A Failure to Support the Troops
As usual, Donald Rumsfeld was in control. At a “town hall” meeting with almost 2,000 American combat soldiers in northern Kuwait, the Secretary of Defense and his PR machine were going to give a “pep rally” to troops about to go into combat. He would prove he cared about the individual troops, that the Bush Administration supported them, and that God and country, at least 51 percent of the mortal voters, were patriots who supported George W. Bush and, thus, the war. [ more ]
A Television Snow Job
Facing heavy winds, sub-freezing temperatures, and expecting between one and three feet of snow to fall over much of Pennsylvania, the TV news teams went into overdrive. This may be an accurate description of one of those minute-by-minute analyses. [ more ]
Creating a Best-Seller
Nothing is more pathetic than an author sitting at a card table surrounded by unsold copies of his latest book while watching humanity pass him by in front of a book store in a crowded mall. [ more ]
Dissolving Journalistic Integrity
The relationship between the TV networks, both the news and entertainment divisions, and nation’s publicists is incestuous. Most guests on the morning news shows and the late evening talk shows are actors and musicians plugging their latest releases. Some of the guests, however, are writers and editors for mass-market magazines. NBC’s “Today Show” broadcasts stories that first appeared in People magazine. [ more ]
Flip-Flop Flap
About a week after the nation’s 229th Independence Day celebration the media got a story fit to feed the insatiable interest in scandalous minutiae, unwittingly provided by the national champion Northwestern University women’s lacrosse team. Beneath a headline that quoted the lawyer-brother of one of the players—“You Wore Flip-Flops to the White House?!”—was a well-crafted front-page story in the Chicago Tribune about the team’s meeting with President Bush. [ more ]
Hard Rock on a Soft Platter
They put Bette Midler in the Easy Listening section at the chain music store.
Bette Midler! The Divine Miss M!
The bawdy comedian who aroused a nation with jokes, tales, and double entendres. [ more ]
Hollywood’s Patriots
Sandra Bullock and Leonardo DiCaprio each donated about $1 million for disaster relief following the recent tsunami in Southeast Asia. The Steven Spielberg family donated $1.5 million. Jet Li donated more than $125,000; Jackie Chan added at least $64,000. Among several dozen rock bands which donated proceeds of their concerts or made outright donations, U-2 and Linkin Park each donated $100,000; Ozzie and Sharon Osborn donated almost $200,000. At the Laugh Factory in both L.A. and New York, major comedians donated their time, with proceeds benefiting the victims. The Red Cross says innumerable celebrities made anonymous donations. [ more ]
Janet Jackson, George Bush, and No. 524:
There Are No Half-Times in War
On the day that Justin Timberlake ripped open Janet Jackson’s blouse during the half-time of the Super Bowl to reveal a bejeweled breast and create a national firestorm of protest, American Soldiers 523 and 524 died in Iraq. Along with the two American soldiers, 14 were wounded. Also that day, two suicide bombers killed more than 100 Kurds and wounded more than 200. [ more ]
Jackass: The People
For Halloween week 2002, Jackass: The Movie had the highest gross of any film on the nation’s 35,000 screens. For several more weeks, it was in the "top 10"in gross, in both income and content. [ more ] Mega-Mouths, Squawkers, and the 'Hollyweird'
The talk show squawkers call them the “Hollyweirds.” Makes no difference if they’re writers, actors, directors, producers, or grips and gaffers. Makes no difference if they’re poets, artists, sculptors, dancers, cartoonists, musicians, or singers. And, it makes absolutely no difference if they live in Southern California or Iowa . As long as they’re in the creative arts, they’re “Hollyweird.” [ more ]
Overdosing On Drug Ads
One drug manufacturer wants us to "celebrate"relief from arthritis pain by taking its prescription drug. Its primary rival asks, "What's it like to look forward to the first few steps of the day?" [ more ]
Suspending the First Amendment
The principal of a Bucks County high school suspended five students for committing an act that radicals Ben Franklin, Sam Adams, and the Sons of Liberty would have encouraged. [ more ]
Stupid Decisions: Self-Censorship in America
The author and the publisher could agree upon only one thing—neither of them wanted 50,000 copies of the author's book to be in a 146,000 square foot warehouse in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. [ more ]
The Fiction Behind National Security
Between a diner and an empty store that once housed a shoe store, video store, and tanning salon, in a small strip mall in Bloomsburg, Pa., is Friends-in-Mind, an independent bookstore. [ more ]
The Truth of Joseph Goebbels
The CIA said there was no connection. The 9/11 Commission said there was “no credible evidence.” Counter-terrorism expert Richard Clarke, advisor to four presidents, said there was no link. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said, “We made serious mistakes.” Even Donald Rumsfeld grudgingly said there probably wasn’t “any strong, hard evidence.” [ more ]
Title Inflation
It took two directors, two executive producers, three producers, four writers, and very bad acting to ruin Down to Earth, starring Chris Rock as a Harlem comic who dies before his time, then is sent back to earth in a different body.
In Hollywood's share-the-blame standards, this film is a Paramount release of a Village Roadshow Pictures presentation in association with NPV Entertainment of an Alphaville 3 Arts Entertainment production. [ more ]
Tragic Inequalities
It happened so quickly—America gained heroes and lost bright, inquisitive, and patriotic men and women. Family members in just an instant plummeted from anticipation to agony. Spouses and children now planned memorial services. America lost 11 souls. [ more ]
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