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Politico’s Roger Simon: Obama ‘Calling Out’ Bobby Jindal’s ‘Hypocrisy’

Posted on June 15, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Appearing on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports on Tuesday, Politico columnist Roger Simon described a recent interview with President Obama: “…he showed a genuine irritation….when people like Bobby Jindal, you know, standing up, screaming about more federal action…a small-government, no federal aid kind of guy. And the President is calling out those people for hypocrisy.” Simon was discussing a quote from Obama in that interview , in which the President whined: “Some of the same folks who have been hollering and saying do something are the same folks who, just two or three months ago, were suggesting that government needs to stop doing so much.” Apparently, asking the federal government to do its job in a national emergency but not take over people’s health care is the liberal definition of hypocrisy. Earlier, Mitchell asked Simon to preview the President’s prime time address on the oil spill. Simon gushed: “…he’s cool and collected about things but he also realizes that he has to break through that, and tonight is his chance. You know, speeches have never failed Barack Obama. They started his presidential career. They’ve always rescued him at tough times…. I think he wants to re-establish that personal bond he once had with voters.” He could hardly wait for Obama’s performance: “I think tonight we saw a preview of it in Pensacola. He likes to preview the speeches like opening a play out of town before you go to Broadway.”   Here is a full transcript of the June 15 segment: 1:15PM EST ANDREA MITCHELL: For months a voice has been missing. We’ve been missing the voice of Politico’s chief political columnist Roger Simon. He has been struggling with blood poisoning. He’s now made a welcome recovery and is back stronger than ever, having just had an exclusive interview with the President, and then appeared on Meet the Press and Hardball and you join us now. Roger, it is wonderful to see you. ROGER SIMON: Wonderful to be back with you. MITCHELL: I can’t tell you how happy we are in person and also to read your great interview with President Obama. SIMON: Thank you. MITCHELL: Now you spent time – you’re the only journalist who spent time with the President recently as we prepare for tonight’s big speech. Tell us your impression of how he is handling the crisis and what he wants to project tonight. SIMON: Well, it won’t surprise you to learn that he’s cool and collected about things but he also realizes that he has to break through that, and tonight is his chance. You know, speeches have never failed Barack Obama. They started his presidential career. They’ve always rescued him at tough times and I think tonight we saw a preview of it in Pensacola. He likes to preview the speeches like opening a play out of town before you go to Broadway. And he said in Pensacola, ‘I am with you.’ He didn’t say ‘we are with you.’ He’s making it very personal. And I think he wants to re-establish that personal bond he once had with voters. MITCHELL: Now there’s also a thin-skinned aspect to the President at times. You wrote in the Politico interview, discussing the role of the government in the oil spill, you said some of the same – this is quoting the President – ‘some of the same folks who have been hollering and saying do something are the same folks who, just two or three months ago, were suggesting that government needs to stop doing so much. Some of the same people who were saying the President needs to show leadership and solve this problem are some of the same folks who, just a few months ago, were saying, this guy is trying to engineer a takeover of our society through the federal government that is going to restrict our freedoms.’ So he’s reacting to these criticisms. SIMON: He is. And that troubles him, and that’s one of the two moments I think where he showed a genuine irritation there, and – well, three moments. There, dealing with Congress on the same way: ‘Congress, if I had gone to six months before for extra money they would have said no,’ and also with the press, a continuing irritation of his. When he sees people like Bobby Jindal, you know, standing up, screaming about more federal action, more federal aid, well, six months ago, that’s not the person that Bobby Jindal was. He was a small-government, no federal aid kind of guy. And the President is calling out those people for hypocrisy. MITCHELL: Let me just ask you on a personal note, because you’ve been through Hell and back, and there you are, you’ve covered Barack Obama during the campaign, you’ve had interviews in the past, and now you’re entering the Oval Office in a very different way. They reached out to you. You also reached out to them. But how was it different and how did the President accommodate you? SIMON: I was really nervous. I felt like a summer intern on his first job. I’ve been interviewing people for decades. This felt different. You’re in the Oval Office, you’re in the center of power. And also, I must say, the President was extremely gracious. He didn’t wait in the Oval Office behind his desk for me to come in. He came out and walked down the hallway. He greeted me, we entered together, he turned around his chair to face me. So the task is to be grateful for that, which I was, and also as a journalist to fight it and still ask tough questions. MITCHELL: Well, you did it brilliantly. Roger, we are just so grateful you’re back. SIMON: Oh, I’m so happy to be back with you, Andrea. Thank you for this. MITCHELL: Thank you. And we look forward to other exclusive interviews from you, from Politico. SIMON: Thank you.       

