Still, every now and then some elitist hack with a degree from the right college and the proper connections gets a job at a failing weekly magazine and decides to take a shot at you and your profession, feeling they are qualified to judge this art form because they know how to laugh and talk. This is rarely if ever done with other art forms. Seriously folks, when is the last time you saw an article about actors who can’t act, dancers who can’t dance, painters who can’t paint or pointless “performance artists.” Yet, about every six months some “critic” declares a number of famous comics “not funny.”   

Ms. Sarah Ball of the soon defunct Newsweek is the latest to declare some great comics “not funny.” In her article she lists 12 acts and gives snarky put downs of their talents. I found it interesting that Ms. Ball’s list is mostly west coast, politically conservative/moderate comics. Apparently if you are from New York and ultra-liberal Ms. Ball finds you hilarious!

Topping her list is every elitist favorite comedy punching bag Larry the Cable Guy. Larry’s sin seems to be he is a little too lowbrow for Ms. Ball, whom I am sure worships at the altar of urinator Larry David, and christophobe Sarah Silverman. There are a couple of folks working at the top of the intellectual chart. When talking about Dane Cook (I admit, not my favorite) she heaps praise on Louis C.K. (a guy I happen to also enjoy) who also tends towards the scatological for his humor.

Here is another thing that annoys me worst than Barney Frank, several times Ms. Ball demeans comics for being less than original and yet in her writing she uses a number of “stock” lines, clichés and banal comments. She also works for a magazine which recently selected a cover picture of Sarah Palin that was borrowed from a shoot for another magazine and used without contextual reference.

Ms. Ball also apparently hasn’t seen some of the comics she lists in some time. For Emo Phillips she uses an outdated photo, (again Newsweek using a photo out of context!) and critiques the vocal and delivery style he was using in the 90’s. Artists grow and change Ms. Ball; you might want to catch Bob Goldthwaite sometime this century too!  Her total critique of Jeff Dunham is that he is a ventriloquist, a comedy form she declared “went out of vogue in the Eisenhower era.” So did unbiased journalism and accurate reporting, Ms. Ball, but I’ll save that for another blog. Ventriloquism is experiencing a great revival outside elitist circles with Ronn Lucas and Terry Fator being two of the top draws in Las Vegas. While Jay Johnson, Jeff Dunham and Dan Horn wow audiences across the country. It might do Ms. Ball good to get out of Manhattan once in awhile and see what us rubes are doing out here in Flyoverland.

There are a lot of comics who I don’t find funny but I realize that my taste in comedy is skewered by my values, faith, politics and a number of other factors. I would never declare Bill Maher “not funny.” Though I find his drug addled ramblings repulsive at times, I realize that a number of equally intelligent folks find him hysterical. I might say I find his humor “baffling” or call him an “alleged” comedian but to declare him “not funny” isn’t fair to Bill or his fans.

People like different things, that’s why they put numbers on horses at the track. I would expect an open and fair minded progressive person like Ms. Ball to be a little more…what’s that word? Tolerant!

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Don’t be fooled by the self-effacing humor or Gore’s willingness to engage in gentle self-mockery. As the leader and symbol of this socialist-wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing movement, GE/NBC understands that Gore’s popularity can only aid in the passing of legislation beneficial to GE. And Gore’s “30 Rock” enablers also understand that the more appealing he is, the more appealing his leftist ideas seem…

“Gee, why would such a nice guy want to hurt America?”

The Left will argue, “Come on, it’s funny, it’s harmless…”

No, but it is effective. And in its drip-drip-drip way, relentlessly so.

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Out of context, without all the cheap Palin and Palin-family bashing, as Lopez takes his snarky shot at the Governor’s “inexperience,” you’d swear he was talking about Barack Obama.

NewsBusters has more.

