It just suddenly got so 2002 up in here as Ben Affleck ruled the Friday box office with his Beantown heist flick, The Town . Easy A had to settle for a Gentleman’s B, Devil was stuck in a purgatorial third and poor Justin Long just really wants this year to be over already. Your Friday Box Office is here.
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Friday Box Office: Mad About Town
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Tagged affleck, beantown, ben affleck, Box Office, Devil, easy a, heist-flick, Hollywood, office, stars, tv guide, weekend receipts
While most media outlets obsessed over the liberal theme that Republicans keep “suicidally” nominating “ultra-conservatives,” Washington Post reporter Anne Kornblut, who authored a book earlier this year called Notes from the Cracked Ceiling, noticed a different trend. Her story was headlined “GOP gains the lead in female politicians’ steps forward.” Tuesday’s victories of Palin-endorsed GOP women Christine O’Donnell and Kelly Ayotte underline an emerging Year of the Republican Woman. Too bad the Post buried it on Page A-6 of the paper, and it hasn’t been linked on the Post’s homepage today, either. Kornblut began: Democrats used to own the field of women running for higher office. Not anymore. Nearly two years after an anticipated gender bounce – with predictions that women in both parties would rush into politics inspired by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sarah Palin — it turns out that the momentum is on the Republican side. If there is a Palin effect, it is not being matched by any Clinton effect at the other end of the ideological spectrum. Since this is the liberal Washington Post, Kornblut then turned to a cast of liberals and Democrats to assess whether this can be verified: Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said it is “very fair” to argue that the energy for female candidates is trending Republican, a view several other Democratic strategists shared. “I’ve been struck by it,” said Dee Dee Myers, a former White House press secretary and author of “Why Women Should Rule the World.” “All the momentum is on the tea party side, so why wouldn’t it also be with the women on the tea party side?” Other Democrats dispute the notion of a conservative “year of the woman,” saying that the numerical advantage is slight, if it exists at all. They also note that some of the Republican nominees, including Christine O’Donnell of Delaware, are seen as fringe candidates unlikely to win their general elections. Stephanie Schriock, the head of Emily’s List, which is dedicated to electing [ahem, Democrat] pro-choice women, said the “candidates that are making it through these primaries are more and more extreme, radical right-wing folks” who, even though they are female, do not appeal to independent and moderate women. A Republican expert wasn’t quoted until the story’s final paragraph, although Kornblut credited Palin: Palin has unquestionably played an outsize role in upping the Republican numbers, endorsing several women, including Haley and O’Donnell, who might never have gained sufficient attention otherwise. She has brought to the Republican Party what some members had once complained did not exist: a concerted effort to tap female candidates for promotion and lift them out of obscurity. And then there is this: The woman most capable of counteracting a Palin bounce for Democrats – Secretary of State Clinton- is not available to campaign. Add to that a general sense of malaise among Democrats, a volatile electorate angry at the status quo and a growing acceptance of female politicians in both parties, and the trend is hardly a surprise, strategists said. “Who better to say, ‘I’m not part of the establishment’ than a Republican woman?” said Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway. “If you want to convey you are not of the firmament of Washington, D.C., and ergo of all the problems and out-of-control spending and corruption, you have to say, ‘I’m a Republican woman,’ because so few of them have ever been involved at that level.” You can see why the rest of the Post would want to bury this story. But the rest of the media ought to acknowledge it. They can’t say it’s not The Year of the Republican Woman because they’ll probably lose: several primary winners (the “Year of the Woman” when liberals ascended with an “Anita Hill effect”) lost in November.
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WaPo Buries Story with Obvious Palin Point: Tuesday Results Show Emerging Year of the GOP Woman
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Tagged Breaking News, celeb news, clinton, democrat, energy, free-speech, media, media bias debate, News, office, politics, Sarah Palin, stars, story, white
David O. Russell’s The Fighter made it through production without the public fights, drama and meltdowns that many expected . Now we’ve got the trailer, which showcases some nicely-filmed fight scenes, Mark Wahlberg’s biceps and music that will make you get up from your office chair and cheer!
