imkittymyers at hotmail dot com
Saturday, July 24, 2004
ROUNDUP
8 John Hawkins, at RightWingNews, is not entirely satisfied with the Commission’s findings:
The 9/11 Commission Misses The Boat On Sudan's Offer To Hand Over Bin Laden To Clinton
Richard Shelby, is contradicting the 9/11 commission and adding a new twist to a monster story that the mainstream press has long ignored: Clinton turning down Sudan's offer to hand over Osama Bin Laden in 1996....
…
I know whether this was a whitewash or not, but at best, it doesn't look like the 9/11 commission made a serious effort to find out the truth about what may have been in retrospect, the biggest gaffe of the entire Clinton era.
8 Russell Roberts, at CafeHayek, weighs in on CFR.
The Challenge of the Challenger
The power of the incumbent and the challenge of the challenger to establish name recognition and identity is one of the reasons to be skeptical of campaign finance laws. They make it much harder for talented, non-famous people to enter Presidential politics.
8 I am quite possibly the slowest reader on earth. Aaron’s book-a-week goal would render me catatonic. Check out his list and then add your own suggestion:
Current Reading:
I am woefully behind my usual 50 books (one a week) so I need to get reading!
Also, please check out my three lists of suggested reading and listening:
8 Fatty-Fatty Too-Much-Moore waddling towards that $100,000,000 mark:
As of Thursday night, FAHRENHEIT 9/11 has hauled in $98,355,724 in 30 days. His movie is taking in about $1 million/night.
8 Speaking of Fatty, Lee, at MooreWatch, discovered something fishy about his film:
Lies, Damn Lies,and F9/11
Just for fun, we went back to the Dec. 19, 2001 editions, to ogle the headline and paper shown in the movie.
But somehow there was no such news story in that day’s paper.
We found that curious.
How could a news headline that never appeared in the Dec. 19 paper appear in a copy of the Dec. 19 paper shown in the movie?
Now we learn how.
$ Hat tip to Tyler at
p C.O.’s upcoming birthday present:
THE LITTLE PEOPLE
Kerry und Edwards have been touting their “Two Americas” theme hoping to appeal to whom they obviously view as “the little people,” and I don’t mean dwarves and midgets, either.
Waffle House report:
As a former union organizer for the Communications Workers of America, I find Teh-Ray-Zah's use of striking workers to further her husband's ambitions, while having a personal/business relationship with a board member of the company they are striking against, sickening. Worse, that the United Steel Workers of America leadership could care so little for their members by endorsing Kerry.
…
Another thing I find interesting in the sleeze trail of Heinz-Kerry are the trial lawyers.
= Kerry - lawyer
= Edwards - lawyer
= Booker - lawyer
= Majority of Edward's donations - lawyers
= A good sum of Kerry's donations - lawyers
= Heinz Center - infested with lawyers
Read more endearing Kerry qualities at KerryHaters (hint: a sweetheart deal and stiffed waitresses, plus more).
Friday, July 23, 2004
LAST CALL
8 PardonMyEnglish has posted a picture of one of its writers standing in front of the most famous pizzaria in Boston, maybe even America, thanks to the DNC.
Pizza Of Their Own Medicine
Pardon My English’s Aaron Margolis in front of the now famous Pro-Bush banner across from the Fleet Center.
8 Fly has discovered a must-see indy film.
Hollywood IndySharks
Rather than gab about the glitzy, boring, star-studded Hollywood premiere of the studio crap I went to last night, I'd much rather talk about the terrific, micro-budget thriller Open Water I saw the previous night at a private screening.
I wouldn't be surprised if Open turns out to be a sleeper summer indyfilm hit.
The flick has a simple but chilling concept: husband-and-wife scuba divers are accidentally stranded in shark-infested open water. And it's based on a true story.
8 Aaron has posted Part IV of his 5-part review of F9/11.
"This is ALL staged!" (F9/11 Review Part IV of V)
This movie does not get any better and when I review the end, you will see why Michael Moore should be hanged for treason
$ Don’t miss Tyler’s daily digest at RedLineRants. It’s packed and he’s funny. Thanks, T!
j Memo to Pat: Beware of Middle Eastern-looking band members on airplanes, especially if they’re carrying McDonalds' bags. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
CONVENTION UPDATES
The owner of a pizzeria across the FleetCenter said he is closing next week, citing convention plans to give delegates free meals. To demonstrate his displeasure he hung a pro Bush sign outside his shop. (AP Photo / Chitose Suzuki)
Sign of Bush's support surfaces
Even though he voted for George W. Bush four years ago, Mark F. Pasquale was looking forward to the Democrats coming to town, especially since the pizza shop he has run for the past 23 years is right across the street from the FleetCenter. But then the barriers started going up, the security rules kept getting changed, and he finally had enough. He's closing during the convention and leaving behind a banner in support of Bush.