You need not work in Hollywood to understand that this is the single most intolerant industry in America today — just watch their product. I wasn’t surprised to learn from Christian Toto that ”The Blind Side” filmmakers couldn’t control themselves. Unless it’s outside the mainstream Hollywood system, a film marketed to traditional American conservatives — much less, Southern Christians! — has to hit us with a leftist sucker punch one way or another. It’s an unwritten rule… 

Hollywood is high school and if you want to sit at the cool kids’ table (i.e. work) you better fit in, and if you’ve been involved in the writing, directing or producing of a film sympathetic towards the most hated demographic (yes, even more hated than terrorists — again, watch the product) in the 9-0 zip code, you had better inoculate yourself.

And that’s what the gratuitous, unnecessary, jarring, take-you-out-of-the-movie shot at Bush is: an inoculation. The filmmakers want to work again; they want to be invited to all the right parties. But if you’re remembered as the person involved in bringing to life a movie only Glenn Beck could love, no matter how big of a hit, that’s not a good thing on the ole’ resume’.

There are notable exceptions, but working in Hollywood — an industry built on social interaction — means getting along with Leftists, and Leftists are religious, regional and ideological bigots of the worst order. The smart people involved in the making of “The Blind Side” knew the Bush shot was bad storytelling — was what what John Boot described as ”a non-sequitur nonpareil” — they just felt, for whatever reason (their own bigotry or career survival), that it was worth it. 

Hollywood is not money or profit-driven. This is an industry engaged in an ideological war with traditional conservative America that doesn’t mind making a profit, but never will at the expense of the cause. Everyone involved in the making of “Blind Side” knew an unnecessary partisan shot at Bush would turn people off. They all knew they were insulting the very audience the film was marketed at for no reason other than to insult them. But there was absolutely no way in hell this thing was going to see the light of day without something for the Hollywood bigots to snicker over.

This is their sandbox, and there’s a ring to kiss if you want to play.

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The ad was selected out of 1,000 entries, as part of Obama’s “Health Care Reform Video Challenge.”  Ironically, instead of showcasing real people who suffer under the current health-care structure, the judges hand picked an ad that is all showbiz and zero substance.  They chose to go with fake health-care horror stories read by adorable but soppy kid actors — pawns in a political high-stakes game of shocksploitation. These kids obviously don’t have dire health care problems;  they just have showbiz parents who hooked them up with a gig.

Don’t be too surprised — Hollywood has lent Obama an ever-willing hand.  The judges were comprised of a celebrity panel that reads like the Hollywood Squares: Rosario Dawson, musician Will.I.Am., Brandon Routh, Kate Walsh and Olivia Wilde, and raunchy “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane. When you think America’s health-care solutions — you want to call in Seth MacFarlane, right?!

In American politics there is a cardinal rule:  if you must use a personal story to advance an ideology or an issue, be sure it is true.  When a President stands before the public and uses names of real people with real problems to advance an agenda, he makes a point through presenting solid evidence — life lessons.  Reagan did it, Clinton did it, George W. Bush did it… and there’s nothing wrong with it if it is true.

Not only did the Obama team ignore the facts, they ignored any input by average Americans.  When you ask a glitzy Hollywood panel to come up with your health-care message, don’t be surprised if they enlist a reality TV has-been director of stoner movies.   What is surprising in all this is that ads that deal with highly sensitive political messages are normally carefully focus-grouped in front of an audience of regular Americans.  This is done so they have the opportunity to voice their opinions and concerns about vitally important policy decisions.

Apparently, no one at the White House or the DNC were bothered much with grassroots concerns in this case (after all, DNC Chair Tim Kaine was on the judging panel). If they did, they would hear more about the economy — according to the latest Gallup poll 51% think the economy should be the President’s main focus, only 21% said health care. It all begs the question:  if you have to make it all up with actors, what are you really saying?  Perhaps a better question in this case: what are they smoking?

Oh, sure, we elected a black President (or is this our second black President?  That whole Clinton-as-first-black-President thing always confuses me).  And yes, our biggest sports, TV, music and film stars tend to be black.  And sure our past Secretaries of State, National Security Advisers and the current Chairman of the Republican Party are all black.  But this proves nothing, NOTHING!

