GOP Vixen

Ataturk would be proud

A million Turks poured into the streets of Istanbul today to protest any move from a secular state to a pro-Islamist government. Because here's the deal: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is pro-Islamist. President Ahmet Necdet Sezer is a strong secularist. Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, from Erdogan's pro-Islamist party, wants to be the next president. There go the secular checks and balances -- but not if the military, sworn to protect the country's secular nature, has its way.

The display of pro-secular sentiment obviously sent Al-Jazeera's head spinning. Look at this part of their story:

"Al Jazeera's Barnaby Phillps met many women at the rally who said they feared that their way of life, what they call a modern way of life, was under threat by the possible spread of 'political Islam'."

"What they call a modern way of life" -- yes, Al-Jazeera, they have astutely deemed the practice of forcing women to wear headscarves or banning them from driving to be 100% NOT modern! It's worthwhile to note that Iran has been sending out the clothing police recently to crack down -- check out this video of a teen girl being dragged away crying and screaming by the regime's disciplinary forces for not meeting the dress code. Ataturk knew his country couldn't move forward with Islamic law, and today's Turks know that they can't turn back.

And "political Islam"? That's also not a made-up term, Al-Jazeera. Erdogan tried to make adultery a crime. That's pulling Islam into politics. Would they actually want to regress to the punishment that meets most adulterers (or shall I say, just the women) in other Islamic governments?

I'd like to see this draw as much outrage...

... as the Abu Ghraib photos. Be warned the video is gruesome: It's of a girl being stoned by a crowd in Mosul, Iraq.

Coming Attractions

Though Rosie's departure from The View might seem like an early Christmas gift, it's actually time for a preview of this summer's offerings at the multi-plex.

This coming batch of blockbusters is looking to seriously buck the trend of declining box office receipts, and is truly looking to be huge. May alone features the trio of Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, and Pirates 3 depleting the stock rooms of moviehouses across the nation.  For a certain somebody, I should also mention that a new Eric Bana flick is coming out with Spidy.

June will be a minor breather with Ocean's 13, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Live Free or Die Hard attempting to reprise their franchises, while Pixar will be releasing its first post-Disney feature, Ratatouille. Amongst the family-friendly releases for this month are Nancy Drew, Surf's Up, and Evan Almighty, the 175 million dollar sequel to Bruce Almighty.

July will see things running back to breakneck speed, with Transformers, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and the long-awaited Simpsons flick beefing up the grosses for the summer. 

Throw in some bankable releases like 28 Weeks Later, The Bourne Ultimatum, 1408, Hostel 2, Knocked Up, and Delta Farce, and it is clear that Hollywood is throwing out the big guns to re-construct the loyal audiences it has been losing to post-exhibition competitors like Blockbuster and Netflix and the surge in piracy facilitated by high-speed internet and small top-quality camcorders.

As far as indie movies go, I'm keeping an eye out for Waitress and Daywatch, the second installment of the sci-fi Russian blockbuster trilogy.

That said, I'd like to offer these suggestions to expedite a smooth movie-going experience.

1a. Take advantage of advance ticketing. Most chains offer this convenience on-line through Fandango.com or Movietickets.com, which charge a nominal fee for the service. You'll have guaranteed your tickets before a sell-out, and if the theatre has a kiosk you can skip the box office line altogether. To avoid the fee completely, you can usually buy tickets a few days in advance
from the box office.

1b. If you're coming in with the family, or have a particular area you like to sit, get there at least 20 minutes before the show during the weekends, and the entire first week of major releases. Otherwise, it's likely you'll be sitting nose to the screen, or splitting your group up.

2. Most places offer discounted matinee rates, and some even have discounted weekday rates. Going during low-traffic days/hours means a better selection of seats, quicker service at the snack stand, and more money for your favorite treats.

3. In case you don't have enough membership cards already, most places offer their own (free) savings cards. This is a good option for families and usually earns free rewards just for coming on low-traffic days.
As a persistent woman at my local theatre says, "Free drinks, free popcorn, free tickets!"

