Hostages

16 November 2009

When New York Times journalist David Rohde was kidnapped last year in Afghanistan, the company engaged in a painstaking effort to squash the story. They succeeded in persuading major media who learned of the kidnapping to keep quiet. The cover-up was so good that a New York Times reporter I spoke with in December 2008, while she and I joined Secretary Gates on a trip through Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq and back to the United States, had not heard about the David Rohde kidnapping.

The New York Times openly agrees that publishing such articles increases the peril to the lives of hostages, yet it published details about a British couple being held hostage in Somalia, and thus increased the value of the hostages to the kidnappers.

Some months after Mr. Rohde’s kidnapping started leaking, I published a generic blurb about the case, but made sure none of the information was new. (more…)

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Tags: Afghanistan, David Rohde, Huffington Post, Michael Yon, Michael Yon Dispatches
Posted Nov 16th 2009 at 4:32 pm in Michael Yon Dispatches, Military | 2635227 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/myon/2009/11/16/hostages/Hostages2009-11-17+00%3A32%3A14Michael+Yon

Natalie Portman: Meat’s a Sin, Free Polanski

Natalie Portman is a vegetarian – a vegan, to be precise – and she thinks you should be one too. At least, that’s the impression I get from her article at the Huffington Post. In fact, she really goes so far as to infer that those of us who eat animals or animal products are inhumane beasts.

Apparently, reading Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals transformed her from a vegetarian to being a full-fledged vegan activist:

I’ve always been shy about being critical of others’ choices because I hate when people do that to me. I’m often interrogated about being vegetarian (e.g., “What if you find out that carrots feel pain, too? Then what’ll you eat?”).

I’ve also been afraid to feel as if I know better than someone else — a historically dangerous stance (I’m often reminded that “Hitler was a vegetarian, too, you know”). But this book reminded me that some things are just wrong. Perhaps others disagree with me that animals have personalities, but the highly documented torture of animals is unacceptable, and the human cost Foer describes in his book, of which I was previously unaware, is universally compelling.

But she somehow managed to overcome those fears and tell you exactly why you should think the way she does. Well done, Natalie! (more…)

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Tags: animal cruelty, Animal Rights, Eating Animals, Huffington Post, Jeffrey Dahmer
Posted Nov 9th 2009 at 6:44 am in Celebrity News, Culture, Featured Story | 255250263 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pmeister/2009/11/09/defining-natalie-portman/Natalie+Portman%3A+Meat%27s+a+Sin%2C+Free+Polanski2009-11-09+14%3A44%3A39Pam+Meister

Natalie Portman: From Vegetarian to Vegan Activist

Natalie Portman in The Huffington Post:

“Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals changed me from a twenty-year vegetarian to a vegan activist. I’ve always been shy about being critical of others’ choices because I hate when people do that to me. I’m often interrogated about being vegetarian (e.g., “What if you find out that carrots feel pain, too? Then what’ll you eat?”).

“I’ve also been afraid to feel as if I know better than someone else — a historically dangerous stance (I’m often reminded that “Hitler was a vegetarian, too, you know”). But this book reminded me that some things are just wrong. Perhaps others disagree with me that animals have personalities, but the highly documented torture of animals is unacceptable, and the human cost Foer describes in his book, of which I was previously unaware, is universally compelling. (more…)

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Tags: Huffington Post, natalie portman, Vegan, Vegan activist
Posted Oct 29th 2009 at 1:49 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 255170275 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bighollywood/2009/10/29/natalie-portman-from-vegetarian-to-vegan-activist/Natalie+Portman%3A+From+Vegetarian+to+Vegan+Activist2009-10-29+20%3A49%3A47Big+Hollywood

Russell Simmons: God Will Destroy Us If We Don’t Follow Barack

Over at HuffPo, Russell Simmons has let go of the wheel and bounced off a guard rail. His apocalyptic melodrama sounds like the typical Hollywood cliche of a Christian right-winger. But these lefties are all about projection, so that’s to be expected.

A normal celebucrat post has a pull quote or two you can highlight and make sport of, but Simmons is all pull quote — a bonanza of crazy — so where to begin? Hey, I know, let’s play a game. Here are ten quotes, nine are from Simmons, one is not. Can you pick out the lunacy that doesn’t belong? 

1. The president’s honest attempt to promote world peace through the same methods taught by Jesus Christ are met with contempt by a country whose collective consciousness is extraordinarily fearful and at times, sacrilegious. (more…)

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Tags: Glenn Beck, God, health care, Huffington Post, Jesus Christ
Posted Oct 12th 2009 at 6:14 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 245530224 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/10/12/russell-simmons-god-will-destory-us-if-we-dont-follow-barack/Russell+Simmons%3A+God+Will+Destroy+Us+If+We+Don%27t+Follow+Barack2009-10-13+01%3A14%3A24John+Nolte

Adam McKay, Care to Debate Health Care Reform?