…
Pasquale said that his two sisters, both Democrats, are not happy about the sign and that they are also concerned there might be repercussions. Still, he won't take the sign down.
Arab TV to get inside DNC look: Al-Jazeera grabs spot in FleetCenter skybox
Next week, though, the controversial Al-Jazeera network will for the first time at a political convention take its place alongside other major networks in a skybox, providing live coverage of the Democratic National Convention from the FleetCenter.
…
The network has a Washington bureau, and reporters have White House access and cover Congress. Al-Jazeera, which will be affiliated with ABC during the DNC, has 16 staffers covering the convention who will work out of a FleetCenter skybox alongside ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and Fox.
…
The network also will have a box at the Republican National Convention at New York's Madison Square Garden next month.
DNC host committee spokeswoman Peggy Wilhide said Al-Jazeera employees went through the same National Press Gallery screening and credentialing process as other media.
roberto, are you serious? EEEEEUUUUUWWWWWW!
A Kerry Kiss??
Does John Kerry try the same [Algore/Tipper KISS] with the lovely Teresa Heinz Kerry at next week's democrat convention in Boston?? Considering that not too many people are going to be watching the convention, not only should they do it, they should announce ahead of time that they're going to do it. Think of the ratings!! I would pay to see that one.
BLOGGER ROUNDUP
H Welcome home, roberto and fam!
Home, Sweet Home
r Poverty Kills
The recent tragic fire in India that killed 90 school children is a lesson in the advantages of wealth.
According to the Associated Press, the fire “appeared to have been sparked by dry coconut leaves used as firewood in a makeshift kitchen.” And it spread so quickly and so catastrophically because the roof of the schoolhouse was thatched.
s So, what’s yer point? Gays, known for their persnickety attention to details, probably did a much better job than their hetero counterparts.
GAY PORN STAR SERVES MOGULS
THE power-moguls and political heavyweights now luxuriating at ultra-exclusive retreat Bohemian Grove are unaware that they're being waited on hand-and-foot by a famous gay porn star.
We're told that "Chad Savage," who has appeared in such carnal classics as "How the West Was Hung," is supplementing his sex job by working as a valet at Bohemian Grove, the all-male annual gathering inside a 2,700-acre redwood forest in Monte Rio, Calif., that has been attended by every Republican president since Calvin Coolidge, as well as by industrial titans and media magnates.
"All of us valets in the Grove are tittering about it," says our Bohemian blabbermouth. "To think there's all these powerful conservative guys having their drinks and food served to them by a gay porn star. He makes their beds and attends to their every need — and they have no idea who he really is."
~ I got all excited seeing KITTY LITTER heading in the NY Post. I was purr-fectly disappointed when I realized it was a nasty review of “Catwoman.” Like I’d ever see that movie anyway. But really, calling it KITTY LITTER?
KITTY LITTER: A purr-fectly ridiculous and boring cat-astrophe, “Catwoman” more than lives up to the lethal advance buzz and — even with Halle Berry cavorting like a third-rate dominatrix — is about as sexy as a hairball.
O Talk about hairballs ... Clear Channel will air in Miami, making it the 18th station nationwide carrying O’Frankenstein.
Clear Channel Picks Up O'Franken Network
N Is Kamp Kerry reading our buddies at the WaffleHouse?
Women’s eNews.org – a Heinz Foundation-funded website – ran a report glorifying Hezbollah suicide bombers as "deified in paradise and venerated on earth for fighting Israel" - and praises the terrorist group's support network for women widowed by their husband's "martyrdom" attacks.
Women’s eNews.org has recently removed the offending article from their website. In fact, someone has pulled the plug on Women's eNews.org altogether. Perhaps word came from the top to remove it … the top of the Heinz Foundation, that is.
x 'MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE' MORE PARTISAN THAN 'FAHRENHEIT 911'
"I cannot recall when Hollywood last released a big-budget mainstream feature film as partisan as this one at the height of a presidential campaign."
