Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor that hosted Obama’s supporters in her New York townhouse and who recently co-hosted a $35,000 per person fundraiser at Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s home, is heading up the venture. In the past, Wintour’s tony political functions were attended by the likes of Alicia Keys and $70,000 dinner power couple Coldplay singer Chris Martin and his actress wife, the “suddenly everywhere” Miramax “muse,” Gwyneth Paltrow.

So with Wintour now raising reelection funds, you can just forget the $5 raffle tickets for a hot dog dinner with Barry and Shelley. Instead, the campaign will be hawking designer duds to people who, last time around, were in such dire straits they hoped the new president would fill their gas tank and pay their mortgage.

For her latest effort, Anna Wintour has recruited Hollywood notables, designers, pop and hip-hop artists, and other all-around really rich people to raise money for Barack 2012 by designing overpriced T-shirts, tank tops, scarves, wristlets, and bags to sell at inflated prices to people who, in the midst of an Obama recession, really can’t afford them.

Thus, “Runway to Win” is yet another example that Barack Obama and his helpful circle of elite Hollywood friends and Seventh Avenue designer devotees are all pretty much insulated from reality, out of touch, and oblivious to the plight of the common man.

Recently, in order to make a point that a $40 tax cut is needed in order to feed starving American families, Obama asked the question: “What does $40 Mean to You?” Most Americans were probably thinking warehouse club paper towels and lunch for two at Taco Bell, not $45 T-shirts.

Unlike them, Obama was thinking T-shirts!  Apparently, the budget-minded President is comfortable with Mrs. Jay-Z, barely off the delivery table and out of the special maternity suite with the 10-man security team at Lenox Hill Hospital, designing cotton tee jerseys for impoverished Americans.

Beyonce’s creation stands to pull down a hefty profit for merchandise that’s actually worth no more than $5. For 45 bucks, clotheshorses all along the “Flaws and All” campaign trail, instead of buying groceries, will have a chance to wear a cheap quality “Yes we can… Greater Together” T-shirt.

New mom Beyonce is only one of many slobbering Obama supporters who will be joining forces to produce a trendsetting Barack Obama clothing line for 2012.

Thanks to all the participants, Obama for America supporters will have an opportunity to parade around with an Obama-logo tote bag while wearing clothing that shouts to the world that just because a person’s been unemployed for more than three years doesn’t mean they don’t want to contribute to four more years of watching Michelle Obama wear $2,000 sundresses.

For most Americans, splurging means shopping at Target. In the meantime, while the 99% eat Spaghetti-Os for dinner, the “Runway to Win” list of designers reads like a Who’s Who of attendees at White House Wednesday-night Kobe-beef Conga/cocktail parties.  The list is a couture catalog of who dresses Mrs. Obama in outfits whose one-year cost, when totaled, tallies to an amount that could save 1.2 million American homes from being foreclosed.

Some of the 22 designers participating in the effort are: Russell Simmons, billionaire business magnate of Def Jam fame; Sean “Diddy” Combs, another billionaire, rapper, and record producer who’s also recognizable by the names Sean John Combs, Puff Daddy, and P. Diddy; and even Tory Burch, the designer of the $500 boots Michelle wore to turn over the White House lawn when instructing Americans on the money-saving benefits of planting an at-home organic vegetable garden.

Many of Michelle Obama’s highbrow clothes designers will also be contributing to the effort: Narciso Rodriguez, Jason Wu, Alexander Wang, Joseph Altuzarra, Rag and Bone, Rachel Roy and Tracy Reese.

For those wanting a “first access pass,” on the tongue-in-cheek “Proudly made in America” campaign blog is the following announcement:

We’re launching something new, and a little different, over the next few weeks: Runway to Win, a collaboration by some of the country’s top fashion designers in support of Obama 2012. In the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out Obama-inspired designs by everyone from Tracy Reese to Jason Wu to Tory Burch at runwaytowin.com. The details are still under wraps, but sign up for your First Access pass to get updates—and a first look at the new designs. Then invite your friends and family to do the same.