Dear Adam,

We’ve gone back and forth this week, with me writing here at Big Hollywood and you Tweeting responses. The lastest from @GhostPanther came directly to @Wilson_Michael and you asked me a question. I have an answer, but I think there’s a better way to have this conversation. And that’s what this should be… a conversation that takes place within the arena of ideas.

Adam McKay

This is important stuff and I’m fascinated by how two fellow Americans can see the world so differently. We probably both think we believe in freedom and liberty. We likely both think that we should take care of the poor. I know we both believe everyone should get the very best health care possible. How we get there while keeping our nation free is up for debate.

So let’s do it. Let’s have the debate. I challenge you to debate me on health care reform. (more…)

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Tags: adam mckay, big hollywood, health care, Huffington Post, ObamaCare
Posted Oct 6th 2009 at 5:03 am in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Politics | 23932231 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mwilson/2009/10/06/an-open-letter-to-adam-mckay/Adam+McKay%2C+Care+to+Debate+Health+Care+Reform%3F2009-10-06+12%3A03%3A08Michael+Wilson

SHOCK! Rush Limbaugh Embraces Capitalism

I do not listen to the Rush Limbaugh Show.  That is not to say that I think he of the golden microphone is not worth listening to.  On the contrary, I think that Rush might be the most important voice in America. It just happens that talk radio isn’t my personal cup of tea. 

Still, when I do take in the rare hour or two, I have always found Rush to be a profoundly insightful thinker.  Far from the partisan blowhard the left portrays him to be, Rush is, from my limited listenings, a true philosopher, perhaps a bit more crude than his toga-wearing, boy-loving predecessors, but one of them just the same.  His philosophy is American Conservatism, and he champions it far above party.  In fact, I suspect it is the soft-left members of the GOP that fear him most, since the DNC cannot by their very nature be held to the standards of limited government and natural-liberty over enforced-equality he champions in the first place.  (more…)

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Tags: Bill Mann, capitalism, EIB, free market, Huffington Post
Posted Oct 3rd 2009 at 6:37 am in Culture, Politics | 234038164 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jdboreing/2009/10/03/shock-rush-limbaugh-embraces-capitalism/SHOCK%21+Rush+Limbaugh+Embraces+Capitalism2009-10-03+13%3A37%3A20Jeremy+D.+Boreing

HuffPo Goes All In to Defend Polanski, Readers Revolt **UPDATED/CORRECTED**

CORRECTION:  This post failed to include numerous essays on the site critical of the filmmaker’s actions. While the site did include several strong commentaries speaking out in favor of Polanski, the site’s anti-Polanski posts outnumber them. I should have dug deeper and apologize for the error. –C.T. END CORRECTION

The Huffington Post has made it crystal clear where it stands on the news that director Roman Polanski may have to answer for his 31-year-old crime of child rape: “Move on, everyone. Nothing to see here. Keep on directing, Roman. Love ya!”

The popular liberal site has posted numerous essays since news that Polanski was arrested in Switzerland broke over the weekend, each arguing vehemently against the Oscar winner’s persecution.

• Kim Morgan: “Roman Polanski understands women” – starts with her exasperation over the Polanski witch hunt.

• Bernard-Henri Levy: Let’s start a petition in support of Polanski.

• John Farr: Leniency for Polanski.

But HuffPo readers aren’t buying it. And boy, are they angry.

Check out the comments left on each of these essays and you’ll see faithful HuffPo readers aghast that the site could be defending the indefensible. (more…)

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Tags: Bernard-Henri Levy, Huffington Post, John Farr, Kim Masters, roman polanski
Posted Sep 29th 2009 at 11:46 am in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Media Criticism | 237142351 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/cftoto/2009/09/29/huffpo-goes-all-in-to-defend-polanski-readers-revolt/HuffPo+Goes+All+In+to+Defend+Polanski%2C+Readers+Revolt+%2A%2AUPDATED%2FCORRECTED%2A%2A2009-09-29+18%3A46%3A21Christian+Toto

Statement on the Recording of the August 10 NEA Conference Call

Some have asked why I feel that it was okay to record the August 10th White House and National Endowment for the Arts conference call. 

The August 10th conference call was organized and called by the White House and two federal agencies, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Corporation for National and Community Service.  The invitation to participate in the conference went to people all over the country, both inside and outside Washington, D.C., and included editors and contributors to various media outlets.  Additionally, various media outlets announced themselves on the conference call. The media representation included Al Gore’s Current TV, a contributor to Huffington Post, Urb Magazine, Fader Magazine, 215 Magazine, Paper Magazine, Giant Robot, Philadelphia City Paper, Fusicology, MySpace, Global Grind, and Social Brite. 