So believes NY TIMES's Frank Rich about the upcoming PARAMOUNT thriller MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.
"Freed from any obligations to fact, MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE can play far dirtier than FAHRENHEIT 911," writes Rich in a column set for release this Sunday, newsroom sources tell DRUDGE.
"This movie could pass for the de facto fifth day of the [Democrat] convention itself."
x Yeah, right, sure, Liz Smith:
WELL-STUDIED VILLAIN
Would it be possible to can all the obvious speculation that Meryl Streep based her senator-villain in the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate" on New York's real-life Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton?
The 13-time Oscar nominee has more imagination than that. Take it from me, the two people Meryl studied were Karen Hughes, the former and still-sometimes adviser to President George W. Bush, and Reagan speechwriter and conservative thinker Peggy Noonan.
WITCH
Helen Thomas? Wasn’t she that hag who tried to cook Hansel und Gretel? Read this exchange the witch had with Bush's press.
Impeachable Sources, Impeachable Offenses
Given the intelligence Bush was provided in the months after September 11th 2001, and given Saddam's refusal to cooperate unconditionally with United Nations weapons inspectors -- in violation of the cease fire agreement which kept him in power after the first Gulf War -- Bush's decision to launch a pre-emptive war against Iraq becomes readily justifiable. Indeed, if President Bush hadn't gone to war, knowing what he knew, he ought to have been impeached.
Need answers from the 9/11 Commission’s Final Report?
Here’s a quick’n’easy search engine.
Thanks, Lucianne.com!
Thursday, July 22, 2004
"C" IS FOR CONDOM
Blogging will be delayed today as Nurse G and I will try once again to visit my mother. When we tried last Sunday, it rained so hard and so fast that we were forced to turn around after 60 miles. In the meantime, I thought you’d like this piece, which I wrote in March 1995.
Last night my mother said the word condom. My mother! The word rolled off this refined septuagenarian's tongue like water off a duck's back. She had been telling me about the plugged plumbing under the chemistry lab floors at the high school, where she had once reigned as its librarian, when the "c" word just popped up in the list of debris she thought was possibly clogging the drains.
She didn't pause before she said it or gradually ease into saying it, nor did I detect a hint of revulsion in her voice, either. And I'm too young for my mother to be entering senility, so I can't blame it on her age. Mind you, this is a word which normally would have gotten my mouth washed out with Ivory soap had I said it when I was growing up. But say it she did as naturally as she says the word church.
Then she asked, "Don't you think it's amazing that in thirty years they never cleaned out those drains?"
"Gee, Mom, I'm even more amazed that you actually said the word condom!"
To place my sainted mother's unprecedented vocabulary in its proper context, this is the same woman who, after years of politely requesting disruptive students to "Please be quiet," invited a coronary when raised her voice in a fit of exasperation and bellowed, "Shut up!" She obsessed over her outburst for weeks. So the day my mother actually articulates the "c" word in normal conversation is truly a red-letter day, indeed.
Even more shocking is the fact that she had assumed that condoms were among the items clogging the drains.
"They found pencils and papers and probably a condom or two."
What ever happened to the time when we kids snickered over the word rubbers? When we didn't know what prophylactic meant but we snickered anyway just because it sounded dirty? When mothers blanched at the very thought that their children even knew such language? What happened? AIDS happened.
Yet, by the mid-80s, when the AIDS panic was gathering a head of steam, the general public still maintained its distaste of the word. Although we were saturated with discussions of sex, we just couldn't bring ourselves to say the "c" word, not without cringing. And you had to say it, because condoms used to be relegated to the forbidden behind-the-counter territory in drug stores, forcing customers to ask for them.
In 1987 one condom company came up with a novel approach to help the public overcome its apprehension. Carter-Wallace, Inc., which makes Trojan Brand condoms, offered free plastic cards to their tongue-tied customers. The gold and black cards resembled credit cards and were imprinted with the request "MAY I PLEASE HAVE A BOX OF TROJAN BRAND CONDOMS" on the front. On the back, Carter-Wallace thoughtfully listed all the varieties.
I thought the cards were a hoot, so I requested six and passed them out to my friends. I doubt they were ever used because about that same time condoms went public; they were moved from behind the counter into the easily accessible help-yourself aisles. Ribbons of festively colored condoms were suddenly found everywhere. People no longer had to wince while whispering to the clerk what they wanted, which meant that the condom cards were already collector's items. The irony is that once people no longer had to say word, they no longer had a problem saying it.