The truth is, any designer invested in Obama winning another term is probably secretly hoping their names will continue to be printed on the tags of what fills Mrs. Obama’s sartorially-stuffed clothes closet.

On the other hand, previous Obama supporters like Donna Karan, who participated in 2008, decided this year their idea of change would be to put Republican customers and capitalism first. Apparently, some decided to bow out because maintaining a customer base means more to them than being introduced by Scarlett Johansson at an Obama 2012 fashion show/fund raiser.

So, while Americans continue to suffer, big-name fashion designers and a diverse group of entrepreneurs like ‘Let’s Move’-Beyonce will be directly involved in “Runway to Win.” And yet, aside from the all the glitter and glamour, in light of 2008’s “Runway to Change,” the whole thing is really a bit scary. Why? Because if “change” is any indication of what four years of “winning” will be like, instead of walking the runway, if Mr. Fashionista manages to win a second term, America will more likely be walking the plank.

From June 13th:

LOS ANGELES—First Lady Michelle Obama will have her work cut out for her when she turns up here today for a talk with members of the Hollywood guilds about getting more positive attention for military service members and their families into popular entertainment.

The confab is part of the Joining Forces initiative started by the First Lady and Jill Biden, who is married to Vice-President Joseph Biden, earlier this year. On Monday, Ms. Obama is to join a discussion with military family members and representatives of the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America, and others, all focused on ways to “inform and inspire” Hollywood creators regarding the military.

But the military imagery in major studio movies for the last couple of months wasn’t particularly inspirational[...]

Read the whole thing and hope something real comes from it.

I’m fully aware that anyone can look at this news cynically, and even do so with good reason. But it’s always something of a good thing when you have a leftist First Lady, leftist guilds, and a leftist news outlet admitting there’s a problem and documenting it. 

The panel was moderated by J.J,. Abrams, the director of the anti-military “Super 8,” so make of that what you will.

You’re not alone.

With the advent of do-it-yourself internet radio shows and webcasts, the number of grassroots, conservative talk show hosts augmenting the daily news stories covered by conservative kingpins like El Rushbo and The Great One is growing exponentially.  These citizen activists are effectively using new media venues to circumvent the barrage of liberal propaganda spewed by today’s so-called ‘journOlists’ and Hollywood celebs.

What is noticeably missing, however, are radio shows and webcasts that focus primarily on conservative pop culture.   Most, if not all, of the internet shows provide the hosts’ commentary on current news and politics because, like it or not, it’s what’s on most everyone’s minds these days.  But what do we conservatives have right now that is just for entertainment that is NOT laced with the ill-informed, anti-American ideology of the left?  Not much, if anything…

Until now.

What would you say if you heard that a self-proclaimed “redneck”, single, white male from Kentucky and a beautiful, accomplished, married black conservative female from Hollywood, with little in common except a love for this country,  joined forces to poke fun at all of the insanity using comedy and the arts as their weapons?

Well, buckle up, friends…that is exactly what is about to happen…on a brand-spankin’ new, cutting-edge, conservative arts and entertainment webcast called ‘the IN word’ with co-hosts Joe Dan Gorman and Sonja Schmidt.

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A show with a provocative title like the IN word just smacks of controversy and political IN-correctness run amock…and is the perfect bait to lure folks in.  And word about the IN word is getting out.

You will undoubtedly laugh out loud at the shenanigans and endearing chemistry between Joe Dan and Sonja – the Kentucky hillbilly musician and the Hollywood ‘Diva of Liberal Destruction’.  They have had a couple test runs over the past few weeks and received nothing but positive feedback.  One viewer described the show as “intelligent and silly, poignant and provocative — in short, the show is ‘fun’— a genre typically ‘forbidden ground’ for conservatives.”

The premise of ‘the IN word’ is to showcase ‘Liberal Free Conservative Arts’ and Joe Dan and Sonja (both members of BigDawg Music Mafia) will be inviting artists from our site to join in on the fun starting with conservative urban funk rocker Toots Sweet.  If their test runs were any indication of what is to come in their subsequent shows, ‘the In word’ is sure to become the most “IN” show on the internet.