With members of the White House, public federal agencies, and broad media representation, there was no expectation of confidentiality or that the call would not be recorded by one or more of the many participants in this conference call.   (more…)

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Tags: 215 Magazine, August 10, conference call, Corporation for National and Community Service, Current TV
Posted Sep 24th 2009 at 2:08 pm in Art, Politics | 23508228 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/pcourrielche/2009/09/24/statement-on-the-recording-of-the-august-10-nea-conference-call/Statement+on+the+Recording+of+the+August+10+NEA+Conference+Call2009-09-24+21%3A08%3A49Patrick+Courrielche

A Head Rolls at the NEA: Communications Director Asked to Resign — UPDATE: ‘Reassigned’ Not ‘Resigned’

UPDATE: Wash. Times is reporting Sergant has not resigned from the NEA, but was reassigned. He “is no longer Director of Communications.”  END UPDATE. 

From the Washington Times:

Yosi Sergant has been asked to resign from his post as Communications Director for the National Endowment for the Arts[.]

Big Hollywood’s  Partrick Courrielche broke the story of these – to say the least – controversial NEA conference calls on August 25th, calls obviously designed to promote President Obama’s domestic agenda, especially health care.  

The Washington Times picked up on the story, contacted NEA Communications Director Sergant and asked him about the calls. He denied the NEA was responsible for sending out the conference call email invitations: (more…)

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Tags: culture war, George Will, Glenn Beck, Huffington Post, Michael Skolnick
Posted Sep 10th 2009 at 10:18 am in Art, Featured Story, News, Politics | 22182630 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/09/10/breaking-nea-asks-communications-director-yosi-sergant-to-resign/A+Head+Rolls+at+the+NEA%3A+Communications+Director+Asked+to+Resign+--+UPDATE%3A+%27Reassigned%27+Not+%27Resigned%272009-09-10+17%3A18%3A24John+Nolte

Bill Maher, Barack Obama and the True Story of American Exceptionalism

Over at the Huffington Post, Bill Maher is outraged that people like me are outraged at a statement made by Barack Obama a few weeks ago. When asked if he believed in American Exceptionalism, the President of the United States replied: “I believe in American Exceptionalism, just as I suspect the Brits believe in British Exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek Exceptionalism.”

Bill Maher, never one to miss an opportunity to express his contempt for anything not Bill Maher, wrote: “Yes, our so-called President wrote that people in other countries might like their countries better… I was so shocked I nearly dropped the Bible I was using to help me masturbate into my gun.”  

[click image to play video]

People like Maher use this kind of snark to cover the fact that either they have serious issues in comprehension, or, more likely, that they do not care for the lay of the intellectual battlefield and so want to move it to another, slimier, filthier one. 

The question to the President was not whether or not he believed in American Patriotism – that is, the love of one’s country. Of course other people love their countries. But the idea of American Exceptionalism is a specific political construct, much like British Colonialism. I suppose I should have cut both of them more slack, unfamiliar as both hearts are with the feel of patriotism and faced with the clear evidence of lack of intellectual exceptionalism on both their parts.  (more…)

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Tags: Afterburner, American Exceptionalism, Barack Obama, Bill Maher, British Colonialism
Posted Sep 5th 2009 at 6:42 am in Entertainment, Politics, Video | 218070115 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bwhittle/2009/09/05/bill-maher-barack-obama-and-the-true-story-of-american-exceptionalism/Bill+Maher%2C+Barack+Obama+and+the+True+Story+of+American+Exceptionalism2009-09-05+13%3A42%3A33Bill+Whittle

Cindy Sheehan: Where Have All the Cameras Gone?

Cindy Sheehan brings Camp Casey to Martha’s Vineyard. Meanwhile, the mainstream media is as apathetic about her new protest as they are about an Afghan body count. As the President’s strategy in Afghanistan appears to be failing worse than his economic policies, and his promise to end American military involvements overseas is withering alongside health care reform, recalling those lofty promises from last year’s campaign is like looking at a marriage proposal from the other side of a Las Vegas hangover.

Outside a short article by the AP there is very little coverage of Cindy Sheehan. The woman who once couldn’t go anywhere without a spate of cameras in tow, is now wandering the streets of Martha’s Vineyard completely alone. Her name is as forgotten by the locals as Mary Jo Kopechne. This despite the Island being packed full of journalists right now; journalists who couldn’t resist an all expense paid trip to the Vineyard to cover the vacation of His Presidency. I’m fairly certain there were a lot more journalists already on the island than there were in that ditch outside of Crawford four years ago. (more…)

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Tags: 10% unemployment, Camp Casey, Cindy Sheehan, Crawford, greg gutfeld
Posted Sep 1st 2009 at 8:41 am in Politics | 213334123 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/tslagle/2009/09/01/where-have-all-the-cameras-gone/Cindy+Sheehan%3A+Where+Have+All+the+Cameras+Gone%3F2009-09-01+15%3A41%3A45Tim+Slagle

Review: ‘Julie and Julia’ A Masterpiece

I don’t recall liking much of Nora Ephron’s work other than “When Harry Met Sally.” In fact, if I knew she made “Julie and Julia,” I probably would have avoided it, since “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail” just kind of mash together in my mind. But “Julie and Julia” is more than good: it’s brilliant cinema.

