New Opportunities in the Business of Entertainment

So all these Hollywood types want to hold a "Hate Bush" event on Tuesday. Apparently these self-described "intellectuals" have deduced that only they, the enlightened, elite beautiful people, can tell the rest of us how to think and vote because they know we just love our celebrities.

They will instead find they're forcing a much greater disconnect between Hollywood and middle America than already exists. A growing economy, an AARP-endorsed Medicare reform law, a President who takes his own risks visiting troops in Iraq and the ideological bankruptcy of the Democrats in the race all but ensure a Bush re-election in 2004. These Hollywood types may find their growing irrelevance will extend to the very future of Hollywood and may indeed send Americans looking for more entertainment alternatives. The time is now to consider these new opportunities, from your local independent filmmakers to whole other industry cities, wherever they prove to be.   ¶ # posted by Jon @ 11:52 PM

 

Part of the Problem

This Bush appointee needs to quit right now. Apparently he prefers a Muslim society defined by corrupt authoritarian government and female circumcision. I think most thinking Arabs would disagree that western democracy can't apply to Muslim countries, as this man so assuredly says of his own people. Take a look at his photo and see how easy it is to picture him beating his wife.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 3:16 PM

 

What Would Pim Fortuyn Do?

The Dutch may have destroyed both their tourism industry and their experiment with decriminalizing marijuana with this action. In the process of the EU countries "harmonizing" their drug laws but allowing each country to decide personal consumption, it has been decided that only Dutch citizens with national identity cards may go to these "coffee" houses, thus removing the very incentive most affluent American tourists have for vacationing in Amsterdam. On the bright side, there's no reason for us Americans to care what adverse impact all of this has on Dutch tax revenues.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 1:55 AM

 

The Baghdad Surprise

Matt Drudge has the raw notes of Bush's secret visit to Baghdad, taken by Mike Allen of the Washington Post.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 1:40 AM

 

Celebrity Injustice

Glen Campbell, of all people, has been charged with DUI, hit and run and assault (of a law enforcement officer) yet was allowed out on a paltry $2000 bond, which is about what it would be for a DUI by itself in Georgia. Like Diana Ross before him, Campbell is inexplicably extended a leniency simply unthinkable for the common man, a clear violation of the equal protection clause.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 11:21 AM

 

Blogrolled

Notice to the right I now have a "Blogs for Bush" button in my margin. I did this to positively assert that I do indeed support the re-election of President Bush and wish to promote said cause.

Now, if I identify myself as more libertarian, wouldn't people expect me to support the Libertarian party? I'm happy to explain. First of all, the people who constitute the Libertarian party blew their best chance ever to promote themselves in 1998 when there was a trend against "politicians" of every stripe. Second, I expect the 2004 election to be rather close so in terms of the presidential race, a vote for a third party candidate this time around really would be wasted and a spoiler would more likely benefit the Democratic nominee. Finally, I don't believe my particular brand of pro-life, reformist libertarianism will ever be satisfactorily applied to public policy in my lifetime. This clear choice is made easier by the fact that I like most of the things Bush and his administration are doing, anyway. No Democrat from the declared field will grow the economy more or make the nation and the world any safer with their stated ideas.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 5:27 AM

 

Conspiracy Theory

At the risk of contradicting my last post, I find this ABC poll a bit dubious, as the story explains that part of the reason people think the JFK killing was a conspiracy is the influence of Oliver Stone's "JFK" film. Aside from the rhetorical question "have you ever kept a secret with 5 people," I think people are also overlooking how easily John Hinckley, Jr. walked up to Ronald Reagan in that shooting.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 6:43 PM

 

Can So Many Be So Wrong?

Such was the rhetorical question posed by George Orwell in the context of his novels, but in the real world there's usually a reason why a majority of people believe something and that's because they know it's true. Why do 70% of Americans believe there was a Saddam-al-Qaeda connection? Because there was, despite efforts by the press and even the White House to insist otherwise.   ¶ # posted by Jon @ 11:51 PM

 

Intellectual Giants

At this time of shrill, extremely polarized political division and gridlocked debate, along comes a new force to elevate the international discourse; enter the Radical Cheerleaders.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 4:43 AM

 

Qualified Opinions

What better source of Iraq news and commentary than an Iraqi blogger? Zeyad is well-spoken and his blog should be required reading for every American journalist. His take on "the so-called Iraqi resistance" (his use of quotation marks) ought to be vindication for everyone who supports the allied effort.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 4:08 PM

 

New Song

I have released a demo version of my song "Almost Like Another Day" as the first promo single of the news holiday album, "A Very Lester Xmas," and you can find it in lo-fi mp3 and RealAudio formats here.

I'll also be performing the holiday tunes live at Tasty World Wednesday 17 December with none other than legendary old coot Hasil Adkins. If you're in the area when the time comes, remember I'll also have some free eggnog made.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 6:01 AM

 

Trying Something New

Senator Lieberman is experimenting with Oklahoma voters and just may find that singing to them is a better idea than talking about the issues.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 2:46 AM

 

Girl Power

Finally, at least a few Girl Scouts are doing something on par with their counterpart boys, trapping and skinning beavers in Alaska in the context of environmental management. Naturally, PETA steps in to again demonstrate their complete ignorance of local heritage and the best interests of the area's people and wildlife.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 3:09 PM

 

Hearts and Minds

American culture works for us in ways military force and diplomacy cannot, as we see clearly illustrated here .  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 6:39 AM

 

Long Overdue

I got up just in time to catch the live broadcast of Bush signing the partial-birth abortion ban. I am very pleased.

As I said in a previous post, all of us should make note of who opposes this with legal challenges so that we may expose their true character and intent.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 3:50 PM

 

She's Never Had It

A self-important Barbra Streisand once again fails to get the point. CBS canceled the production of "The Reagans" not because it showed the 39th president as imperfect but because it was to include elements of absolute fiction, deliberate distortions and fabrications with the obvious intent of miseducating unsuspecting viewers. This is exactly the difference between "The Reagans" and the 80's JFK TV movie she compares in her memo.   ¶ # posted by Jon @ 3:47 PM

 

Behind the Scenes

They don't usually attribute their sources but the people at Debka are more often right than off-target. Here and here they lay out a single big development that will change the world order greatly in the next several years.  ¶ # posted by Jon @ 4:15 AM

 

Post-Natal

A girl has died as a direct consequence of using RU-486 provided by Planned Parenthood. How do you like your "reproductive freedom" and FDA-approved "morning after pill" now?

While we're on this subject, have you ever wondered why the supposed Fourth Amendment "right to privacy" is considered absolute for abortion (according to Roe v. Wade) but never applies to people using recreational drugs in their own homes? You can kill your own flesh and blood freely but if police find out you like to smoke down at home, you might get raided by a SWAT team.

Another thing I'll mention: several years ago REM did a benefit for Planned Parenthood and ever since then I've been avowed to never spend another dime that might get back to any of them. Planned Parenthood makes hundreds of millions a dollars every year off their "reproductive services" and even uses propaganda to keep the business coming through their TeenWire site. Why should they need rock star benefactors? Of course, the REM guys bat close to a thousand for taking the wrong stand on every issue anyway so it won't really surprise anyone.   ¶ # posted by Jon @ 10:30 PM