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Mark Wahlberg Rolls With The Punches in the Trailer for The Fighter
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Tagged amy adams, christian-bale, fight-scenes, Hollywood, made-it-through, Music, newswire, office, office-chair, public, trailer, will-make
In general, there are two major sides to the tax cut debate. One believes that Americans are entitled to keep what they earn, but that they cede some money to the government with the understanding that funding is necessary to enable the state to safeguard citizens’ rights – the state’s most fundamental function. The opposing side holds, in short, that Americans are entitled to their wealth only to the extent that the rule of the majority – i.e. the government – allows them to keep it. The Washington Post has apparently adopted and endorsed this latter view, also known as liberal tax policy, not only in its editorial stance, but throughout its “straight news” reporting operation. WaPo reporter Lori Montgomery, for instance, believes that every dollar not collected in taxes is a dollar of which the federal government has been “deprived.” Or, put another way in her Wednesday article, she rejects the notion that every dollar collected in taxes is a dollar of which taxpayers have been deprived: Even as they hammer Democrats for running up record budget deficits, Senate Republicans are rolling out a plan to permanently extend an array of expiring tax breaks that would deprive the Treasury of more than $4 trillion over the next decade, nearly doubling projected deficits over that period unless dramatic spending cuts are made. The measure, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this week, would permanently extend the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts that benefit virtually every U.S. taxpayer, rein in the alternative minimum tax and limit the estate tax to estates worth more than $5 million for individuals or $10 million for couples. Aides to McConnell said they have yet to receive a cost estimate for the measure. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently forecast that a similar, slightly more expensive package that includes a full repeal of the estate tax would force the nation to borrow an additional $3.9 trillion over the next decade and increase interest payments on the national debt by $950 billion. That’s more than four times the projected deficit impact of President Obama’s health-care overhaul and stimulus package combined. The key word in the lede is “deprive.” In order for congressional Republicans to deprive Treasury of tax revenue, the federal government must have either already been collecting that revenue, or it must have been entitled to it. Sympathetic voices will no doubt howl that Montgomery was only noting if the GOP plan passes, the federal government will get less revenue – Treasury will be deprived of tax dollars. But again, that point frames the issue as one of the government’s claims to taxpayers’ wealth, not those taxpayers’ claims to their own wealth. Haven’t the latter been deprived by taxation? We know Treasury has not been taking in this revenue, and much of the confusion about what exactly Congress is debating derives from a failure to grasp this fact. Ed Morrissey explains : The extensions would simply continue the status quo, not deduct revenue the government receives now. These are not tax cuts, as the bill doesn’t change the current tax rates at all. The bill would instead prevent a massive $4 trillion tax increase. The extensions don’t force the government to borrow an additional $4 trillion over the next decade, either. Instead, they could simply cut spending, an option that apparently escapes the imagination of Ms. Montgomery. A freeze at the spending level of the last Republican Congress budget of $2.77 trillion per year (FY2007) could save more than a trillion dollars each year over the next decade. A freeze at the level suggested by John Boehner (FY2008, $3.1 trillion) would save more than $700 billion per year, almost twice as much as Montgomery claims we would need to borrow because of the tax extensions. Since Treasury hasn’t already been taking in this revenue, Montgomery’s use of the word “deprive” implies that Treasury is entitled to it, even if the cash hasn’t been flowing. In other words, she has endorsed the notion that the distribution of wealth is a legitimate function of the federal government, and that citizens only have a secondary claim to their earnings. The Post apparently takes for granted this attitude towards tax cuts. The paper is framing the issue in a manner decidedly more amenable to the Democrat position on tax cuts not in its editorial pages, but among its purportedly-objective news content. Let there be no more doubt concerning the paper’s bias on this issue.