The first thing that grabbed me was the character work. The hero, Julia Powell (her real life blog is here) is a foodie blogger played by Amy Adams. I’m used to watching Amy Adams over my kid’s shoulder in “Enchanted,” which plays in our house on continual loop. I didn’t know Amy knew how to turn down the volume and play a “plain-Jane, yet interesting”… but she’s awesome. This isn’t her usual glowing, perky role where she turns it on like a fire-hose. And she doesn’t turn invisible like when she played a piece of cardboard in “Doubt.” (more…)

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Tags: "Sleepless in Seattle", "When Harry Met Sally", "You've Got Mail", Amy Adams, Appetite for Life
Posted Aug 11th 2009 at 8:24 am in Reviews | 20284247 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dtennapel/2009/08/11/julie-and-julia-is-awesome/Review%3A+%27Julie+and+Julia%27+A+Masterpiece+2009-08-11+15%3A24%3A16Doug+TenNapel

WaPo: Bush-Joker Kinda Made Sense, Obama-Joker Racist

WaPo: This is merely “play[ing] into a view of Bush popular among his detractors…”

This required a few passes to be sure my eyes weren’t playing tricks. You keep telling yourself to stop being amazed by hypocrisy and bias, but again and again someone like Philip Kennicott, a staff writer for the Washington Post, comes up with nonsense like this:

And didn’t we see George W. Bush depicted as the Joker not so long ago?

Yes, in an image by Drew Friedman published online by Vanity Fair on July 29, 2008. That drawing at least played into a view of Bush popular among his detractors, that the former president was unpredictable and fast on the draw when it came to geopolitics. But the danger many of Obama’s detractors detect is more of calculating, long-standing deception, that he is quietly and secretly marshaling a socialist agenda, a view that would be better served by imagery that recalled “The Manchurian Candidate.”

A few paragraphs later the R-word is finally (and predictably) let loose and the anonymity of the artist(s) becomes an issue: (more…)

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Tags: Carrie Prejean, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Huffington Post, joe the plumber, Obama-Joker
Posted Aug 6th 2009 at 10:20 am in Art, Culture, Politics | 200954168 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/08/06/wapo-bush-joker-kinda-made-sense-obama-joker-racist/WaPo%3A+Bush-Joker+Kinda+Made+Sense%2C+Obama-Joker+Racist2009-08-06+17%3A20%3A40John+Nolte

It’s All Relative: The Obama/HuffPo Connection Tightens

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned American know-how, pulling yourself up from the bootstraps, proving to the world you have the mettle to succeed on your own raw talent? If you’re Paris Hilton or, say, the Huffington Post — none of those good ol’ values amount to a hill of beans! The Huffington Post, the website famous for slapping left-wing bias on mainstream news, recently hired Ethan Axelrod — you may have heard of his dad, David Axelrod: the celebrated image-maker of the Obama campaign. Given the Huffington Post is all snuggles with the Obama Administration, the news might come as no surprise.

Lefty-types are always making room for their own, so long as you have a famous last name or a privileged pedigree. For a bunch that loves to push for “universalizing” and “leveling the playing field,” they sure are elitist! This is the world where Anderson Cooper, scion of Gloria Vanderbilt, is handed the keys to CNN. Al Gore’s daughter Kristin nabs a dream job writing for Matt Groening’s “Futurama” straight out of college. Oh sure, it helped that Poppa Gore agreed to guest star twice (but only if his young daughter could direct). Gore went on to appear as a disembodied head (yes, the show ‘jumped the shark’). Is Huffington Post banking on access to daddy Axelrod’s head, too? ‘Wink, wink,’ welcome aboard Ethan… (more…)

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Tags: "Futurama", 2012, Al Gore, Anderson Cooper, Arianna Huffington
Posted Aug 2nd 2009 at 7:03 am in Culture, Featured Story, News, Politics | 195002120 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jmeath/2009/08/02/sometimes-talent-is-relative/It%27s+All+Relative%3A+The+Obama%2FHuffPo+Connection+Tightens2009-08-02+14%3A03%3A08Jason+Killian+Meath

Will Steven Weber Put His Health Where His Ideology Is?

It only makes sense that if ObamaCare’s passed employers will opt out of providing private insurance and millions upon millions, 85 million by some estimates, will end up herded into the President’s public plan. But that’s okay with millionaire actor Steven Weber because he know what’s best for us he and his loved ones will never ever have to worry about being the victims of the government run health-care system he’s so eager to see the rest of us shoved into against our will. Weber’s motives don’t come off as entirely pure, either. This is an angry guy eager to stick it to the rich (who don’t work in the entertainment industry).   (more…)

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Tags: Canada, Fox News, health care, Huffington Post, ObamaCare
Posted Jul 25th 2009 at 3:47 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 191730112 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/07/25/obamacare-will-steven-weber-put-his-family-where-his-ideology-is/Will+Steven+Weber+Put+His+Health+Where+His+Ideology+Is%3F2009-07-25+22%3A47%3A37John+Nolte

