There is a lot that a person can learn from watching “Scarface.”  While most of the lessons involve how to build a drug distribution empire, alternative uses for a chainsaw, and what not to do with your tongue when trying to impress a young lady, this movie also gives us some insight into the nature of Michael Moore.  There is a scene in the film where Tony Montana’s boss, Frank Lopez, is describing what a “chazzer” is.  Frank describes the term “chazzer” as a Yiddish word for “pig.”  In the world of “Scarface,” one of the traits of a chazzer is that “He don’t fly straight no more.”  This is the perfect description of Mr. Moore.

I am not calling Michael a pig because he hasn’t seen his toes since zoot suits were in fashion, or that he seems like the type who roots around the snack cake aisle at the supermarket like a hog rooting for truffles.  I am calling him a pig because all objective evidence points to the fact that he fits the definition of chazzer.  Michael is a pig that doesn’t fly straight.

OBAMA AND ME

Michael Moore first rolled onto the American scene when he made the film “Roger and Me.”  This movie was about the evils of General Motors and how the callous pursuit of profits by then CEO, Roger Smith, resulted in American plant closures and the unemployment of thousands of union workers.  At this point in his career he was very interested in what was going on with the world’s biggest auto producer (at the time) and how it affected the working man. (more…)

So last week’s Census Data reported that there are 50.67 million uninsured Americans.

That’s statistically speaking, a “crapload.”

But economist Mark J. Perry is pretty good at dissembling such crap. I paraphrase:

There were 10.6 million uninsured Americans in households making $75,000 per year or more, and they represent more than 1 out of every 5 uninsured. There were about 9.4 million Americans without health insurance … making between $50,000 and $75,000, representing 18.5% of the uninsured. So nearly 40 percent of Americans without health insurance were living in households last year with $50,000 or more of household income.

So, we’ve been constantly told that people cannot “afford” insurance, but these numbers tell us something else. Some reject insurance by choice, maybe because they’re self-insured, or more inclined to hit Wal-Mart for their scripts. (more…)

The Screen Actors Guild just announced that a whole lot of its members will soon be without health insurance. That’s because the union has lost most of its clout and income. Now, you don’t become an actor because security is high on your wish list. If that’s what you want, go to work for the post office (where one of your fellow workers may shoot you). But we used to have a pretty good union with pretty good benefits. What happened?

Fifty four years ago, I was elected first vice president of the New York local of the television actors union which came to be known as AFTRA. My fellow board members and I fought hard to convince members to merge with the Screen Actors Guild.  Double the size of the union, double the bargaining power! But some of the members resisted, afraid that the number of actors competing with them for jobs would multiply. (Virtually all work produced for television was live and did not involve film and therefore SAG. Why let all those west coast people in on a good thing!)

As time went by, things shifted, more and more shows began to be produced on film and SAG became dominant. Now, it was the film actors turn to fear competition. Why let that little TV union in on a good thing. There’s almost no live TV left, these guys are nothing but news-casters and talk show hosts.  Every attempt at merger has failed because a vocal frightened minority in first one union and then the other fought tooth and nail against it on the grounds that there would be more actors competing against them for jobs. These actors are, I think, insecure in their talent so, naturally, scared of competition. (more…)

Uh oh.

Scott Johnson at Powerline was alerted to this this morning. We’ll tell the story in pictures.

NEA homepage:

Closer look:

Select “Health Insurance” and you’re sent directly here: (more…)

Back in January you couldn’t watch any entertainment “news” show or read any Arts & Culture section of a newspaper without seeing something about the death of Broadway.  There were so many shows closing all at once that the imminent death of our industry was whined about not just from spineless actors, but from producers as well.  It was so pervasive that Saturday Night Live utilized Neil Patrick Harris’ musical theatre ability to present a skit starring the characters of popular Broadway shows having a meeting at Sardi’s to try to save the industry.

Somewhere, out in the wilderness, on the pages of Big Hollywood, there was a lone voice of reason.  A pragmatic and practical man laying out the facts for you, the ever-interested and conservative reader.  That man, one Stage Right, was shrewd enough to label the producers as “panty-waste industry folk” and explained that their propensity to panic and pull the emergency brake is partly attributed to their liberal tendencies.

(more…)