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WaPo Slips Liberal Dogma Into Report on Tax Cuts: GOP Trying to ‘Deprive’ Treasury
Even as they hammer Democrats for running up record budget deficits, Senate Republicans are rolling out a plan to permanently extend an array of expiring tax breaks that would deprive the Treasury of more than $4 trillion over the next decade, nearly doubling projected deficits over that period unless dramatic spending cuts are made. The measure, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this week, would permanently extend the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts that benefit virtually every U.S. taxpayer, rein in the alternative minimum tax and limit the estate tax to estates worth more than $5 million for individuals or $10 million for couples. Aides to McConnell said they have yet to receive a cost estimate for the measure. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently forecast that a similar, slightly more expensive package that includes a full repeal of the estate tax would force the nation to borrow an additional $3.9 trillion over the next decade and increase interest payments on the national debt by $950 billion. That's more than four times the projected deficit impact of President Obama's health-care overhaul and stimulus package combined. “We have a spending problem. We spend too much. We don't have a taxing problem. We don't tax too little,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday. “And if we want to begin to get ourselves out of this economic trough that we're in, the only way to do that is to grow the private sector.” McConnell spoke as senators returned to the Capitol after a six-week hiatus for a final pre-election session that will be defined by a battle over the Bush tax cuts. Unless Congress acts, the cuts will expire at the end of the year, raising taxes across the board. While Republicans want to preserve all the cuts, Obama has called on lawmakers to extend them only for household incomes under $250,000 a year. That strategy, he argues, would knock hundreds of billions of dollars off the cost of extending the cuts, money that could be used to reduce the nation's debt. Senate Democrats, while generally supportive of Obama's position, have yet to determine the precise shape of the package they hope to put to a vote in the next four weeks. The issue dominated a luncheon meeting Tuesday, but Senate Democrats reached no consensus on how to proceed. Some lawmakers want to hold a vote on the Obama plan – which would presumably not achieve the 60 votes needed to overcome a GOP filibuster – and then adjourn until after the election. Others prefer to try to resolve the issue before the current session ends to provide voters with certainty on the matter. But that would require at least a handful of Republicans to agree to a compromise, probably involving a temporary extension of all the tax cuts. added by: navider
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Tagged cultural, current, election, from-the-dust, House, nearly-doubling, News, office, package, president, scientist-takes
Interviewing White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett yesterday, The View’s liberal co-hosts repelled Elisabeth Hasslebeck’s tough questions on President Obama’s failed economic agenda by changing the subject and ignoring their conservative colleague’s criticism. Refuting the claim that the economy is “certainly moving in the right direction” despite dismal unemployment numbers, Hasselbeck asked Jarrett if Obama’s $50 billion infrastructure bill represents an “admittance of failure on the $800 billion stimulus bill that didn’t seem to work.” To sidestep Hasselbeck’s question, Jarrett invoked incredulity, flawed statistics, and historical revisionism: Didn’t seem to work? My goodness, to the three million people who have jobs today – to their families – I’d say it did work. Now it turned out that the economy was in far worse shape than anyone could have predicted, and so we’re not out of the hole yet, but those three million families are certainly better off. The millions of families whose jobs were saved as a result of our investment in the automotive industry, all of the small businesses. “If [the stimulus package] worked so well you wouldn’t need the $50 billion,” retorted Hasselbeck, pressing Jarrett to answer her original question. But instead of waiting for Jarrett to respond, co-host Joy Behar changed the subject to the auto bailout: “I don’t hear enough from the Democrats tooting their own horn on that one.” Delighted to be bailed out of answering a tough question, Jarrett gushed, “Help us tout it, you’re absolutely right. Not just GM, but Chrysler and Ford – all three of them are now having profits for the first time in a decade, they’re all doing well. And that’s a result of the steps [Obama] took.” And before Hasselbeck could repeat her question, co-host Sherri Shepherd changed topics again: “I want to move it around a little bit