Deepak Chopra’s Hatred for America

So yesterday on the Huffington Post, Deepak Chopra published yet another anti-American screed – this time lamenting the fact that we’re the last remaining superpower. He says the world would be a better place if the US just packed it in as a leader, and to quote Lennon, “give peace a chance!” In it he writes, “America leads the world in arms dealing, starting wars, and developing new methods of mechanized death,” conveniently leaving out all the incidental stuff that comes with being a heavily armed, supercool, superpower. Meaning, saving millions of lives by ending world wars, getting rid of dictators, stopping famine and assorted civil conflicts, and preventing mass disease. Chopra also hilariously vomits that, “Peace is achieved by being peaceful, no matter what the military-industrial complex claims to the contrary.”

Tell that to the Iranian voters, jackass. (more…)

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Tags: Deepak Chopra, fighting evil, Huffington Post, iran, Iranian protests
Posted Jul 21st 2009 at 12:06 pm in Daily Gut, News, Politics | 188930299 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/07/21/deepak-chopra%e2%80%99s-hatred-for-america/Deepak+Chopra%E2%80%99s+Hatred+for+America2009-07-21+19%3A06%3A09Greg+Gutfeld

Will ‘The Stoning Of Soraya M.’ Get An Oscar Nod?

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.

Returning once again to the land beneath the Big Hollywood sign for a most important poll question. “The Stoning of Soraya M.” has received powerful rave reviews across the political spectrum. The buzz is hot. From the leftie pundits at HuffPo (who only seem to be discovering the true human rights horrorshow nature of that regime now, most curious) to the Righties at Big Hollywood and elsewhere, SORAYA M. is a must-see movie that will linger with you long after you’ve left the theater.

Strangely enough, Amnesty lnternational’s Elise Auerbach doesn’t like it. Because stonings in Iran are so rare, don’t you know. No suspension of disbelief for Ms. Elsie. I’m sorry, what’s her job again? Oh yeah, Iran Specialist for Amnesty International. Go figure. Personally, I happen to think one stoning is one too many. And it wasn’t the only one, not by a country mile! But that’s just me. I’m not an Iran specialist for AI. Like, say, Ms. Auerbach. Nice work if you can get it, huh, Ms. Elsie? (more…)

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Tags: Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Adolf Hitler, Ali Khamenei, Amnesty International, AMPAS
Posted Jun 29th 2009 at 8:18 am in Entertainment, News, Politics | 1692142 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/29/poll-question-will-soraya-m-get-an-oscar-nod/Will+%27The+Stoning+Of+Soraya+M.%27+Get+An+Oscar+Nod%3F+2009-06-29+15%3A18%3A32John+T.+Simpson

On the Record, Off the QT and Not Very Hush-Hush

Dear Big Hollywood readers, it gives me great satisfaction to report to you that BH has been out on point not only on compelling film industry issues, which will never be covered in promo rags like Variety and the Hollywood Reporter (but then again, AMPAS and the studios aren’t buying us off), but on many controversial issues being played out in America and the greater world at large as well.

I know this to be true. Being a news junkie myself, I have found time after time as I was reading about a supposedly breaking subject, like ABC’s recent coverage of the targeted LGBT murders in Iraq, that it had already been on display for all to see in Big Hollywood posts for months.

Not to toot my own horn, but…well, okay, I’m tooting my own horn. And those of Andy Breitbart and John Nolte, who have given I, and so many other wonderful and insightful Hollywood right-wing fringe types, a magnificent bullhorn we otherwise would not have. We appear to be doing the dirty jobs our media just refuses to do. It’s a labor Hercules would completely sympathize with. (more…)

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Tags: abc, Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Adrianne Curry, Ali al-Sistani, AMPAS
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 at 5:20 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 1476823 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/06/03/on-the-record-off-the-qt-and-not-very-hush-hush/On+the+Record%2C+Off+the+QT+and+Not+Very+Hush-Hush2009-06-04+00%3A20%3A57John+T.+Simpson

Burnt Offerings: Teaching Our Children — Pride in Going Red, White and Blue

On March 26, I was watching the Kids’ Choice Awards with my 8-year-old twins on Viacom’s Nickelodeon, which for 30 years has been the No. 1 entertainment brand for kids. It was dedicated to the Big Green Help environmental campaign and “going green” for Earth Day awareness. Leonardo DiCaprio was honored for his green work. Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson was the host, and my fellow Hollywood stars and musicians came out in full force.

An impressive commitment was shown to keeping the message of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” as a battle cry for our youths’ participation in protecting Mother Earth from global warming and pollution. My children were enthusiastic. I was confused. Something bothered me, and I could not put my finger on why – until Memorial Day weekend.