If you ever wanted more proof that America is, at its heart a racist society, Universal has provided us with the perfect smoking gun:  They re-designed a film poster for overseas distribution and in re-designing it, they removed two black actors.  I will let the horror of what they did soak in for a moment while you read the report from London’s Daily Mail:

The American advert for Couples Retreat, a comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Kristin Davis, show all eight principal actors – six of whom are white and two black.  But the poster in Britain, where the film is on general release, omits actors Faizon Love and Kali Hawk.

That’s right, Kali Hawk is our generation’s Rosa Parks.

Take a look at the  American Poster which includes Love and Hawk:

And now, take a look at the poster in question which was used in the UK:

Set aside for a moment that the second poster is cleaner and more effective.  The fact that an American company would remove these two actors from this poster SOLELY on the basis of their skin color is proof positive that the country that spawned this movie, this studio and yes, even this industry, is racist to the core!

Let me tell you a little secret we use in the theatre world when negotiating contracts with actors (I suspect it is used in the film world, as well — actors are actors, after all).  Whenever you want to get an actor to take less money than they want and you still need to make their agent look good, you give them as many things as you can that won’t cost you anything.  The number one thing in this category is:  Billing.

Billing costs the producer NOTHING, yet agents have convinced their clients that it is priceless!  It’s the perfect storm in negotiating a deal.  Take a look at that first poster again.   Look at the billing and the location of Hawk and Love in the poster.  Does anyone really think they are included because they help sell tickets to this thing?  If you are stumped, ask yourself this:  If it were Jamie Foxx and Beyonce’ do you think they would be positioned on the poster in the same way?

I see billing like this (for relatively unknown actors like Hawk and Love) and I think one thing:  They got that billing instead of more money.  But, clearly, the billing arrangement was only limited to the domestic release of this film. (Thus further proving that their inclusion in the US poster was a vanity move, not a marketing move).

But the Politically Correct industry sees this and jumps to one conclusion: They were taken off the poster because they are black.  They reach this conclusion because the Politically Correct industry views the world as a collection of different groups of people all defined by their skin color.  In short:  Politically Correct people are racist.  Isn’t this the purest definition of a racist?  To immediately categorize Kali Hawk as a black actress who must have been discriminated against because of her skin color instead of what she really is:  a promising, young actress whose biggest credit last year was as “Nurse” on an episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (and who happens to be black, by the way).

So, of course, Universal’s response to the racists was to appease them.

A spokesman for makers Universal Pictures confirmed the poster had been changed to ‘simplify’ it for the UK and international market outside America. The studio said it regretted causing offence and has abandoned plans to use the revised poster in other countries.

You know who should really be pissed?  Jean Reno.  He’s in this movie and he’s a better actor than all of these people combined… why isn’t HE on the poster?  I suspect it’s because folks in the UK and America aren’t too fond of the French.

I don’t know about you, but I long for a simpler time when we can root out the REAL racists in our society… you know, the people who are against the President’s Health-Care Agenda.  In the meantime, corporations like Universal will have to do the yeoman’s work in purging the racists from their own ranks and empowering the truly offended who have been forever damaged by a poster being released without an image of the fat guy in “Elf“.

Poll after poll, the United States ranks as the most “God-fearing” nation on the planet. Good on us! Whether you believe in God or not, it’s tough to deny the reality of Christian principles being an intricate part of our country’s historical fabric.

One has to ask themselves however, as arguably the last “Christian nation” around, why were our Founders so adamant about keeping the Feds grimy paws out of our churches?

Most of Europe upheld state religions, yet only 52 percent of its citizens maintain a belief in God.

My home province of Quebec force-fed its people their state-enforced brand of Catholicism for years, yet it now enjoys the title of being the single most un-churched population of the industrialized world. Compare these statistics to the well-over 80% of Americans who believe in God and one can’t help but notice a pattern there.