and ask about you.” A few minutes later, after Jarrett and her liberal allies exchanged playful banter about family trips to Chuck E. Cheese and her longtime friendship with the Obamas, Hasselbeck made one last attempt to hold the Obama confidant accountable: “I think there’s trouble now that’s to be had or else we wouldn’t need to spend another $50 billion if the plan had worked.” This time, co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Barbara Walters jumped to Jarrett’s defense. “We could go on and on,” contended Goldberg. “We could go on and on,” echoed Walters, who proceeded to end the interview. A transcript of the relevant portions of the September 13 “The View” can be found below: ABC The View September 13, 2010 11:38 A.M. E.S.T. JOY BEHAR: He’s criticized a lot for not focusing on jobs. He focused on health insurance. Does he regret that he didn’t do it the other way around? VALERIE JARRETT, White House senior adviser: Well, let me say this: don’t you think it’s important to have a president who can multi-task? BEHAR: Yes. JARRETT: And so he did focus on the economy from day one and if you think about it, Joy, when he took office we were losing over 750,000 jobs every single month, four million jobs in the last six months of the Bush administration. And half of the last eight months we’ve seen private sector growth. Unemployment rate is still too high – you’re right, Elisabeth, it’s not nearly where we would want it to be – we won’t be happy until every single American who wants to work is working. But we are certainly moving in the right direction and it was a terrible condition that he inherited. I mean, think about. ELISABETH HASSELBECK: If I could, on that note, Valerie, because I think it’s important. With the new $50 billion infrastructure bill that the president outlined Friday, correct? JARRETT: Last week, yes. HASSELBECK: Some people are calling that an admittance of failure on the $800 billion stimulus bill that didn’t seem to work. JARRETT: Didn’t seem to work? My goodness, to the three million people who have jobs today – to their families – I’d say it did work. Now it turned out that the economy was in far worse shape than anyone could have predicted, and so we’re not out of the hole yet, but those three million families are certainly better off. The millions of families whose jobs were saved as a result of our investment in the automotive industry. All of the small businesses. HASSELBECK: If it worked so well you wouldn’t need the $50 billion. BEHAR: I don’t hear enough from the Democrats tooting their own horn on that one. JARRETT: Help us tout it, you’re absolutely right. BARBARA WALTERS: The president has talked about it. JARRETT: Not just GM, but Chrysler and Ford – all three of them are now having profits for the first time in a decade, they’re all doing well. And that’s a result of the steps he took. SHERRI SHEPHERD: I want to move it around a little bit and ask about you. You had a really interesting background. You were born in Iran, you lived in Iran for five years, then you lived in London for one year, then you came back. You said while you were out there you had no awareness of race until you came back during the 60s, during the civil rights movement. So when you were back here, what kinds of things did you experience in terms of race? 11:43 A.M. E.S.T. WALTERS: What do you call him? SHEPHERD: When you’re at Chuck E. Cheese? JARRETT: I’ve had my share of Chuck E. Cheese. It’s wonderful when you’ve got a five year old. No but when I’m out of the office and I’m just being his friend I call him Barack, but when I’m in the office I call him Mr. President. BEHAR: You’ve known him a long time and I understand he’s never gotten angry with you – you’ve never seen him get angry. A lot of people would like to see that now. We want to see it. HASSELBECK: We’d just like to see jobs. Not anger, results. JARRETT: Well I think it’s important that we have a president with a solid, steady temper. BEHAR: Absolutely true. JARRETT: Particularly during these difficult times. Don’t you think that’s important? It’s important and, you know, I don’t want a president just being, you know, emotional and sounding off. He has too much responsibility and too much power for that, but I also think last week as we’re going into this election season you’re seeing him make some contrasts between kind of the party that wants to go back to the Bush days that got us into all of this trouble – sorry Elisabeth – that we’re in now. HASSELBECK: I think there’s trouble now that’s to be had or else we wouldn’t need to spend another $50 billion if the plan had worked. WHOOPI GOLDBERG: We could go on and on. WALTERS: We could go on and on. And we’ll ask you to come back with us and we can go on and on. I’m sure the president’s very happy that you’re going to remain in your present position. JARRETT: Thank you very much. Thank you. WALTERS: And we want to thank Valerie Jarrett so much. It’s an honor for us to have you on with us, great pleasure.
