Um, Seriously?

Ok, here's one for the "What in the hell is the world coming to?" file. Apparently Levi Johnston is planning to pose Playgirl. Chew on that one for a while, Situationers.

Wedneday Musical Tribute and Movie Review Combined

Saturday Harrogate saw Elizabethtown for the first time. Once again, he found himself wanting to throw things at the television for the way that Hollywood continues to exploit the dangerous Town versus Country narrative in ways that A)posit them as fundamentally alien to one another (as opposed to the more reasonable proposition that they are in some ways (but not all ways!) unfamiliar and awkward in relation to one another), and that B)invariably celebrates the communal and familial integrity of country at the expense of vacuous, mendacious town. Oh how Harrogate hates the binary.

Still, the movie impressed Harrogate on a number of levels. The quiet unobtrusiveness of the directing, a willingness to let scenes play out on their own strength that almost reminds one of the Coen brothers. The high profile actors who have overacted at times in other movies, but who bring a light touch in this movie. But most of all, the surrealistic blend of mournfulness and cheer with which Elizabethtown engages the great problem of Death.

The below clip shows much of what Harrogate describes. And what a kickass use of "Freebird," in Harrogate's estimation rivalling even the song's appearance in Forrest Gump.

Todd Purdum on Sarah Palin

There is a new article by Todd Purdum in Vanity Fair concerning Sarah Palin and the 2008 Presidential Election. This article is an interesting text as it reveals very little that we did not know before and takes a few, deep and dark swipes against Sarah Palin that seem to be unfair against her and that come from a source (Purdum) who is unqualified to make these claims.

With so little new information, and what new information in the article does not seem too relevant, I have too questions: first, why should anyone other than political junkies read the piece? Second, even after reading the piece and reading the terrible slams on Palin (postpartum? seriously? what are your qualifications to diagnose this?) why cannot I not, even in good conscience, defend Palin? After everything she said and did during the campaign, I feel as if I should not even mention that the postpartum claim is outlandish because Palin deserves almost every unsubstantiated claim against her for ever unsubstantiated claim she delivered.

Update: Watch this video.


It is discourse like this, with not so subtle references to Obama as a terrorist and Obama as King Kong (no racial implications here, none whatsoever), and Palin as a national, and erotic, savior (notice the kinky, right-wing military and sex fethish with the erect missiles in relation to Palin in a military uniform-- starbursts indeed) that makes me believe everyday the network news should run the Thanksgiving footage of Palin being interviewed as turkeys were slaughtered. That is the correct metaphor for discussing what would happen to the US if Palin ever achieved national office.

Assy McGee Award® for Saturday, June 20th: Bill O'Reilly Laments the Culture of "Personal Attacks Leveled Against Public People"

Chalk this one up in the OMFG category. Bill O'Reilly's column today weighs in on Letterman's now infamous joke about Sarah Palin and her daughter(s), and wags his righteous finger at an American discourse in which "increasingly, personal attacks are being used to marginalize opposing points of view."

Even more entertaining is this line: "I've been on the Letterman program five times. Last time around, he called me a goon and mocked Rush Limbaugh's weight. I asked him why he was doing that, but he did not have an answer."

So yeah, OMFG. Here we have a worldview in which Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh, are victims of increasingly crass, personal discourse represented by David Letterman.

O'Reilly, whose mode of discourse is fairly represented by the fact that he continues to pride himself on branding George Tiller with the "Baby Killer" moniker for year upon year. He laments the personal attack on Palin and her daughters. Palin, too, decried it as sexist, condescending, and more than a little bit gross to boot. All of which is bad. But calling GOP voters and their leaders the "real Americans," and the Dem candidate a friend of terrorists: that's just being "folks."

Ugh.

A treat for the eyes and ears...

Eminem has a new video out, and, of course, he mocks nearly all of the recent tabloid stars. I think Oxy will enjoy Em's take on Bret Michaels. My favorite bit may be at approx. 2:17, when "Sarah Palin" dances in a bustier with a polar bear and an eskimo. But that's just me.

Edited to add: I don't know how to make this little video box smaller!

Eminem - New Music - More Music Videos

Friday Night Humor: Sarah Palin's Musical Rhetoric

Tee-hee.