Joe Dan Gorman, a conservative musician and blogger who runs his own multi-media business, was thrilled when he pitched his idea to Sonja Schmidt about the show and she accepted.  For those who don’t know, Sonja is a veteran TV Writer/Producer, children’s author and political humorist.  She hosts ‘Left Exposed’, a hit commentary show at PJTV.  Schmidt also played Michelle Obama in Laura Ingraham’s The Obama Diaries stage show and was a writer for In Living Color and The Arsenio Hall Show.

Here is what Sonja had to say about  co-hosting the IN word:

When creator, Joe Dan Gorman contacted me to join him as co-host and co-producer of a brand new webcast show called, the IN word, my first thought was *&^%&* WHAT?!  Then after hearing him out, I learned that the IN word would be slick, fast paced, contemporary and entertaining.  And rather than being yet another typical, conservative news program, the focus would be on conservative artists and entertainers from all across the nation.  I love the IN word!  The idea of a hybrid conservative comedy talk-show meets VH-1 was an intriguing idea and one I quickly agreed to do with Joe Dan, who I confess I was a bit of a fan of.  Personally, I’ve done my time at many a Hollywood award show (or as I call them, self congratulatory tributes to themselves for producing junk normal people don’t like) where the host routinely goes to the bash-George-Bush well, for a garunteed laugh.  And where celebrity awardees (before thanking all the ‘little people’ who made it possible) would take cheap shots at our military or some perceived wrong they believed America has committed.  Of course afterward they’d party like there was no tomorrow and wind up ‘drunk-puking’ in those ’smart cars’ they drove that night to prove their commitment to an eco-friendly world. Okay, just thinking about it, I’m about to drunk-puke.

I’m proud to say the artists who will be featured on the IN word (musicians, painters, bloggers, writers, etc.) will be nothing like the typical Hollywood types.  TIW guests are proud patriots, with a unique awareness of purpose, and an overabundance of talent.  As Joe Dan says ‘Just ’cause you’re conservative, don’t mean you’re good.’

Aside from being the first conservative arts and entertainment show, TIW is a guaranteed ‘No PC Zone’ where Joe Dan and I will be talking about stuff lots folks are thinking but are too concerned about the thought police to say out loud.  No more lamenting about how the Left has created rules for what we can say or do… and about how they’ve negatively influenced our culture for us.  We are committed to taking it all back every Wednesday night on the IN word.  And I look forward to seeing you there!

Be sure to tune in this Wednesday evening, 8 June 2011 at 11PM ET (8PM PT) on UstreamTV (its free and will stream LIVE to your computer) and join us in chat as we root for Joe Dan Gorman and Sonja Schmidt and the premiere of the internet’s first interactive, conservative arts and entertainment show.

We’re gonna party like its November 2012!

From Politico:

Rapper and poet Common may have incited controversy this week when the White House invited him to perform at a poetry event.

After all, he has rapped about shooting police and has written lyrics calling for the “burn[ing] of former President George W. Bush.”

But Common kept things pretty tame when he took the stage in the East Room at Wednesday night’s “Evening of Poetry” along with other musicians, poets and artists.

The hip hop artist — dressed in a slate gray suit — delivered lyrics to a rap song that began with words from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and also included praise for the president who was seated in front of him.

“I woke up with the sunshine, a sunshine I’d never seen,” he began, reciting his poem without any hip-hop beats. “There was light at the end of it, reminding me to forever dream. I was dreaming I walked into the White House with love on my sleeve and love for each and every one of you remind you to believe.”

Concluding the poem, he went on to mention President Obama by name: “One King’s Dream, He was able to Barack us.”

Common did not acknowledge any of the controversy surrounding his performance. Before leaving the stage, he simply said, “Thank you very much, I appreciate being here.”

Full article here.

First Lady Michelle Obama has scheduled a poetry evening for Wednesday, and she’s invited several poets, including a successful Chicago poet and rapper, Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr., AKA “Common.” However, Lynn is quite controversial, in part because his poetry includes threats to shoot police and at least one passage calling for the “burn[ing]” of then-President George W. Bush.