It started on Saturday morning, when I took my 8-year-old son, Nicholas, who is a Cub Scout, to the Los Angeles National Cemetery. About 2,700 Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, from Cub to Eagle, convened to place flags on more than 84,000 gravesites of America’s finest. It was a moving, profound experience.

One would expect a lot of running and playing among these youngsters as they performed their task. But, no. At each site, they stood at attention, recited the name of the service member and then saluted. Within two hours, 84,000 flags proudly waved in the gentle breeze. (more…)

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Tags: America, Comstock, cub scouts, DiCaprio, green
Posted May 31st 2009 at 9:10 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, Politics | 14829811 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/rdavi/2009/05/31/burnt-offerings-teaching-our-children-pride-in-going-red-white-and-blue/Burnt+Offerings%3A+Teaching+Our+Children+--+Pride+in+Going+Red%2C+White+and+Blue2009-05-31+16%3A10%3A11Robert+Davi

Will the Last Terrorist to Leave Gitmo Please Turn Out the Lights?

Last week, Congress soundly rejected (at least for now) President Obama’s ill-conceived idea to precipitously close the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Although there is not a shred of real evidence to indicate that the facility at Gitmo is anything other than the best run and most high-tech facility available to house the vicious monsters incarcerated there, a lot of liberal Democrats feel that it should be closed – just because.  It’s amusing to read left-wing blog articles like this one at the Huffington Post, that report with all seriousness that Democrats are mystified about how it’s possible that a Democrat controlled Congress and Presidency can’t mange to gather enough votes to fund the closure of Gitmo.  Well, maybe it’s because closing Gitmo is just a really bad idea! 

Anyone who has read Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Cucullu’s fascinating and meticulously documented book “Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind The Myths Of Guantanamo Bay” easily understands the merits of keeping Gitmo open.   In fact, Lieutenant Colonel Cucullu makes a compelling case for expanding Gitmo so as to house convicted terrorists like Jose Padilla and Zacharias Moussaoui, (currently in maximum security prisons here in the US) since they are privy to a vast trove of vital intelligence information, presently unavailable because convicts in American prisons cannot be interrogated. (more…)

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Tags: Cuba, Democrats, guantanamo bay, Huffington Post, Inside Gitmo: The True Story Behind The Myths Of Guanta
Posted May 27th 2009 at 10:09 am in Politics | 1443946 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ebalogh/2009/05/27/will-the-last-terrorist-to-leave-gitmo-please-turn-out-the-lights/Will+the+Last+Terrorist+to+Leave+Gitmo+Please+Turn+Out+the+Lights%3F2009-05-27+17%3A09%3A12Endre+Balogh

‘American Idol’ and Dumbing Down the Definition of Homophobe

Over at Huffington Post, Jim David is positive Adam Lambert’s “American Idol” loss was due to widespread homophobia in America. He pins this charge squarely on the fact that, in his opinion, Lambert is the better singer and therefore should’ve beaten Kris Allen, but didn’t because of…

Yes, homophobia is alive and well, which is why Lambert lost the ultimate title. Go ahead — give me another reason.

What’s so amusing about David’s challenge is that he gives all the reason you could ever want in his very next sentence:

Yes, Lambert is over the top and screams a lot and is campier than Liberace at Radio City.

Let’s brush aside the fact that taste is relative when it comes to who has a better voice or who’s a better performer and remember that the show isn’t called “Best American Singer,” it’s called “American Idol,” and being an idol involves more than voice and performance. How about poise, which by David’s own description Lambert seems to lack? (more…)

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Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Elton JOhn, Huffington Post, Jim David
Posted May 21st 2009 at 9:33 pm in Celebrity News, Politics | 1409464 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/05/21/american-idol-and-dumbing-down-the-definition-of-homophobe/%27American+Idol%27+and+Dumbing+Down+the+Definition+of+Homophobe2009-05-22+04%3A33%3A44John+Nolte

One Critic’s Review of ‘Roxana: A True Story’

Now that ‘Roxana: A True Story’ has come to a most satisfying and happy conclusion for Roxana Saberi, her parents, myself and millions of others around the globe (a conclusion not always assured, and which looked very grim in some scenes), it is now time for Your Most Humble and Obedient Critic to give you the full skinny on ‘Roxana: A True Story.’

Or, by its Hollywood acronym, RATS. Funny. I actually found that startling contraction fitting, not for Roxana (not hardly), but for all of the major black hats and clueless morons who populated this nerve-wracking Thugocracy Studios production, which had civilized people everywhere both riveted and outraged in its most grueling and suspenseful moments.

Not to mention for Roxana and her parents. But before we get to heroes and villains, let us look at the story to date with all its dramatic twists and underpinnings, many with significant international implications. Just like a good Hitchcock drama should. And I caught ‘em all!