4. If the lines at the box office are long, the concession lines are usually slow. Knowing what you want will greatly speed up the process and you into your seat quicker to enjoy your hot dog and soda. Ordering a #4 with a diet cola and extra butter will speed things up considerably as well.

5. Free kid films were a hallmark of my summers, so check if and when your local cineplex is showing recent favorites like Shrek, Rugrats in Paris, and March of the Penguins. It means two-hour reality breaks for parents, and big-screen memories for kids. I call that win-win.

6. Tying in with #5, lots of theatres have special promotions for certain releases. These promos usually feature activities for kids and free swag like shirts and hats for the movies in question. Keep an eye out for these as they can be great fun.

So whether you're looking for family-friendly fare, action, or a gore-fest, there's something for everyone this summer, and lots of it.

Gored and Gouged

Plenty of people still have stocks of Y2K rations sitting in their garage from the last time the world is going to end. During the Y2K scare, the fear was that the world would end as we know it if all the machines stopped. Now we have global warming. This time the fear is that the world will end as we know it if all the machines don’t stop. Who knew that Y2K was the cure for global warming? Like global warming, the Y2K scare was manufactured with a few facts and a whole lot of what ifs. Now global grifters have the ultimate shill, the weather. Virtually any weather event is blamed on global warming.

Not content to wait until the government is able to pick our pockets with global warming taxes, some global grifters are using the carbon offset scam to sucker the enviro-friendly rich. The carbon offset scam is for rich folks who want to be seen as green but still want to drive their Bentley, so they pay someone else not to pollute. Now the folks across the pond are discovering that buying carbon credits is little more than a colossal swindle.

Rich American greenies like to talk about how we should make sacrifices to save the world while never making any of their own. Every Democrat Presidential wannabe flew a private jet to their first debate, which drew calls of hypocrisy from conservative circles. Given the fact that none of the candidates are claiming they used carbon offsets, perhaps we should not be too hard on them. After all, we expect our future President to be a little dishonest, but we certainly don’t want him or her to be stupid.

Getting ready to head for the U.N.

Next week I'm going to the United Nations to moderate an impressive panel on free Internet speech for World Press Freedom Day. Now, a friend expressed amazement that they'd even let me in the door. But who would pass up an opportunity to call out the press-rights violations of China, Egypt, and other members right on U.N. turf? In honor of the occasion, I even named my new gold inca aquarium snail Boutros Boutros Snail (Kofi the snail, who did a great job of sucking up to scum, sadly passed a couple of weeks ago).

More on the event as it unfolds! But a few things to ponder: I think it's important for people to realize that the United Nations was not magically cured by the departure of Annan. Just look at the membership of the Human Rights Council. "In its first year of existence, the Human Rights Council has proven just as feckless in confronting human rights abuses and as vulnerable to politically motivated attacks on Israel as its predecessor," wrote Heritage fellow Brett D. Schaefer in a memo last month affirming the U.S. decision to not seek membership on the council. I'll have a piece out next week in a biggie publication (barring any more psycho armed college students nabbing headlines) noting one particular recent disturbing faux pas of the council.

Other items to check out include Anne Bayefsky's Eye on the UN site, which most recently notes that a document from the UN's Palestinian rep calls terrorists "martyrs"; the great study "A Diminished World Body: An Overview of the UN and Israel" from the American Jewish Committee; and the stuff of Nile Gardiner, who took the U.N. to task back during the Kofi era.

The Baldwin apologists

Rosie O'Donnell claims to care about the welfare of children. Yet as Howard Stern was telling his listeners that there was no excuse for the voicemail tirade of Alec Baldwin, Rosie was defending the actor:

"I have to admit I have cursed at my kids sometimes. Honestly, you know, I'm like get the (expletive) ... He's very much of a tortured father who feels alienated from his own child."

Today airs the segment of Baldwin wandering into that friendly "View" territory. "Extra" had a preview:

“'I want to say that I'm sorry to anyone who was offended by what happened,' Alec said. 'I'm sad about the way it all played out.'”

Then there's all the blather about dedicating himself to a book on "parental alienation." Has anyone considered that, considering how venomous that tirade at his daughter was, Kim Bassinger has good reason to keep Baldwin away from Ireland?

