***UPDATE: Because it might not be the most up-to-date, the photo of the comparison crowd shot has been removed and replaced.

I can think of a lot of rough jobs for a cameraman. Despite being the dream job of every adolescent boy, I imagine that working on an adult film can get quite tedious, (and often disgusting).  Working for C-SPAN has to be difficult, fighting to stay awake during long Congressional procedures. On the other hand, if I had to shoot an episode of the new NBC comedy “Outsourced,” I would envy the cameraman working for C-SPAN, if only for his job security. But I think the roughest camera job of last weekend had to be working behind the lens at the “Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear.”

I can only imagine some of the screaming that was going on in the wireless earpieces from the directors van: “You idiot, that’s Sarah Palin in a Hitler costume, find something else!” or: “Pull it  in, you’re showing too much green space!” and the inevitable: “Find another black person, we’ve shown her three times already!”

This was probably the roughest order. Finding diversity at the rally, was like looking to for clams in the chowder at a discount seafood buffet: nothing but potatoes, cream, and crackers. I kept wondering when the director would slip backstage, and ask some of the musicians to wander out into the crowd, so they could get a couple shots.

Because the lack of color did not go unnoticed. During the Rally, John Stewart even said, “if you have too many white people at a rally, your cause is racist.” Who was he referring to?  I’ve known many hard-core Stewart fans, and they all point to the monochromatic nature of the the Tea Party as proof of the underlying racism. Stewart himself once referred to the Tea Party as being “Thousands of disgruntled people of non-color taking to the streets.” (Yet polls demonstrate that the tea party is only around 79% white.) (more…)

[Ed. Note: Please visit Big Journalism for the full "Cry Wolf" series.]

Patrick Courrielche’s kickoff article exposing major university faculty and graduate students’ Cry Wolf Project is alarming. Each installment in the series has only made it more so.

CWP’s solicitation for policy briefs designed to construct politically driven narratives is a confession of academic malpractice. As Kurt Schlichter has pointed out, its participants’ intentions are unethical, insubordinate, and potentially illegal.

The CWP email shows its players to be intolerant of varying viewpoints in the pursuit of their ideological ends. The fact that they are offering colleagues and grad students money to predetermine outcomes proves their intent: to tell partisan political stories:

Drier-Email –

What are they afraid of? (more…)

Have any of you been dumped on Facebook for being racist, homophobic, gun toting morons lately? Have some of your tolerant, diversity-seeking “progressive“ friends tossed you under the bus for having the temerity to express a conservative opinion based on facts?

I got “unfriended” on Facebook a few months ago by comedienne Elayne Boosler. Out here in the real world I wasn’t really “friends” with Ms. Boosler. We had met a few times and I think we may have shared a stage or two somewhere along the way but that was it. Our Facebook friendship was almost as brief. When I disagreed with one of her political postings I was soon scratched from her “friend” roster. It seems that Ms. Boosler does not like to have her opinions challenged. She is one of many “progressives” who believe in diversity of appearance but not of thought. Fair enough.  You want to be narrow minded and intellectually lazy so you don’t have to defend your opinions, that is your right as an American. Second in my mind only to the right to be as stupid as you want to be is the right to put your fingers in your ear when someone who disagrees with you is so rude as to start throwing facts at you. (more…)

..with you

The New York Post ran a story this weekend with a very encouraging headline: RIGHT TURN ON B’WAY? Michael Riedel’s article revolves around two new plays that are being shopped around for a home.  One is a one-man play about Ronald Reagan.

“Reagan” is a one-man play that doesn’t portray the 40th president as a fascist. It’s by Lionel Chetwynd, whose scripts for television and film include “The Hanoi Hilton,” “Color of Justice,” “Kissinger and Nixon” and “DC 9/11: Time of Crisis.” ….  Chetwynd declined to comment on “Reagan,” except to say with a laugh, “It will change lives and the course of history.” A copy of an early script portrays Reagan as thoughtful, determined, sly (when necessary) and winning. Talking to the audience from the main room of his California ranch, Reagan explains his journey from FDR Democrat to conservative Republican. Along the way, he offers a spirited defense of conservative principles. At least three top directors have passed on the play because, says a source, “They can’t stand Ronald Reagan.”

The other play cited is “Girls in Trouble (Formerly Three Abortions)” by Jonathan Reynolds.

In “Girls in Trouble,” Reynolds presents a balanced view of pro-lifers while taking some swipes at the NPR crowd. The play ends with a harrowing confrontation between two women — one pro-life, the other pro-choice — that’s not for the squeamish. “Thus far, its claim to fame is that it’s been turned down by all the theaters in New York,” Reynolds says of his play. “It was commissioned by the Long Wharf, but they wouldn’t put it on. There was a theater in the suburbs of Washington, DC, that said they wanted to present the ‘other side’ of the abortion debate. But when they read it, they said it would “infuriate our audience.” Oskar Eustis, the head of the Public Theater, told Reynolds that his staff “didn’t go for it,” but that he would take a look at it himself.

(more…)

The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belong to one category.” – Adolf Hitler.

“At this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.” – NY Times columnist Paul Krugman.

Paul Krugman

Really sucks to be a conservative these days. I feel like I’m walking around with a big bulls-eye on my back. I know many of the Left, especially Keith Olbermann, Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, the New York Times editorial staff and all the pundits at HuffPo and KOS would find that statement hilariously ironic, given the recent shooting deaths of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas and security guard Steven T. Johns at the Holocaust Museum. Then again, they’re not the ones being branded en masse as co-conspirators in those murders. Conservatives are. (more…)

The “Deity-in-Chief” went to Cairo last week to address the Muslim world.  Others have pointed out that Egypt is an odd place for such an address:  Saudi Arabia is home to the holiest places in Islam and Indonesia is the home of the world’s largest Muslim population.  If this is correct, this would be like going to London to make a pandering speech to Catholics to address the actions of the I.R.A.  I’ll give you a break to have another sip of coffee and sort that one out in your head.

Blessed Brother Ted Nugent

Ok, you’re back.  This whole “outreach” got me thinking.  It’s actually a good idea.  To tailor policy around making sure people don’t feel alienated and left out.  To change the national agenda in order to protect the sensitivities of people, even if those sensitivities go against what is traditional and accepted thought in our country.  Can I get an “Amen” from the Hippies?  This is what it’s all about, right?

Let me introduce you to another group…another alien culture that I think needs to get a little “outreach” from the government…especially the elites in D.C.  Hollywood, Europe and the academic world could also do a little better when it comes to making these people feel special.  We need more diversity!  More diversity!

(more…)

Yeah-I think I get it? If you’re a media personality of mediocre talent and dubious intelligence like…uh…gee, there’s so many to choose from? Oh, I know, let’s go with Janeane Garofalo now that she’s decided to be a spokesperson for the party of “love, openness and diversity” again. Anyway, apart from proving you’re not smart enough to keep your mouth shut, what happens if you’re a media personality of mediocre talent and dubious intelligence and you openly preach the most vile form of inflammatory hatred towards an entire group/race of people in today’s politically correct climate? 

You get a pass and high-fives from the MSM of course, but why? (more…)