There’s no doubt that the Founding Fathers were deeply spiritual men (and when I say spiritual, I mean in the Judeo-Christian sense, not in the Disney/Pray-to-colors-of-the-wind type silliness). With that being said, could it be that they wanted to separate church and state, in order to PRESERVE the Christian principles that built this country?

Think about it. When has government successfully forced people to do ANYTHING that they didn’t already want to do? From forced “integration” in Detroit, to putting a tax on a morning breakfast beverage, the results have always been disastrous.

A freedom-saturated environment is conducive to the growth of faith in God. I’m guessing that might be why our Founding Fathers were much more “spirit” rather than “letter of the law” Christians like their English counterparts.

You know who else felt the same way… Jesus.

No, really. Jesus was forthright with his whole “I am the way, the truth and the light” deal (heck he was even crucified for it), but ultimately, the man left the decision up to us.

I guess what I’m wondering now is, if the Son of Man never felt the need to force anything down our throat… Where does our government get off thinking that they can?

Americans don’t want universal health care, we’re getting it. We don’t want Cap and Tax, we’re getting it. If freedom has generally bred positive choices, one would have to wonder what comes of statism. Historically, all signs point towards revolution. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, even though the muskets would be fun to have.

As an even bigger point, I think that the systematic removal of our individual liberties is not only anti-American … it’s Anti-Christian. Ask yourself not only how the Founding Fathers would feel about the current administrations diametric opposition to their original intentions for our country, but what would Jesus think? It sounds gimmicky I’m sure, but when you get to pondering, it can be a real trip.

Of course, whenever I find myself still in doubt I ask: What would Sean Penn do?

I’d also appreciate it if Sean Hannity would wake up to the fact that a lot of us change the channel the second that Bob Beckel shows up on the Great American Panel.

On the other hand, I wish that merely as an experiment a dozen or so liberals could be forced to watch Glenn Beck for an entire week. I would be dying to know how they would react after watching videos of Obama, Rahm Emanuel, Cass Sunstein, Anita Dunn, Andy Stern and John Holdren spouting off when they think nobody outside the room will hear about their plans to transform America.  They would have made Dr. Frankenstein blanch but put a smile on Karl Marx’s ugly mug.

Back in 1990, the police raided Barney Frank’s home because his lover, Steve Gobie, was running a male prostitution ring out of his condo. In 2007, the police raided the home of James Ready and arrested him for possession of marijuana. Ready, who is Barney’s main squeeze these days, didn’t just smoke the weed, Farmer Ready was growing the stuff. The congressman was there at the time of the raid but denied he had any idea that those plants in the backyard weren’t rhododendrons. I believe he told the police that he was perfectly clueless when it came to plant life. I guess, like Clinton, he too never inhaled.

Because I am always prepared to grant a liberal politician the benefit of the doubt, I’m sure it’s only a coincidence that Barney has long led the fight to decriminalize the use and sale of the narcotic.

Finally, I understand why so many folks are eager to impeach the president, but that obviously isn’t going to happen. Unfortunately, being a Red and despising America isn’t an impeachable offense. However, there’s nothing to prevent people from gathering signatures in order to recall their arrogant representatives.

I suggest we begin with every single one of those ACORN-loving crumbs who voted for the stimulus bill, cash for clunkers, and ObamaCare.

If their voting against the best interests of present-day American taxpayers, not to mention future generations, isn’t reason enough to throw the bums out, I can’t imagine what would be.

As with the weather, or at least the way it used to be with the weather prior to Al Gore’s turning it into his personal ATM, everyone complains about incumbents, but nobody does anything about them.

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Christian Toto:

“The new drama “The Blind Side” tells the story of a homeless black teen who is taken in by a Christian family led by Sandra Bullock.

“It’s a heartwarming story based on the life of NFL lineman Michael Oher.

“So why does the film feel the need to awkwardly squeeze in a slam at former president George W. Bush?”

Get the full details here.