Then last night my own mother said condom. I had hoped to have spared her from ever using the "c" word in my presence. 'Tis a sad commentary on society when seventy-something mothers blithely use such language with their daughters. I'm just glad her mother is no longer alive to hear it.
© 1995, Kitty Myers
All Rights Reserved
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
LAST CALL
5 Guest Commentary - Why I Hate John Kerry
Crushkerry.com is honored to have guest Pat Curley from the fine blog Kerry Haters explain why he hates the ever-so-hatable Senator John Kerry. We hope you'll leave a comment and tell us your reasons, too. Many thanks to Pat Curley.
5 Continental: Complaints Led to Drop-'Doonesbury' Poll
Of the 38 papers that run the Continental-produced Sunday comics section, 21 wanted to drop "Doonesbury," 15 wanted to keep it, and two had no opinion or preference. "I wouldn't call the vote [to drop 'Doonesbury'] overwhelming, but it was a majority opinion," Wilkerson said.
x Tour director says fans spat at Armstrong
Another reason to hate the French.
Tour de France director Jean-Marie Leblanc has admitted he had seen fans spit at five-times champion Lance Armstrong during the 15.5-km time trial to L'Alpe d'Huez.
s Counting Chickens
Although the CIA muffed up its intelligence, why does everyone assume there are still no WMDs in Iraq?
$ Wednesday Night Digest
Always check out the "not single" Tyler and his RedLineRants if for no other reason than to see which famous babe he’s focusing upon now. (I swear it’s in his DNA!) His blog is not all Maxim hotties, so while you’re there, check out all the excellent links he’s provided, along with his (usually) sarcastic comments.
Nightie-night zzzzz!
ROUNDUP
5 State Unemployment Stats
The Department of Labor released its latest report on state-by-state employment data for June 2004 earlier today. Some things that it reveals:
And here's the big one, I think -- the states with the largest payroll job gains during June were North Carolina (+35,400), Missouri (+27,600), Pennsylvania (+20,300), California (+12,300), South Carolina (+12,000), and Florida (+11,800). Why is that important? I'll let the bold face speak for itself.
x Anchormen Acknowledge 'Fahrenheit' Fiction
Members of the elite media gathered on the Left Coast recently to discuss the state of their profession.
Instead of chewing the industry fat, media folks were more interested in swapping opinions on Michael Moore's fraudulent film "Fahrenheit 9/11."
George Stephanopoulos noted that he had spoken with individuals who had gone to see Moore's flick and had asked them why. The answer he received was "because we wanted to get the facts."
x FAN UN-FRIENDLY
AMERICA-bashing Linda Ronstadt shouldn't have been surprised by her ejection from the Las Vegas Aladdin Casino after she dedicated a song to "Fahrenheit 9/11" filmmaker Michael Moore. She's been doing it while touring all summer and, "it splits the audience down the middle and they duke it out," she told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "I saw a movie recently about a camel and these people in Mongolia, and I relate to them better than people here in this country," Ronstadt said. "It looks like [Germany's pre-Nazi] Weimar Republic to me here." Maybe she should take her act to Mongolia, where she'll feel more at home. Ronstadt's reps did not return calls.
x Democrats Block a Seventh Bush Judicial Nominee
On a largely party-line vote of 53-44, Republicans fell seven short of the needed 60 to clear a procedural hurdle against President Bush's nomination of William Myers to the federal bench.
…
"The prejudices against Bill Myers reflect today's poisoned confirmation process," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican. "Nominees who somehow offend any well-funded liberal interest group are subject to distortions and baseless personal attacks."
x Ruckus Society hopes to disrupt the RNC next month. Check out their “foundation”:
The Ruckus Society was founded in late 1995 by two giants of the radical environmentalist movement: Mike Roselle and Howard “Twilly” Cannon. Roselle was a founder of Earth First! (of 1980s tree-spiking fame), the group which spun off the domestic terrorist Earth Liberation Front in 1992. He also co-founded the radical Rainforest Action Network. Cannon built his extremist credentials as a front-line activist and ship’s captain with Greenpeace’s French and Russian anti-nuclear campaigns.
Ruckus is turning into a violent version of Forrest Gump, grooming the footsoldiers of the “protest industry” for every major newsworthy protest event since its founding.
