You can tell the liberals are really sweating the politics of the debt-limit talks when NBC puts on a special Dateline NBC devoted to politics. This is normally a time slot devoted to 'news' topics like Casey Anthony or Lindsey Lohan. But last week, viewers were 'treated' to anchorman Brian Williams actually covering a real news topic. It's just too bad he forgot he was supposed to be a reporter, not an editorialist, spinning furiously against conservatives trying to rein in Obama's incredibly reckless flood of new spending. The last time Brian Williams showed up in prime time for a... continue reading
They say the movie theaters make more money on popcorn, candy, and soft drinks than they do on the movie tickets. If that's true, theater owners really ought to reconsider the previews they're airing. They can make you sick to your stomach. I don't know why Hollywood moviemakers are so fascinated by with flatulence and excrement. It's become almost an obsession, a formality of sorts in the 'humor' oeuvre. Watching a recent preview of the forthcoming movie 'The Change-Up' is bad enough when you consider the plot – two men mysteriously switch bodies, and just how many times will they... continue reading
The latest polls show the people are not happy with President Obama's handling of budget matters, but Republicans look even worse. And yet, while the GOP delivers one idea after another, Obama has offered nothing, instead just attacking, attacking, attacking, blaming everyone but himself, in (apparent) utter denial of the reality that no man on the face of this Earth is more responsible for our debt catastrophe than he. Why then are the public blaming Republicans more? It is because of the ceaseless, shameless, and oftentimes utterly dishonest attacks on them coming from Obama's media hit men. A day doesn't... continue reading
On July 3, 1999, The New York Times exposed Al Gore for lying about his family in a national convention speech as vice president of the United States. In 1996, Gore had moved the Democrats to tears by claiming that when his sister Nancy died of cancer in 1984, he vowed then and there to oppose the tobacco industry. How courageous – and completely untrue. The Times found Gore campaigned in 1988 boasting of his tobacco-farming prowess. So he lied through his teeth. Network coverage from ABC, CBS, or NBC on this whopper, even as Gore prepared a presidential run?... continue reading
Some 'reality shows' are designed to advertise wanton misbehavior and stupidity for its own sake. There's no 'life lesson,' just an exercise in how you can grade your own moral worth on a 'Jersey Shore' curve. That is not the case with TLC's 'Sister Wives.' For TLC (The Learning Channel, a misnomer demanding initials-only), it was the usual slam-dunk oddball premise: Won't people be curious to see how four wives – married to the same man – get along in the same house? The show's stars, Kody Brown and his wives, want much more than fame and fortune. They want... continue reading
The political prognosticator Charlie Cook appeared on National Public Radio on July 11 and summarized perfectly the media narrative on the debt-limit battle. Boehner, Cook said, 'is not a burn-the-barn-down, break-the-china kind of guy [and] he does not necessarily reflect the views of a majority...of the House Republican Conference, who are of the burn-the-barn-down, break-the-china mold.' Hold on here. Why is it destructive to insist on a limited government? Why is fiscal sanity equated with pyromania? Cook was brought on as a 'nonpartisan' analyst, but there's nothing either civil or accurate in casting conservatives as barn-burners. This is the 'nonpartisan'... continue reading
Actor David Schwimmer, best known as the sad-sack Ross Geller on the hit '90s sitcom 'Friends,' is now bemoaning the sex-saturated Hollywood business atmosphere and its corrosive effects on society, and women in particular. The first question many Hollywood critics should ask: Isn't it curious that Schwimmer would care about this issue – after he earned a million dollars per episode on one of the most sex-obsessed sitcoms of all time? Schwimmer granted an interview to the British newspaper the Telegraph promoting his new film'Trust,' which opened July 8. 'Sex sells and unfortunately there's this inbuilt hypocrisy in our society:... continue reading
The media pandering on behalf of the Obama Re-election camp already is astonishing. During the George W. Bush years, everything bad that happened in America somehow was connected to the malignant reign of 'The Decider.' Last year, CBS even sought out journalist Sally Quinn to claim that Bush's victory in 2000 could be blamed for unraveling Al Gore's marriage ten years later. God knows, and so too do most Americans, that the state of the union is a mess. But in the Obama era, nothing that goes wrong can be traced back to the Democrats in power. A savvy viewer... continue reading
The video-game industry has won again in court, insisting on their right to make the most debased gaming experience imaginable and market it to children with little commercial restraint. On June 27, the Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 against California's law mandating that children are not allowed to purchase 'Mature' video games without a parent. The political elites are celebrating the Court ruling as a victory for a vibrant First Amendment, rejecting the very notion of social responsibility on the part of the video-game makers and their often-twisted conceptualization of what constitutes 'fun' for children. Justice Stephen Breyer's dissent... continue reading
The Republican presidential contest is picking up steam. Obama is consistently polling under 50 percent. This one's a toss-up, and in the thick of it is the Fox News Channel. It's not just their role in hosting and vetting the candidates. It's their role as the chief villain in the eyes of liberal Democrats struggling to push their version of the "truth" about Obama. Jon Stewart rhetorically asked Chris Wallace about Fox on "Fox News Sunday, because he thought he knew the answer: "Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers? The most consistently misinformed? Fox, Fox viewers, consistently, every... continue reading