Excerpt from “A Letter to the Law”:

Use your mind and nine-power, get the government touch

Them boys chat-chat on how him pop gun

I got the black strap to make the cops run

They watching me, I’m watching them

Them dick boys got a lock of cock in them

My people on the block got a lot of pok* in them

and when we roll together

we be rocking them to sleep

No time for that, because there’s things to be done

Stay true to what I do so the youth dream come

from project building

Seeing a fiend being hung

With that happening, why they messing with Saddam?

Burn a Bush cos’ for peace he no push no button

Killing over oil and grease

no weapons of destruction

How can we follow a leader when this a corrupt one

The government’s a g-unit and they might buck young black people

Black people In the urban area one

I hold up a peace sign, but I carry a gun.

Peace, ya’ll.”



The series demonstrates an exquisite attention to detail. The costuming is flawless and the cinematography fits with the era being portrayed. The casting and delivery not only makes the characters believable, but very enjoyable to watch. The two hour premiere shows glimpses of the road to President Kennedy being elected and gives some of the background stories from “Jack” and Joe’s childhood. As a person who currently has a close loved one deployed overseas in the War on Terror, watching any scene where a family is told about the death of a loved one lost in war is difficult. The atmosphere that was generated in the scene where the Kennedys are told of their oldest son’s death was so thick you could taste it, and the score was perfectly aligned with the all of the emotion of the moment.

While watching “The Kennedys,” it was easy for me to slip into the mode that I was watching an entertaining historical documentary. Seeing how this mini-series portrayed Joe Kennedy, the older brother who tragically died in WWII, as a man who was driven to become President, I believed it was true. For a moment, I believed that HE was truly the one that was supposed to run for President, when in fact, I personally don’t know that at all. I never studied the Kennedys in any depth. The left is always trying to shove them down my throat so I want little to do with them even though they were iconic characters in American history. But watching “The Kennedys,” seeing how easily my perception could be altered about them (in conjunction with the reviews of this series from here at Big Hollywood and Rush Limbaugh), it occurred to me that one day my children could watch a miniseries called “The Bushes” (doesn’t have quite the same ring to it).

The left is already trying to portray (in academic institutions and through Howard Zinn mocumentaries on the History Channel) Reagan as the man who ruined the economy and who didn’t end the Cold War (though, the left rarely has an answer for who did). They have already succeeded in skipping over H. W. Bush’s entire Presidency so we can get to the glorious days of Bill Clinton. President Clinton who, as of now, is the most embarrassing President in recent American history (and yes, I’m including Nixon). And we can already see how the left is desperate to re-write history with George BusHitler.

Movies will be made about the times we are living in (and have lived in), but are we going to leave it to the Hollywood-left to make them unchallenged? We can’t ignore that culture determines how history is written. It shouldn’t be 40 years before a fair portrayal of the Bushes is shown to the world. “The Kennedys” and the story of its’ making are a great reminder of the culture war we fight daily against the institutional, Hollywood-left.

One can only imagine the headlines were it so closely linked to a Republican President.

Illinois officials are taking a closer look at a nonprofit dance company that was awarded a $4.5 million state grant in 2003 for a planned performing arts center on the South Side that has yet to begin construction.

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity spokeswoman Marcelyn Love, whose department hands out millions in grant money every year to arts and culture organizations, said the Muntu Dance Theater Co. of Chicago will be placed on “strict oversight” as they move forward with long-delayed plansto build an arts center at 47th Street and Greenwood Avenue in the city’s Kenwood neighborhood.

At issue is a 6 million dollar, if not more, vacant lot in Chicago.

A circular concrete barrier behind a tattered chain-link fence at the corner of 47th Street and Greenwood Avenue in the Kenwood neighborhood is all there is to show for once-ambitious plans to remake a struggling business corridor into a hub for African-American arts and culture.