By pure happenstance, Your Most Humble Critic and Boy Reporter was already hot on the job covering Iran (unlike some people) and hammering AMPAS for their tea and finger-cookie soirees with these guys, when I saw what Iran was pulling with Roxana and called it for what it was: a hostage crisis. And on the same day HRW called it the same in a press release on March 13th, which I didn’t find out until the 19th thanks to our on-the-ball Vein Stream Media. (more…)

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Tags: -1, abc, Academy of Motion Picture arts and Sciences, Ahmadinejad, al qaeda
Posted May 13th 2009 at 8:13 am in Entertainment, Politics | 132142One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/05/13/one-critics-review-of-roxana-a-true-story/One+Critic%27s+Review+of+%27Roxana%3A+A+True+Story%272009-05-13+15%3A13%3A00John+T.+Simpson

Daily Gut: Betsy Perry’s Mexico

So a marketing consultant who works for Mayor Bloomberg just resigned after getting into hot water over some stale jokes she made about Mexico at the Huffington Post.

Now, to be clear: the jokes that Betsy Perry made in the post were about Mexico. Not Mexicans.

There is a difference, people.

The jokes included a bit about “drinking the water,” a line about as old as Montezuma, and his revenge. She also brought up the drug gang problems, as well as the kidnappings and, of course, the swine flu. Now, the stuff she said about all this was neither particularly insightful or funny – but the last time I checked, that is not a cause for losing your job. If that were the case, Janeane Garafalo would be living under a bridge. (more…)

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Tags: Betsy Perry, Betsy Perry resigns, Huffington Post, Mayor Bloomberg, Mexicans
Posted May 6th 2009 at 11:40 am in Daily Gut | 129018One Commenthttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/05/06/daily-gut-betsy-perrys-mexico/Daily+Gut%3A+Betsy+Perry%27s+Mexico2009-05-06+18%3A40%3A03Greg+Gutfeld

From Fourth Estate to Fourth Branch of Government

I remember when the term investigative journalism used to mean something. My first introduction to it was through Peter Maas’ seminal classic The Valachi Papers at the tender age of eleven. Hooked me right away. A year later, at the age of twelve,  I devoured William L. Shirer’s monumental and award-winning ‘Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany.’ A very heady 1250 pages of fine print in paperback, and I do mean fine print. Worth its weight in gold.

From that point on, I was addicted. I couldn’t get enough of Peter Maas, Robin Moore, Woodward and Bernstein, Nick Pileggi, Ovid Demaris, James Bamford, James Michener, Cornelius Ryan, anything from the Ballantine Espionage/Intelligence Library, and too many others to list here.

I only recently read Michener’s The Bridge at Andau, an account of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising based on hundreds of eyewitness accounts, written in novelized form to protect identities at the time. It takes you right into the chaotic and revolutionary Bupapest of the day as though you were there. (more…)

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Tags: abc, Albert Speer, Arthur Sulzberger, Ballantine Espionage/Intelligence Library, cbs
Posted Apr 27th 2009 at 8:40 am in Media Criticism, Politics | 1147024 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jtsimpson/2009/04/27/from-fourth-estate-to-fourth-branch-of-government/From+Fourth+Estate+to+Fourth+Branch+of+Government2009-04-27+15%3A40%3A43John+T.+Simpson

Huffington Mad!

Sean Penn used to settle his differences with a solid right hook, but now, because he’s so deep in the abyss of Statist nothingness, all he can muster in his latest Huffington Post blog is fool’s pride for a sinister smile. It’s sinister because it’s disengenuous and it’s fool’s pride because Sean Penn is literally a fool.

I guess liberals (in the Hollywood sense, not the true meaning of the word) have gotten so carried away with their own assault on the meaning of words they no longer realize their favorite place to post these silly, meaningless rants is actually mocking them.

(more…)

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Tags: Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post, HuffPo, sean penn, Websters Dictionary
Posted Apr 25th 2009 at 5:03 pm in Entertainment, Political Humor | 115226No Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mmcgruther/2009/04/25/im-huffington-mad/Huffington+Mad%212009-04-26+00%3A03%3A27Michael+McGruther

‘Humanly Impotent’: The Musings of Sean Penn

Disparaging Sean Penn’s brainpower is somewhat like picking on Roseanne Barr’s lack of charm.  It’s redundant and superfluous and altogether unnecessary. 

At the risk of writing something redundant, superfluous and altogether unnecessary, I’m going to go for it anyway. 

I’ll start with an understatement.  Sean Penn is not one of the world’s more intelligent men.  Yet his moral and mental deficiencies have not stopped him from posting his alleged thoughts over at Huffington Post.  

His latest expression of genius bemoans criticism of President Obama – which is not particularly shocking, considering that Penn has had his nose so far up Obama’s posterior for the past few months that there’s a good argument to be made that he’s personally convincing Obama of the need to rethink his position on gay marriage.   (more…)

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Tags: Huffington Post, Hugo Chavez, Obama, Saddam Hussein, sean penn
Posted Apr 22nd 2009 at 3:57 pm in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Politics | 1132348 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bshapiro/2009/04/22/humanly-impotent/%27Humanly+Impotent%27%3A+The+Musings+of+Sean+Penn2009-04-22+22%3A57%3A52Ben+Shapiro

We Should All Be a Little Cranky

Recently, I was called cranky in an article posted at the Huffington Post.  The good news is that it’s one of the few times that anything approaching the truth has been posted there.  The part I resented, though, was having my crankiness attributed to age.  The fact is I was a precocious curmudgeon.  But the question that springs to mind is why more people aren’t cranky these days when there is so much to be cranky about.

