***UPDATE: This post has been updated for clarity purposes.

I’d like to thank Right Change (who sponsored and are planning an ad campaign to support the spot) and all the wonderful actors and crew who volunteered for the “Call Me Madam” video.

I was motivated to do something on this after I saw the video of Barbara Boxer interrogating Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh.

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I remember immediately feeling embarrassed that a member of Congress would treat an officer of the U.S. military like that.  And doubly embarrassed that back in the early 90’s I had contributed to Barbara Boxer’s campaign.  I was so outraged at the pure arrogance of that moment,  that I sat down to write the spot, highlighting the pure absurdity of our California Senator dressing down a Brigadier General for calling her “Ma’am.”  No Naked Gun or Scary Movie ever had an opportunity as good as that one for pure ridicule.  Never mind that the military personnel are instructed to call their superiors including members of congress ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am’, including specifically, Members of Congress!

I thought an apology would have been appropriate, but to my knowledge, none has ever been made by Senator Boxer.  This I find distressing, since apologies from public figures nowadays are the norm.  I mean, it’s not as if she texted her junk to Brett Favre.  This was just arrogantly insulting an army officer.  But I guess that’s okay with her.    (more…)

Yesterday, our own Chris Yogerst weighed in on Greg Gutfeld’s criticism of Hollywood — specifically Greg’s criticism of “G.I. Joe,” Stallone’s new Rambo film and “Inglourious Basterds” — for choosing politically correct villains over the real ones we face today. Chris is correct that turning Nazis into Jihadists is not something a filmmaker like Quentin Tarantino would do. If he has any, Tarantino’s politics have remained hidden in his work. Up on that screen the only thing he advocates for is overlooked 70’s B-movies and audacious entertainment. However, that doesn’t make the director’s decision to use Nazis any less politically correct or Hollywood’s moral cowardice in this area any more defensible.

Where my colleague Chris and I most disagree is with the assertion that Hollywood chooses “politically correct” or “safe” villains because Hollywood is all about the money and therefore wants to appeal to audiences who care what the villain looks like:

The film industry, like any other business, generally wants to appeal to the largest audience possible.  Picking “safe” enemies is one way to do that. 

Two of the most profitable films released this past year were “Gran Torino,” where our hero confronts black and Asian street gangs, and “Taken,” where the henchmen are Muslims and the arch-villain Middle Eastern. (more…)