Eight years ago, the nonprofit Muntu Dance Theatre secured more than $6 million in city and state grants, rights to the two-acre property for $1, and cash donations from the likes of ComEd and Boeing to build a $15 million performing arts center.

At the time, the project came with the blessings of local leaderswho hoped to not only turn around the fortunes of an area littered with liquor stores and boarded-up buildings, but help restore a piece of Bronzeville’s historic luster.

It’s interesting to note that Michelle Obama appears to now have enough time to plan school lunches for every child in America, yet, despite sitting on Mantu’s board for years didn’t seem to be able to find time to provide the least bit of oversight that may have prevented this problem. And that’s not all.

First Lady Michelle Obama served on Muntu Dance Theater of Chicago’s board prior to leaving the windy city.

Based upon financial disclosures in 2006, it was one of only four entities to which the Obamas gave money – five-thousand dollars to be exact. One has to wonder just how instrumental were the Obama’s in assisting the dance company in raising so much cash that seems to have been so poorly applied. That’s assuming it hasn’t simply disappeared, of course.

She even chaired their anniversary gala in 2007. But then, what’s $15 million dollars and a vacant lot in Chicago when one is busy tending the White House garden, or attempting to dictate what every American school child can, or can not eat? One can only imagine the play this story would have gotten had it been a Texas dance company linked so closely to George and Laura Bush.

Michelle Obama to chair Muntu Dance Theatre’s 35th anniversary gala

On Wednesday night, Quentin Tarantino was roasted at the New York Friars’ Club. Some of Hollywood’s most famous and talented stars were on hand, many of who did the actual roasting. Among them Samuel L. Jackson, Jerry Lewis, Sarah Silverman, Rob Schneider, Eli Roth, and Neve Campbell. One shameless roaster named Whitney Cummings, often seen on Chelsea Lately, delivered the most buzz-worthy/cringe-worthy line of the night:

[Tarantino has] produced more retarded things than Sarah Palin’s vagina.

Somewhere out there, Andrew Dice Clay is blushing. Not because the joke is off-color, he doesn’t care about that. He’s flushed because it’s unfunny, stolen hackery.

Let’s deal with the unfunny part first: Who is the butt of this joke? A toddler who suffers from down-syndrome and the mother that chose not to destroy him while he was in the womb. Yikes. Regarding Trig: Lay. Off. The. Kids. Okay? Regarding Mama Palin: Is it possible to write a more obvious joke on a more obvious target? I’m sure Ms. Cummings fancies herself irreverent; what would be truly irreverent is if she would harness a little of that hate that dwells in her dreary heart and direct it toward someone who is actually in power. Here are some possible targets she may want to consider: Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, or Joe Biden (notice how I’m not mentioning Obama’s children?). If she insists on resorting to humor that’s main attribute is shock-value, why not try a target that might actually shock someone?

Now let’s deal with the hackery part. It’s one thing that Whitney Cummings is mean-spirited, vulgar, and boring, but it’s quite another that she stole this joke. Here’s a super-NSFW clip of Louis CK on Opie and Anthony going on a jag against Sarah Palin that ends with him referring to her vagina as a “retard-making cunt.”

You mean Whitney Cummings isn’t the first to make a “Sarah Palin’s vagina produces retarded things” joke?!? Waaahhhh?? Actually, she’s not even the second. Here’s a joke from the popular comedy site eBaum’s world:

What is the difference between Sarah Palin’s mouth and her vagina?

Not everything that comes out of her vagina is retarded.

John Nolte has thoroughly detailed that the depraved Louis CK took the gold at the Degenerate Olympics for his attempt to induce vomiting with a single phrase, but I think Cummings did him one better. At least when CK savaged Trig Palin and Sarah’s birth canal, his idea was probably original.

Meet Whitney Cummings: the up-and-coming comic who rips-off other people’s jokes about handicapped babies and the moms who choose not to abort them. The University of Pennsylvania must be proud of their alumnus.