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The View’s Hasselbeck Pummels Valerie Jarrett on Economy; Liberal Co-hosts Repeatedly Change Subject
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Tagged families, House, immelt, jeffrey immelt, London, office, president, recession, reza aslan, taxes, unemployment, valerie jarrett, video
Milla Jovovich’s latest installment of shooting at zombies very, very slowly racked up another win as Resident Evil 3D easily dominated a sleepy box office. The dapper gents of Takers and the well-armed hit men of The American tussled over the number two slot while horny travelers and angry Mexicans filled out the rest of the top five. Your Friday Box Office is here.
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Friday Box Office: Evil Eyes Number One
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Tagged Actors, filled-out, going the distance, Hollywood, jovovich, milla-jovovich, number, office, rest, TMZ, tussled-over, very-slowly, weekend receipts, while-horny
‘She was appreciative and nice, and there’s no reason to hate on her,’ Nick Swardson tells MTV News. By Eric Ditzian Heidi Montag Photo: Jason LaVeris/ Getty Images “This is one of the best days of my life!!! Getting icecream to celebrate!” Heidi Montag tweeted in March. The cause for sweet celebration was a new job for the “Hills” star — a film role, in fact, albeit more of a cameo, in “Just Go With It,” a comedy starring Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and Nicole Kidman. Sandler plays a plastic surgeon who convinces his office manager (Aniston) to pose as his soon-to-be-ex-wife so his younger girlfriend (Brooklyn Decker) won’t want to start a serious relationship. Co-star Nick Swardson told MTV News that Montag was very professional on set and that he didn’t understand all the Web hate thrown at the reality star after the casting news. “It was funny. They announce that Heidi did this cameo, and people just got so upset,” the comedian said. “My buddy said he was on the Internet and saying all these people were furious she did a cameo. But she’s super cool. She’s really nice.” While Montag had tweeted that she would be filming “all week,” Swardson said she filmed for just one day, with Spencer Pratt accompanying her to set. “She played Kevin Nealon’s wife, and Kevin Nealon has a ton of plastic surgery,” Swardson explained. “It’s super funny. She did a day, and she was really cool. She was appreciative and nice, and there’s no reason to hate on her.” “Just Go With It” shot in Los Angeles and Hawaii and marks Sandler’s sixth collaboration with director Dennis Dugan (“Grown Ups,” “Happy Gilmore”). The film is set for release February 11. Check out everything we’ve got on “Just Go With It.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com . Related Photos The Evolution Of: Heidi Montag
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Heidi Montag’s ‘Just Go With It’ Cameo Is ‘Super Funny,’ Co-Star Says
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Tagged brooklyn decker, co-star-nick, Getty Images, Hawaii, Hollywood, internet, labor, montag, Music, office, spencer-pratt
Here#39;s John Travolta#39;s statement in full: “I am grateful and appreciative of the dedication, hard work and support provided by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Royal Bahamas Police Force while handling matters associated with the attempted extortion that targeted my family in January of 2009. Throughout the investigation and prosecution, my staff and I remained fully supportive of all requests for assistance from law enforcement representatives even though this coo
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John Travolta Extortion statement full text
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New York Times Everyone in the red state is piling on the redesign of the oval office, complaining it is not patriotic enough, even though George Bush took Bill Clinton’s red, white and blue garish extravaganza and turned it into a muted southern living room (and lost the red, white and blue) showing more taste than patriotism. But since… Read the full story on TreeHugger
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Obama’s Oval Office Is Beige And Could Have Been Green
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Tagged celeb news, clinton, even-though, green design, healthy, Hollywood, living-room, muted-southern, not-patriotic, obama-office, office, politics, showing-more, the-redesign
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