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Eminem’s Recovery Release Date Moved Up One Day

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Album will now arrive in stores on June 21, Em confirms in a tweet. By Mawuse Ziegbe Eminem’s Recovery Photo: Interscope Eminem’s hotly anticipated album Recovery is set to land on shelves a day earlier than originally planned. The legendary lyricist’s seventh studio album will now get a June 21 release, according to Em’s label, Interscope, after the album leaked online. Once the full LP hit the Net two weeks ahead of its June 22 street date , many expected the Detroit rapper to move up its official delivery. But initial reports seemed to indicate the June date would stick . On Wednesday, XXLmag.com reported that Interscope rep Dennis Dennehey had confirmed the album would roll out on the originally scheduled Tuesday. Yet just a day later, the label issued a press release announcing a new drop date. Eminem has since confirmed the news, tweeting on Monday (June 14): “It’s true. RECOVERY goes on-sale Monday, 6/21 now.” Steve Berman, vice-chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M, said the public’s hunger for the hip-hop icon’s latest effort had fueled the date change. “We believe fans want to support their favorite artists by purchasing the real album and not a leaked version,” Berman said in the press release. “At the same time, we realize speed is of the essence when fans are so passionate about wanting to hear new songs from such an enormously popular artist like Eminem.” Berman also noted that for devoted fans, adjusting the set’s availability by 24 hours was significant. “Even by releasing Recovery only a day earlier than previously announced, it makes a difference to those fans.” The Recovery leak came only a few days after Em premiered the dramatic video for his single “Not Afraid.” For his latest set, Marshall Mathers reached beyond his Shady family , teaming with stars like Rihanna, Pink and Lil Wayne. The album also features production from new collaborators like Jim Jonsin, Just Blaze and DJ Khalil. Are you satisfied that Em’s album will drop a day earlier? Should the label release it sooner? Tell us what you think in the comments! Related Artists Eminem

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New Xbox 360 Includes ESPN, Kinect And ‘Call Of Duty’ Exclusives

Posted on June 14, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

‘Halo: Reach’ and ‘Star Wars’ demos debut during this year’s Xbox 360 E3 media briefing. By Brian Warmoth The New Xbox 360 is announced at E3 Monday Photo: Michal Czerwonka/ Getty Images Microsoft grabbed attention at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles this week before the event even began. Their Sunday presentation featuring Cirque du Soleil confirmed Project Natal ‘s official name as Kinect. Then, the global media briefing on Monday (June 14) unveiled Microsoft’s new motion controller’s full range of media capabilities, as well as an Xbox Live partnership with ESPN, an exclusive “Call of Duty” agreement and demos for new games including “Halo: Reach” and an unnamed “Star Wars” title for Kinect, which will launch in the U.S. on November 4. “A decade ago, we unveiled Xbox to the world, and this year, our 10th year, is the biggest year in Xbox history,” Don Mattrick, Microsoft senior vice president of entertainment, proclaimed at the event. “It’s the biggest year for blockbuster games. It’s the year that movies, music, television and sports all come together on Xbox 360.” The Xbox-centered event featured a long list of guest speakers, just as it has in years past. Among this year’s surprises were ESPN hosts Josh Elliott and Trey Wingo. The two “SportsCenter” anchors introduced their network’s new face on Xbox Live, which will include a wide range of programming selections and commands made possible by Kinect. “Sports fans will now have access to over 3,500 live and on-demand events, including college football, college basketball, Major League Baseball, the NBA, soccer and more,” Wingo said. Most of the offerings will be available in HD, according to Wingo and Elliott, who used a segment from last season’s USC/ Ohio State football matchup to showcase Kinect’s voice commands. Elliott proceeded to select his favored team and then call for instant replays on the fly. Similar commands will be used for video viewing through Microsoft’s Zune movie player on the 360. The E3 demo walked its audience through a series of options, including motion and voice actions that paused, played and otherwise replaced traditional push-button controls. Additionally, Microsoft integrated its movie player into a segment about the Video Kinect chat application that allows users to see each other and watch a movie simultaneously. “Whether in the same room or separated by thousands of miles, communication with others is central to who we are as people,” Marc Whitten, Xbox Live corporate vice president, explained. “It’s why we’ve always believed in voice chat and party chat. It’s why we’ve included a headset with many of the Xbox 360s and all of the Live starter packs we’ve sold, and now with Kinect, the same magic that allows you to control your Xbox 360 with your voice also allows you to communicate with the people you care about.” Whitten also announced that Xbox Live would be expanding on Microsoft’s mobile operating system, allowing more access to many of its features. “On Windows Phone 7, your friends, your avatars and your achievements will be with you wherever you go,” Whitten stated. That news came with a new, smaller Xbox 360 reveal later in the program, as well as a list of exclusive Xbox Live agreements. The updated Xbox 360 will be black and ship to retailers this week with a 250GB hard drive, internal wireless Internet capability and a $199 price tag. The lineup of games Microsoft and its partners showed off introduced a handful of the 15 launch titles for Kinect. These included “Kinectimals,” an animal-handling game featuring a pet tiger cub; “Kinect Sports,” a “Wii Sports”-style collection of soccer, bowling, track and field, table tennis, boxing and volleyball competitions; a kart racing game called “Kinect Joy Ride,” which was previously announced without a Kinect association; and “Kinect Adventures,” a competition-based title using outdoor activities such as rafting. Kinect will allow midgame photos to be taken of players while they interact with the motion system. Those shots can then be uploaded to various social-media channels. “Call of Duty: Black Ops” received the biggest non-Kinect-game spotlight, as Mattrick announced “an exclusive multi-year agreement between Xbox and Activision.” “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” recently saw its map packs get an early release on the 360. According to Mattrick, that will be the standard approach for all “Call of Duty” content in 2010, 2011 and 2012. “Starting with the release of ‘Black Ops’ on November 9, all ‘Call of Duty’ add-ons and map packs will launch first on Xbox 360,” he said. The remainder of the program premiered demos of “Halo: Reach,” “Metal Gear Solid: Rising,” “Gears of War 3,” a new Forza game, Harmonix’s new Kinect-ready “Dance Central” title, Ubisoft’s “Your Shape: Fitness Evolved” and finally an unnamed “Star Wars” game that will involve lightsaber combat using Kinect. The new Xbox consoles will be the first of Microsoft’s announced release to reach the general public this week, though most of the announcements won’t fully test the gaming market until November. Nevertheless, Microsoft made a lot of friends in the audience, closing the event by letting everyone in attendance know that brand-new Xboxes were being shipped to their homes and offices. Don’t miss “World Premiere of Project Natal Experience, Imagined by Cirque du Soleil,” airing Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. ET on MTV!