5 Sounds From The Campaign
It’s really easy to see which candidate (and who’s supporters) are running on optimism, and who is not.
h And now for something completely different …
If you’re a M*A*S*H fan, you might be interested in this:
$ "Bill Clinton's book has already sold more than 600,000
copies. All of them to women who want to see if their name is
mentioned." --Craig Kilborn
BYRDS OF A FEATHER
HRC lending the ex-klansman support:
HILLARY Superwoman is faster than a speeding bullet. Scheduled for every where everyplace every minute at the Dem Convention, she'll leave Boston Monday, fly back to New York for maybe an hour and a half, return to Boston.
Why? It's called friendship. Respect.
There exists a senior senator from West Virginia. Historian, orator, highly regarded dean of the core who looks to the Constitution for every decision, Sen. Robert Byrd has been a mentor. His book, "Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency," officially debuts Monday at Union Square's Barnes & Noble. The junior senator from New York will be there In Person, In Pantsuit to support him.
8 Check out what Aaron has to say!
UNITED
Mayor Giuliani, Pres. Bush & Gov. Pataki; Ground Zero, 9-14-01.
RUDY TO UPSTAGE KERRY
Republican strategists said the former mayor will be in Boston to speak to reporters on the morning of July 29, just hours before Kerry's address accepting the Democratic nomination for president — the speech seen as the convention's key moment.
"John Kerry is going to try to convince the American people he's a strong leader, but Americans know that Rudy Giuliani is a strong leader," said a senior Republican strategist.
"And Rudy Giuliani can help explain that a strong leader isn't somebody who votes to send troops to war [in Iraq] and then votes against funding them" — a reference to Kerry's vote against $87 billion, including money for troops, last fall.
8 Check out KerryHaters to read who’s feuding!
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
ROUNDUP
Maybe we shouldn’t say anything to Aaron at SomethingToCryAbout, because he thinks this is the greatest show on TV:
WHAT'S AILING 'SIX FEET UNDER'?
[T]he series has long been the critics' favorite (it was created by "American Beauty" screenwriter Alan Ball). Last year, it was nominated for more Emmy awards (16) than any other show, and has had a rabidly devoted fan base — at least, until now.
…
[W]rote another heartbroken fan … : "Six Feet Under: 2001-2004."
What’s the title, “The Sink Emperor”? “Slick’s Licks”? “Har-Monica Convergence”?
THOSE DIEHARD pals of Bill Clinton? Linda Bloodworth-Thomason and her husband, Harry Thomason, will write and produce a film starring the former president. Visitors to the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., can see it after the library opens Nov. 18.
The compulsive repulsive one is still in the news (blech):
MOORE WANT$ MORE FROM 'FAHRENHEIT'
MICHAEL Moore apparently isn't satisfied with the millions he's raking in with "Fahrenheit 9/11," he wants more. Music industry insiders say the portly polemicist is trying to get a $1 million advance from a major label for a "soundtrack album." One insider said: "There are only a couple of songs in the movie — the Gogo's 'Vacation,' and Neil Young's 'Rockin in the Free World,' — so Michael is trying to get the labels to buy the idea, then get their artists to sing songs 'inspired by the movie.' It is such a load. First of all, no one gives out advances like that, especially for soundtracks, and the movie has been out for two weeks already. He's been to at least four major labels, but no one is biting at [Moore's] proposal." Reps for Moore said, "Michael is not shopping it around, the Fellowship Adventure Group is. The $1 million number is off, but there is strong interest. " Moore is part of FAG, along with Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
As of Monday: FAHRENHEIT 9/11 $95,044,000 in 27 days.
Someone neuter this creep!
Report: Jackson to be father of quadruplets
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Pop star Michael Jackson, facing a trial on child molestation charges, is about to become a father to four more children -- quadruplets -- by way of a surrogate mother, Us Weekly magazine reported Tuesday.
The face-made-for-radio beat B’Or:
AIR AMERICA's Al Franken shot passed INFINITY's Bill O'Reilly in the just released ARBITRON radio rates for April thru June, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
The Franken victory over his latest nemesis came in the ad-friendly 25-54 demo, during the 2 to 3 pm hour, the only hour when the two directly squared off in the nation's top market New York City.
Franked topped O'Reilly for the book, but did experience audience erosion in May and June after AIR AMERICA's much publicized launch.
Rush Limbaugh easily took top honors in all demos, ARBITRON reports, pulling in more total listeners age 12+ than Franken and O'Reilly -- combined!
