Politics, Shit Going On In The World
Planned Parenthood Responds To Anti-Abortion Super Bowl Advertisement
Amy Rose Spiegel :: Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 1:40 pm
The uproar following Tim Tebow’s anti-abortion Super Bowl advertisement has monopolized much of the media since it was announced. Planned Parenthood has responded by creating a video featuring professional athletes Sean James and Al Joyner. Its tone is wholly tasteful. It focuses on trusting and respecting women with their choices and is clearly unintended to be the least bit inflammatory or insulting to anyone (at one point in the video, James says “I respect and honor Mrs. Tebow’s decision”).
Politics, Shit Going On In The World
Rielle Hunter’s Wild Ride
Amy Rose Spiegel :: Friday, January 29th, 2010 4:20 pm
Horse murders! Scandal! Media pioneering! Passion! Generation X literature! Politico pregnancy! The Wikipedia article on Rielle Hunter is one of the most eye-poppingly bizarre things I’ve read in recent memory. Her history has already been featured in the books of Jay McInerney, her ex-boyfriend, and Bret Easton Ellis, but that was way back when she was seventeen. Since, she’s embarked on even crazier adventures, most notably seducing onetime presidential hopeful John Edwards, who sired her illegitimate love-baby. I think a new book, or possibly a movie, is definitely in order, but I’m sure the opportunists who write all those ugly political-scandal books are way, way ahead of me on this one.
News
Osama bin Laden’s Climate Stance Should Shame Right
Andrew Belonsky :: Friday, January 29th, 2010 12:30 pm
Osama bin Laden took a break from his typical insanity today to blast an international enemy even President Obama loathes: climate change. Though his uninspired solutions only reinforce bin Laden’s image as a madman who’s entirely out of touch with reality, they at least make him look better than some of our elected officials. How shameful!
News
Sam Alito’s “Outburst”: Unsurprising but Dangerous
Andrew Belonsky :: Thursday, January 28th, 2010 12:20 pm
President Obama addressed key national issues last night: health care, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, green energy. All of this is well and good, but the real action of State of the Union comes in the form of broadcasted dissent. Though typically criticism comes from Congressional enemies like Joe Wilson, who last year infamously yelled “You Lie” at the Commander-in-Chief, this year’s big scuffle came from a more judicious source: Sam Alito.
News
The Salahis, Congress and the Celebrity-Industrial Complex
Andrew Belonsky :: Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 12:10 pm
It’s hard not to be disappointed in Washington these days. The health care debate’s dragging on. There’s an unemployment crisis. Scott Brown has won a seat on the Senate. As you can probably tell, there’s ample material for critical fodder. As if this weren’t enough, there’s Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who gained fame after crashing a state dinner at 1600. Everyone under the sun, from officials to the public, was absolutely furious, of course, and the Secret Service launched an official investigation into the matter. Apparently, that wasn’t enough, because Congress also launched its own review. Already, some of the stylists involved with the Salahis, arriving in a stretch SUV limo, have faced a grand jury, and today the Salahis themselves will plead the fifth before the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security. The appearance won’t amount to much. It does, however, mark the final thrust in Washington and Hollywood’s tawdry affair.
News
Fox’s PAC, News America Holdings, Full of Surprises
Andrew Belonsky :: Thursday, January 14th, 2010 11:30 am
If people were perplexed by news of Sarah Palin’s decision to become a “news analyst,” they were hardly shocked by her choice of television real estate: Fox News. It seems like a perfect political fit, of course, and one that Palin highlighted on the O’Reilly Factor this week when she said she looked forward to presenting “fair and balanced” views while on the air, rather than buying into other network’s “biased journalism.” Cue the collective, all-too-familiar groan: “How can they even claim to be fair and balanced?” And that’s definitely true – on the surface. A deeper look at News Corp’s political action committee, News America Holdings, reveals a more complex network: one that exhibits surprising trends.
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