For instance, it used to irk me that Carl Bernstein, a rather minor footnote in America’s history, who only came to prominence because an anonymous snitch chose to pass along secrets to him and Bob Woodward, was depicted in two major motion pictures, “All the President’s Men” (Dustin Hoffman) and “Heartburn” (Jack Nicholson), when so many more deserving people haven’t been featured in any.  But that pales when compared to the number of movies that have glorified Che Guevara, a blood-thirsty villain.  In addition to numerous TV productions, he has shown up in “Che!” (Omar Sharif), “Evita” (Antonio Banderas), “Motorcycle Diaries” (Eduardo Noriega Gael Garcia Bernal) and “Che: Parts One and Two” (Benecio Del Toro). (more…)

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Tags: Antonio Banderas, benecio del toro, Bill Clinton, Capitalsim, Carl Bernstein
Posted Apr 18th 2009 at 1:33 pm in Featured Story, Politics | 1067102 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bprelutsky/2009/04/18/survey-this/We+Should+All+Be+a+Little+Cranky2009-04-18+20%3A33%3A34Burt+Prelutsky

Celebutard of the Week: Robert Redford

Robert Redford likes to play the nation’s Environmentalist in Chief, making the wildly earnest claim in last week’s Huffington Post that he was “too early on solar power.’’ He boasts, like a self-absorbed prophet, that he promoted clean energy way back in his filmmaking hey day of the 1970s. He even gave a shoutout to Barack “Special Olympics’’ Obama, who in his State of the Union address “noted that although America invented solar energy technology, we have fallen behind countries like Germany and Japan in producing it. He is right of course’’ Never mind that Redford, self-proclaimed savior of the earth, probably promotes the burning of more fossil fuel than virtually any other single American outside of Mobil. Or Al Gore, whose Nashville estate burned 20 times the national average in fuel. Obama, too. 

This is why Robert Redford is my Celebutard of the Week, in keeping with my book – Celebutards: The Hollywood Hacks, Limousine Liberals and Pandering Politicians Who Are Destroying America (Kensington).

Redford founded a ski resort in Park City, Utah, a particularly environmentally unfriendly venture in which rich folks routinely travel from points afar – and they’re not riding in hot air balloons. He also started the environmentally ruinous Sundance Film Festival, an SUV-choked venture that annually pulls in countless Gulfstream jets full of busy film executives to the remote and pricey environs, where hot air is expelled, unharnessed, into the atmosphere. (more…)

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Tags: bush, Environmentalist, Global warming, Huffington Post, Obama
Posted Mar 23rd 2009 at 10:22 am in Celebrity News, Featured Story, Politics | 8707075 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/apeyser/2009/03/23/celebutard-of-the-week-robert-redford-barack-obama-edition/Celebutard+of+the+Week%3A+Robert+Redford+2009-03-23+17%3A22%3A27Andrea+Peyser

Michael Moore Trashed My Movie… My Response

Michael Moore wrote a piece for the Huffington Post last week. I didn’t find out about it until today because I was doing more important things like volunteering and watching my 6 year-old daughter’s all-girl hockey team beat up on the boy teams here in Coon Rapids, Minnesota. While I was busy watching Kylie score 6 goals in 5 games, including the only 2 in a 2-0 victory, Michael Moore was once again telling us how we should be like Europe, and how most Americans agree with him and blah, blah, fuckity blah. He also mentioned my movie by name. It’s enough to make a guy go bugnutty.

I appreciate the plug Mike gave me, but I need to lay some things out. You see, since that movie came out, I’ve become one of the people that you would think would agree with Moore. I’m about to divulge deeply personal information, but I think it’s relevant to the conversation… and a friend recently reminded me that, as Lenny Bruce said, the purpose of art is to stand on stage naked.  In the last 4 years, I haven’t made a dime from my movie, though it’s grossed a LOT of dough. I’ve been divorced. I’ve been audited by the IRS. I’ve lost my home and have no health care insurance. Life has generally been in the crapper. You’d think that I’d be joining the vast majority of people Moore cites who want to stick it to the rich and who are lining up to get free shit from the government. There’s one problem: I’m an American. (more…)

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Tags: Huffington Post, michael moore, Michael Moore Hates America, Obama, socialism
Posted Mar 9th 2009 at 8:37 am in Celebrity News, Politics | 76018139 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mwilson/2009/03/09/michael-moore-trashed-my-movie-my-response/Michael+Moore+Trashed+My+Movie...+My+Response2009-03-09+16%3A37%3A31Michael+Wilson