to insurance company abuses, extend coverage to millions of Americans, get control of skyrocketing premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reduce the deficit.
It is the President’s hope that the Republican congressional leadership will also put forward their own comprehensive bill to achieve those goals and make it available online as well.
...a grain of salt you want to take this with, bearing in mind that it comes directly from The Democratic Party...but I think it's worth reading. It's a record of President Obama's accomplishments thus far.
Obviously this isn't revisionism on as disturbing a scale as, say, attempts by republicans to act as though George W.'s presidency never existed (though lord knows, I understand the temptation).
To my mind (and ear), he's right. Musical riffs "quote" others all the time, and usually it's just a way, some wittier than others, to give an attentive listener a little treat. This is not the same thing as plagiarism.
"When I co-wrote Down Under back in 1978, I appropriated nothing from anyone else's song.
"There was no Men At Work, there was no flute, yet the song existed. That's the truth of it, because I was there, Norm Lurie was not, and neither was Justice Jacobson," wrote an emotional Hay.
You know how I like to occasionally riff on the odd search terms that lead people to this blog? Taking note of how high it is in the Google ranking and such?
Well, I just learned that we're number five for the search (and I'm going to alter this to discourage further searches, but you'll get the idea):
b0yhunt3r ch1ld v3ry y0ung b0y k1d g@y f0t0
The reason for this is that they're combining material from several of my posts, one about the Make-A-Wish Foundation, one of my "name that horror movie" posts, an entry on Ted Nugent and my review of the premiere of Greek.
I've been getting robo-calls lately in which local teachers urge me to support a couple of "levies" coming up in an election here that they say will keep funding for schools. OK, so maybe it will.
But I just heard on my voicemail from yesterday one of those robocalls recorded by a fucking child. I don't care whether I agree with the cause or not, that's exploitation. What's more, it reeks of desperation. To say nothing of manipulation.
PS: You can well imagine my pleasure at learning there is also a connecton to utterly creepy conservative John Derbyshire, with whom you shouldn't trust your pubescent daughter.
...the NBC deal didn't go far enough and now Conan is paying for staff severance out of his own pocket.
TMZ reports that Conan's "Tonight Show" stagehands were not covered in his exit package, so he has promised to pay the nearly 50-person crew "at least six weeks severance out of his own pocket."
The crew union is "very happy" with Conan's handling of the situation, TMZ reports.
As you may recall, I was Al Gore’s running mate in 2000. A lot of pundits said he picked me because I was willing to criticize Bill Clinton.
But by those standards, he should have picked Hillary!
There was some controversy from my Senate Democratic colleagues that at the same time I was running as vice president with Al, I was also running for reelection to the Senate.
When John Edwards heard about it, he said to me, “Isn’t that like two-timing?”
I’m going to reach out to people who disagree with me. The only nomination I know for certain is Keith Olberman, whom I plan to make Secretary of Interior . . . in hopes he’ll get lost in a national park.
On foreign affairs, I understand what Guantanamo has come to mean in world opinion. But we can fix that, without closing Guantanamo.
All we have to do is change its name. How about calling it the Richard B. Cheney Resort and Rehabilitation Spa?
I bet the water sports will be really great.
I could speculate here upon what he thinks "water sports" actually means...but no, can't talk, too busy w/sides splitting...
Per Think Progress, following the urgings of the right wing including Sarah Palin,
CBS Allows Focus On The Family Advocacy Ad During Super Bowl, But Bans Gay Dating Site Ad
Their stated reason? The ad with gay content was considered an "advocacy ad" that was not "responsibly produced" and “not within the Network’s broadcast standards for Super Bowl Sunday.”
Andrew Sullivan flits in-and-out of my good graces, but when he's right, he's right:
There is one reason this ad was denied. Its gay content was deemed offensive to football fans, while an anti-abortion issues ad wasn’t.
He also notes that FotF is "Christianist and virulently anti-gay." This is true. But they're also sickening, anti-Semitic, child-abusing, sexist bigots.
Update: Andrew Sullivan has a good round-up of reaction by bloggers from both the left and the right to Obama's performance yesterday. Me, all I have to say is now that's the President I voted for!
Scott Roeder, the man who killed abortion services provider Dr. George Tiller, has been found guilty of first-degree murder in a Kansas courtroom today. The jury took just 15 minutes to deliberate on their decision, a fact bolstered by Roeder’s testimony on the witness stand yesterday, where he basically admitted to killing Tiller, while saying that it was necessary to saving the unborn. Defense lawyers had sought voluntary manslaughter in the trial, but the judge said yesterday that the jury could not consider that charge in their decision, or a lesser second-degree murder conviction.
Under Kansas law, Roeder’s sentence will be, at a minimum, life imprisonment with the possibility of parole only after 25 years.
Ok, fair warning, this is another Saw post, but stay with me--something actually interesting (to people other than me) has happened. The shortest possible version:
Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate, the companies that produce and distribute the Saw films, respectively, have just exercised a contractual option.
Now he has to direct a film he had no hand in preparing, and which oh, by the way, starts shooting in two weeks. And David Hackl, who was to have directed the new film and had done all the pre-production until this date, has been pushed out.
For me this is doubly bittersweet: I thought Greutert did a better job on VI than David Hackl did on V, and like most Saw fans, I wanted him back. But not like this.
This sure looks like really a shitty thing to do to the both of them.
Swans - effortlessly beautiful take care ! You ought to be aware of foxes hiding Go on - still time for you to sail back to his side While I forget I ever saw you gliding