Speaking of Frankenstein:
AL Franken has his heart set on running for senator in his home state of Minnesota. While he floated the rumor that he was interested earlier this month, the comic's pals said his mind is all but made up. "It is all he talks about, and he is really serious about going through with it," said a source. A rep for Franken called the possible run a "rumor." If Franken doesn't want to wait until 2008 to challenge Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, he can challenge fellow Democrat Sen. Mark Dayton in 2006.
TOUGH
Blair pledges to get tough on criminals in an end to '1960s social consensus'
TONY Blair yesterday put a tough new stance on law and order at the heart of Labour’s agenda for the next election, publicly denouncing the 1960s-style liberalism still cherished by many of his own party.
The Prime Minister, who first rose to national prominence in the early 1990s as the shadow home secretary when he promised to be "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime", made clear that, in England at least, his government will focus on being tough on criminals.
"We are shifting from tackling the offence to targeting the offender," Mr Blair said in a speech in London.
…
Decrying "a society of different lifestyles [that] spawned a group of young people who were brought up without parental discipline, without any proper role models and without any sense of responsibility", Mr Blair said he had lost patience with those who would try to understand criminals’ motives or sympathise with them .
"Our first duty is to the law-abiding citizen," he said.
ADIOS
Singer Linda Ronstadt talks with reporters at the Arizona State department of education building in this Sept. 30, 1996 file photo, in downtown Phoenix. (AP Photo/Jeff Robbins, File)
I hardly recognized her in that photo. Nuff said.
SINGER Linda Ronstadt was hauled out of a Las Vegas casino by security guards after she praised Michael Moore and "Farenheit 9/11." It happened right after Ronstadt's Sat urday night concert at the Aladdin, where she dedicated "Desperado" to Moore, called him a "great American patriot," and encour aged the crowd to see his President Bush- bashing movie. The crowd, already annoyed by some snide remarks Ronstadt made, re sponded with a mass walk-out. Some tossed cocktails at her wall posters as they filed out. Ronstadt had complained that the Aladdin had falsely billed her show as a "greatest- hits" concert, add ing: "It figures. That's the way they do things here in Vegas." Aladdin president Bill Timmins was in the audience and ordered that Ronstadt be escorted out. "She was asked not to go back to her suite," said Aladdin spokesperson Tyri Squyres. "Her suite was cleaned out, her things were collected and security es corted her out. She was not happy, but we were very polite about it." Squyres told us yesterday that the Aladdin had received dozens of calls supporting Timmins' decision: "People came for entertainment and she chose to make it a political forum." Ronstadt could not be reached for comment.
THE JOKE’S ON DEMS
The girlie-man gambit
Once again, Arnold Schwarzenegger is outsmarting his California Democrat opponents, and leading the state in the direction of long-needed structural change. The Governator is a brilliant man, a master of strategy and tactics, and possessed of energy, charm, charisma, confidence, good instincts, and wealth beyond the ken of most mortals. Even though Sacramento insiders are beginning to acknowledge his tactical skills, they have not yet grasped the strategic box in which he has placed the Democrats.
…
The Democrats and their media friends behaved exactly according to his plan: complaining of the “sexism and homophobia” in his remark.
…
Arnold thus knew with moral certainty that within minutes of anyone complaining about his insult, Hans and Franz would be experiencing a comeback.
Now, remember what Hans and Franz look like. Even before they utter the magic phrase, the public is totally clued-in that they are satirizing Arnold. So, when Arnold uses their trademark expression, he is being ironic. Everybody but the Democrats and the New York Times gets it.
NO GRAVITAS
The Unbearable Lightness of Being John Edwards
A Vice Presidential pick gives the electorate a unique chance to see a non-incumbent Presidential candidate make an important Presidential choice. The most important factor in that choice must be whether the Vice Presidential pick will be able to succeed to the Presidency on a moment's notice, and do the job effectively.
By that standard, the selection of John Edwards as John Kerry's running mate has to be considered a poor Presidential pick on Kerry's part. … [H]e is rightly derided as one of the more non-substantive people in national politics today. John Edwards has held precisely one electoral office and he is not even finished with his first term in that office, and yet John Kerry proposes to place Edwards a heartbeat away from the Presidency.