Rep. Bachmann's Richly-Deserved Economic Freefall; or, A Follow-Up to Amanda Carpenter's Assy McGee Award® of 10/20

Amanda Carpenter is outraged:

The National Republican Congressional Committee, tasked with raising money for GOP congressional candidates, is blowing off Rep. Michele Bachmann after she came under fire for a recent appearance on Hardball.

In a brazen assertion that there are indeed entire parts of the country and entire voting demographics that deserve to be called anti-American, Carpenter adds this:

Here is her online contribution page if any Townhallers are inclined to step in and help where the NRCC won't. Bachmann is a reliable conservative vote in the House and you all know her from her blogs here at Townhall.

Meanwhile she adds plenty of ethos to her argument by pointing out that the bastion of truth known as Red State is also upset about Bachmann's obsene victimization. Writes Red State Poobah Erick Erickson:

Now, in the height of all douchebaggery, he has pulled all funding from Michelle Bachmann's very winnable race in Minnesota, in which she is presently leading, though not by a great deal.

Why? Because Bachmann had the nerve to point out Obama pals around with anti-American domestic terrorists and other unsavory characters, i.e. she's echoed Sarah Palin.

But that's okay. Apparently we have Republicans to spare.

Help Michelle Bachmann. This race is absolutely winnable. Hell, she's winning right now. But she needs our help.

Republican Big Wigs, Pundits, and Politicians--bereft of even the shred of an argument with which to persuade Real Americans (heh) of their "case" that Barack Obama is a terrorist/Radical Muslim/Pagan/Atheist/Communist--are now on their way to being reduced to identifying Douchebaggery in one another.

Geez. Surely the American people will not reward this party for its behavior on election day. Surely sanity will pevail this time.

A Provocative Photo-Essay Response to a Possible Palin Presidency

A Palin Presidency would indeed be "A Frightening Prospect".

Assy McGee Award®: Camille Paglia (Heh)

Harrogate suspects there might be Board Members at least somewhat curious as to what that crazy old gal, (Heh), Camille Paglia, has to say about the election.


Well, Breaking News: Paglia still calls herself an Obama supporter, but for the life of her, cannot figure out why Palin's Veep run isn't being celebrated as a huge feminist achievment.


So here's to ya, Camille. You Betcha and you're Darned Tootin', nobody deserves the October 8th Assy McGee Award® more than you.

Your concern about the foreign-policy world-view of liberal Democrats is certainly justified. The university culture at Columbia and Harvard through which Obama passed has been drenched in a reflexive anti-Americanism for several decades. Armchair blame-America-first leftism is the default mode. Disdain for the military is rampant, and conservative voices are rarely heard.

and

Yes, both Todd and Sarah Palin, whom most people in the U.S. and abroad had never even heard of until six weeks ago, have emerged as powerful new symbols of a revived contemporary feminism. That the macho Todd, with his champion athleticism and working-class cred, can so amiably cradle babies and care for children is a huge step forward in American sexual symbolism.

and

And where is all that lurid sexual fantasy coming from? When I watch Sarah Palin, I don't think sex -- I think Amazon warrior! I admire her competitive spirit and her exuberant vitality, which borders on the supernormal.

and

People who can't see how smart Palin is are trapped in their own narrow parochialism -- the tedious, hackneyed forms of their upper-middle-class syntax and vocabulary.

That's right. But, Friends: These are only teasers. Follow the link to get the full ridiculousness.

What?

I just saw a clip from Katie Couric's interview with Gov. Palin.

Here's a link to the video.

Here's the transcript:

Katie Couric: If this doesn't pass, do you think there's a risk of another Great Depression?

Sarah Palin: Unfortunately, that is the road that America may find itself on. Not necessarily this, as it's been proposed, has to pass or we're gonna find ourselves in another Great Depression. But there has to be action taken, bipartisan effort – Congress not pointing fingers at this point at … one another, but finding the solution to this, taking action and being serious about the reforms on Wall Street that are needed.

Quote of the Day

"Of course, it's a fungible commodity and they don't flag, you know, the molecules, where it's going and where it's not. But in the sense of the Congress today, they know that there are very, very hungry domestic markets that need that oil first. So, I believe that what Congress is going to do also, is not to allow the export bans to such a degree that it's Americans who get stuck holding the bag without the energy source that is produced here, pumped here. It's got to flow into our domestic markets first."- Sarah Palin in response to a question at a town hall meeting.

Does it really matter what the question is? Even Wolf Blitzer admitted it was, "not exactly easy to understand what she was saying."

It get's better and better.