I reached out to a stand-up comedian friend to verify my observation that this might not have been her joke, and he confirmed “it’s a steal.” Apparently this isn’t the first time either: “She’s stolen more jokes than Rickey Henderson stole bases,” he said. “She’s Carlos Mencia with a penis.”

Furthermore, telling a joke that isn’t your own at this particular venue is incredibly stupid. This isn’t the junior high school cafeteria and she’s not getting yucks from the cool kids by regurgitating Deep Thoughts she’s memorized. Cummings shared the stage with some of Hollywood’s biggest names, only to tell and take credit for a joke that’s shamelessly derivative at best and plagiarism at worst. The depravity of the joke is only surpassed by the arrogance of it.

But unfortunately, this is likely the last you’ll hear on this topic—NOW will be AWOL and we all know that hate and bullying directed toward Sarah Palin and her family isn’t the type of hate and bullying the NO H8/anti-bullying crowd cares to fight. (This is particularly telling of how backwards the Left’s priorities are, because unlike helpless Trig Palin, gay teens and adults are fully capable of defending themselves against bullies.)

So the Left’s obsession with Sarah Palin’s vagina and uterus continues and classless comedians still single out Trig as the only mentally challenged baby in America that’s fair game for public ridicule. While the smiley-faced Palins soldier-on, fending off horrendous indignity after horrendous indignity, joyless, joke-stealing scolds like Whitney Cummings continue to speak truth to out-of-power in the cheapest, laziest, and ugliest ways possible.

Conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham has embarked on an ambitious venture that is sure to make most mainstream (left of Karl Marx) theatre critics scratching their heads – if not pulling the hair out of them. In the wake of her best-selling book, “The Obama Diaries” Ingraham has assembled a multi-media stage extravaganza complete with actors playing the roles of the President and First Lady.

I’m looking forward to providing our readers with a first-hand critical assessment of the production, but until then we’ll have to rely on some of the lucky folks in the audience last night. According to “MinnCon” at Redstate:

In a word, the show was “Obamalicious,” (satirically heavy on the “malicious”) and combined live onstage narration and hosting by Ingraham with real audio clips, photos, videos, and skewering-yet-spot-on impersonations of our imperious President and the First Lady by two fine performers.

Played – no, NAILED – by actors Russell Brown and Selma Schmidt (I believe those were the names – a printed program was not provided) the fictional secret thoughts of Mr. and Mrs. Prez came to life in all of their vainglory.

For the record, Reggie Brown played Obama and Sonja Schmidt played Michelle and yes, I hear their performances are spot-on and hilarious.

From my perspective (and the perspective of any good capitalist) the only real measure of a show is how it does at the box office.  And  by that measure, “Obama Diaries, LIVE” appears to be a hit.  The show played to capacity audiences in not-so-conservative Minneapolis.  If the show can play there, imagine how it will do in Dallas.

Another source who attended over the weekend reports that the plot device used to frame the subject matter is hilarious and the cameo appearances made the show a once-in-a-lifetime experience:

The White House, the story goes, had tried to book the theater on the same day, which set up a brutal exchange on stage between Ingraham and the Obamas.   The evening involved several surprise elements that brought the crowd to its feet. Academy Award Winner Jon Voight, Congresswoman Michelle Bachman, and bestselling writer Vince Flynn made appearances on stage.

“Over the weekend people heard how funny the show was,” Ingraham told us, “so now I’m weeding through a dozen other requests to bring it to other cities across the country.  If I didn’t have my radio show and my Fox News duties, I’d tour it like The Ice Capades.”  The next stop for the Obama Diaries is Texas later this month (Dallas Nov 20, and Houston Nov 21).

Just as critics raved about Will Farrell’s semi-coherent “Thank You, America” last season, I’m sure this stage presentation will be met with the same level of enthusiastic gushing. After all, political satire has no ideology, right? It’s merely about poking fun at our leaders no matter their party affiliation. “Laugh at the king or he’ll make you cry” goes the lyric from Stephen Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle”. “Truth to Power”, don’t ya know? Yeah, we’ll see.

—–

Ed. Note: Starting next week, Obama Nation movies to its new permanent home at Big Government.