…
Beyond being wrong on the issues, Edwards just seems to be out of his depth, as even fellow Democrats attest:
"He has all the ingredients you're looking for," said Senator John B. Breaux, a Louisiana Democrat. "But what is missing is a great deal of seasoning or experience in the business of government. I don't think it's just 9/11. You're talking about North Korea. You're talking about Afghanistan. You're talking about Iraq."
…
If Democrats are so repulsed by the caricature of an out-of-his-depth George W. Bush, then why did they agree so willingly with the choice of a Vice Presidential candidate who fits that caricature in so many ways?
Monday, July 19, 2004
UPDATES:
Meryl Streep & Hillary Clinton 2.0
Fly reported previously that Streep based her “Manchurian Candidate” character upon Her Royal C. Now she’s claiming it’s bunk. Yeah, right! What a liar.
The Waffle House has a great spoof on "The Manchurian Candidate." For comparison, here's the actual thing.
Light Reading
Bill Clinton’s 957-page bestseller, My Life, may be holding down every coffee table in Manhattan, but that doesn’t mean anyone’s actually reading it.
“I’ve read it,” cracks New Yorker editor David Remnick, “but not personally.”
Alec Baldwin plans to read the copy he bought at the Upper West Side Barnes & Noble—eventually—
but Kevin Bacon’s not sure he’ll get around to it. “I’d love to, but I’m dyslexic and reading is hard for me,” he says.
Peter Jennings claims to have more pressing matters: “It was released when I was in Baghdad, and that seemed more compelling.”
Critic Dale Peck has no plans to pick it up: “I don’t know a soul who’s read it, or even expressed interest in reading it.”
Mort Zuckerman was the only person we could track down who had finished the opus, and only because he had to review it. He calls it “the most self-indulgent book I have ever read.”
CONGRATULATIONS
On beating the rap, Teddy ol’ boy! Thirsty-five years ago today you walked away from Mary Jo Kopechne drowning in your car and never reported it, and all they did was slap your wrist.
LAZY, DIRTY AND ARROGANT
Maybe if they start by bathing …
The French Prescription
By Jed Babbin
Let's pretend -- for just a few minutes -- that we still care about France. The Gauls seem determined to bring about their own economic and social destruction, and they're moving heaven, earth, and the rest of Europe to assure it. There are ways they could avoid what's coming. If we can see the solutions to their problems, why shouldn't we tell the French?
Okay, okay, there's a thousand reasons why we should buy popcorn and sit back and watch them sink. But here's another idea, one that will give us vastly greater pleasure, and is guaranteed to toss an anvil to the drowning cheese-eaters. There are few certainties in this world, but one is that your average Frenchman would rather kill himself than be caught following American advice. I say let's give them the very best help we can, confident in the knowledge they'd damn themselves to a wine-free hell before they'll do what we say. Here -- with malice aforethought -- are the Top Ten Loose Canon All-American Ideas to Save France.
1. Get off your butts and get back to work.
(And it doesn't end here, dear reader. From now on, at least until we grow tired of it, I will publish your other great ideas to help the French from time to time. Please send them in at editor@Spectator.org.)
BLOGGER ROUNDUP
Why BanzhafWatch.com?
JB is the poster child for run amok trial lawyers, even by his own admission. With his “Sue the Bastards” plates on his car and his shameless self promotion as a “legal terrorist,” JB epitomizes all that is wrong with our legal system and the growing epidemic of law suit abuse.
They Cheat!
I wonder if Senator Heinz is spinning in his grave--but Ms. Kerry is funding the anarchist's protest at the GOP convention in NYC. This is a protest warrior call to action!
And it's cheating...they are going to try to steal this election like Gore did in Florida!
Buy a Gun
Mike S. Adams gives us some gun purchasing recommendations for those who have yet to buy a gun.
So Begins the Bush-Hater Backlash
Who is nicknamed “Da Woo-pay”? By whom?
Boop-boop-de-doo!
IS IT HILLARY OR IS IT MEMOREX?
Conspiracy Redux
Just a minute ago we were talking about "The Manchurian Candidate," her political thriller coming out next week, but somehow Meryl Streep has veered off on her own little "Rock the Vote" tour. "Something like 35 percent of the population who can vote, doesn't," she says. "Now, if you told those people what clothes they had to put on, they'd be mad. If you told them what kind of car they had to drive—or what they had to eat for dinner—they wouldn't stand for it. But somebody is deciding what they eat and what they breathe and all that stuff..." Pause. "I'm on a rant, aren't I?"