It's sad that Baldwin has backers who would fillet any right-winger who would have done the same, but any way you cut it what Baldwin did was abuse. It was no less than verbal abuse, and his continuous blaming of Bassinger for somehow driving him to act that way is just another indication of abusive tendencies (projecting your faults onto others). People attempting to justify his actions or widen this into some great parental alienation debate are letting him off the hook for verbally abusing his daughter. Does anyone actually think this is the first time it probably happened?

And if he's such a doting dad, how come he couldn't even remember her age? 11, 12, whatever!

It takes just ten days...

... to go from being a current event to being, well, History, apparently. Last night The History Channel aired a one-hour documentary on the Virginia Tech shootings, a polished piece with sit-down interviews with all sorts of students and Cho's roommate and more. This on the channel of Civil War reenactments and Ben Franklin bios felt a bit odd. They're not even done yet with toxicology tests on the shooter's body, and it's already on the History Channel? Shouldn't there be a midway stop on the way from leaving CNN and Fox News, such as Discovery or A&E?

Response to Dems' Iraq bill

Yeah, the one with the absurd timetable that's likely making Ayman al-Zawahiri gleefully giggle like a teenage girl. This requires a dignified, succinct response that delicately weighs the pros and cons and extends the same degree of bipartisanship to the Dems that they've extended to the right side of the aisle.

Let me find some red and blue pom-poms here:

Gimme a "V"!

Gimme an "E"!

Gimme a "T"!

Gimme an "O"!

Rallies to free Kareem this Friday!

Come out and rally in support of Abdel Kareem Nabil Soliman -- the Egyptian blogger imprisoned for, well, speaking his mind -- at one of many worldwide events this Friday! (Except here in L.A., where there is no Egyptian embassy, and I'm not sure the Luxor in Vegas would be an acceptable substitute.) Add your voice -- and creative signage -- to the freedom-loving masses who want to send a message that throwing a young man in prison for "insulting Islam" and Mubarak is a travesty. Put pressure on Egypt to do the right thing.

Locations are:

Austria

Belgium

Canada

Czech Republic

Germany

Greece

Italy

Romania

Sweden

United Kingdom

United States of America

For information on all the rallies, click here. For more information on the campaign to Free Kareem, click here. (Full disclosure fine print: I am honored to be a member of the Free Kareem Coalition.) And remember the words of Kareem from November 2005:

"It is very terrible that freedom would be taken from a human being because of an opinion or belief of his, but... it is very beautiful that his detention would be an encouragement for him to stick by his principles, and a reason for him to defy and hold on to what he thinks is right, even if he violates the traditions and beliefs of the majority of the people within the boundaries of his society ..."

 

Secrets of life revealed at Denny's

So yesterday I took the Vixenmobile out for a breath of fresh air (well, though the Inland Empire, so maybe not the "fresh" part) over to the Sonny Bono Memorial Highway and up to Joshua Tree. On the way back I stopped in Yucca Valley at Denny's -- the trusty place to stop for a bite in the middle of BFE, and their ranch dressing is soooo good. As I observed couples and families dining around me, and gazed longingly out the window at the Vixenmobile, I thought of that line Kyra Sedgwick says in the movie "Singles," where she gets back with an old boyfriend and notes they've quickly become like one of those couples that sits in Denny's and doesn't speak to each other.

The silence between these couples I observed was uncomfortable at best, and they ranged from young to middle-aged. Maybe everybody in Yucca Valley is just angry. But the opposite of love is not hate but indifference, and that's what stood out.

That, in turn, made me think about a friend who just did eHarmony and the matches she received (and she did start dating one, who, in my opinion because she doesn't read this blog, is a schmo) were so hellbent on getting married and having kids. Isn't that the wrong order? Isn't it better to fall in love and let everything else happen as it should? Why would anyone settle for becoming one of those couples in Denny's who sit there and don't talk to each other? The moral of the story, I guess, is that in life and love never settle for less than the Grand Slam.

And that concludes our sermon for the day...