Who's telling whom how to live, Meryl? In psychology, it's referred to as projection.
Synopsis:
Denzel Washington stars as Capt. Ben Marco, a veteran of the first gulf war plagued by nightmares of torture and murder, and haunted by the sense that his memory has been altered. While in the gulf, a member of his patrol, Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber), had apparently saved the entire troop from enemy attack—and won the Medal of Honor for it—but did he really? When Shaw, with the help of his senator mother (Streep), becomes the vice presidential nominee, Marco begins to suspect that a shadowy multinational corporation, Manchurian Global, is pulling the strings and is about to put its war-hero puppet in the Oval Office.
…
This time Eleanor Shaw is a senator in her own right, a terrifying embodiment of unchecked ambition and maternal affection. It's a hell of a role, and Streep plays the hell out of it. "She's just amazing," says Washington. "As soon as I read the script I was like, that's the best part. I want to be her." So did a lot of people, but it's hard to compete with Streep. "It's a great thrill when a brilliant person gets to play a brilliant person," [director] Demme says. "Eleanor Shaw is the smartest person in the room wherever she goes, and I think that's probably true of Meryl, too." In fact, says Rudin, "I think this character is the closest Meryl's ever played to herself." Is that a compliment? Must be. "Actually," Streep says, "it's the closest to Scott Rudin that I've ever played." In truth, she did have some models for the role. Just don't ask her who they were. "Never mind," she says, laughing. "Fox News would love if I were doing Hillary, but that's so off the mark."
Apparently some who’ve seen the movie disagree with Streep:
EIH Photo
"Meryl is brilliantly scary and evil," my Paramount buddy says, who's seen the film through several rough assemblages and later cuts. "But she clearly seems like she's playing Senator Hillary, not just any woman senator. It's also something test audiences have commented about."
Sunday, July 18, 2004
REMEMBER MARY JO
Mary Jo Kopechne
Ted Kennedy, 1969.
Above is a sketch of Ted Kennedy’s car, which he was driving on Chappaquiddick between 11:00 p.m. and midnight on July 19, 1969, with Mary Jo Kopechne as his passenger. The car went off the Dike Bridge and plunged into the water. Ted Kennedy lived; Mary Jo died in the submerged car a couple of hours later. Ted Kennedy did not report the accident. In fact, the first report of the accident was made after two fishermen noticed the car in the water and phoned the authorities after 8:00 a.m. that same morning. Mary Jo was dead by then.
Mary Jo Kopechne
Ted Kennedy, 1969.
Above is a sketch of Ted Kennedy’s car, which he was driving on Chappaquiddick between 11:00 p.m. and midnight on July 19, 1969, with Mary Jo Kopechne as his passenger. The car went off the Dike Bridge and plunged into the water. Ted Kennedy lived; Mary Jo died in the submerged car a couple of hours later. Ted Kennedy did not report the accident. In fact, the first report of the accident was made after two fishermen noticed the car in the water and phoned the authorities after 8:00 a.m. that same morning. Mary Jo was dead by then.
For complete details of this accident – reports, photos, statements, charges, possible coverups, etc. – go to
ytedk.
This is Ted Kennedy and his good buddy, John Kerry. The Democratic National Convention, to nominate John Kerry, will begin on Monday, July 26th in Boston. Ironically, July 26th would have been Mary Jo Kopechne’s 64th birthday.
July 26th will be a particularly special day for Ted Kennedy, because his party will fete him for his decades of service in politics.
This is Ted Kennedy and his good buddy, John Kerry. The Democratic National Convention, to nominate John Kerry, will begin on Monday, July 26th in Boston. Ironically, July 26th would have been Mary Jo Kopechne’s 64th birthday.
July 26th will be a particularly special day for Ted Kennedy, because his party will fete him for his decades of service in politics.
Ted Kennedy will celebrate his life on Mary Jo’s birthday.
It has been suggested that we remember July 26th by sending a birthday card to Mary Jo Kopechne, c/o Ted Kennedy, just to let him know that we have not forgotten.
As an aside, Pat at KerryHaters reports that Teddy K is writing a children’s book from his dog’s perspective. His dog’s name is SPLASH.
"Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law?
Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?"
As an aside, Pat at KerryHaters reports that Teddy K is writing a children’s book from his dog’s perspective. His dog’s name is SPLASH.
"Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law?
Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?"
- Senator Ted Kennedy, 1973