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Will the White House Press Corps Get Wimpier Without Helen Thomas?

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Jon Ward of the Daily Caller, until recently a White House reporter for the Washington Times, wrote a piece for Sunday’s Washington Post titled “Why we’ll miss Helen Thomas.” But Ward also interviewed some White House press colleagues who suggested Thomas had ventured across a line into explicit advocacy and argument: “Helen had always been a tough, no-nonsense interrogator of presidents and press secretaries,” said Ann Compton, who has reported on the past six presidents for ABC News. “About a decade ago, when she shed her role as reporter and began a career at Hearst as an opinion columnist, Helen’s questions began to cross the line into advocacy.” Ward wrote that as “zany and obvious” her advocacy had become, he wondered if other reporters couldn’t learn something about a little bit tougher on press secretary Robert Gibbs. Fox reporter Major Garrett admitted to Ward “that until the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico became a major story, the White House press corps (himself included) had often failed to adequately hold Gibbs’s feet to the fire.” He explained: “There had long been an unnecessary deference and sort of delicacy and decorum about waiting to be called upon, and rigidly adhering to what is essentially a manufactured process that Robert sought to achieve at the very beginning,” Garrett said. He added that the dynamic of the press room works best when reporters are free to follow up and really push the press secretary, but “that has been extremely rare, for whatever reason.” Ward offered a few examples he felt showed excessive deference: A couple of incidents come to mind. At a briefing just one week after Obama’s inauguration, for example, only two reporters pressed Gibbs for details about the president’s knowledge of a drone strike in Pakistan — the first military action of the new administration — and they received no backing from colleagues in the room when he refused to discuss it. And more recently, in the June 3 briefing, Gibbs faced only a few scattered questions on the announcement by Colorado Senate candidate Andrew Romanoff that a top White House official had dangled three job possibilities in front of him should he drop his challenge to the incumbent Democrat, Michael Bennet. Ward didn’t explore the idea that the bosses of these White House reporters weren’t truly interested in pressing Gibbs. Even as several reporters asked for answers on job offers to Romanoff and Pennsylvania’s Joe Sestak, the networks never put the non-answers of Gibbs on the air to create pressure for more disclosure. Persistent questions by reporters alone doesn’t move the news needle. Their bosses also have to find it essential to get answers out of Gibbs.

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Jerry Brown Calls Meg Whitman a Nazi, Media Mostly Mum

Posted on June 12, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

California’s Democrat gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown on Tuesday called his Republican rival Meg Whitman a Nazi. You probably didn’t hear about this because America’s media largely ignored it.  By contrast, the press had a field day when Republican senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina made a comment about Barbara Boxer’s (D-Calif.) hair that was picked up by an open microphone Tuesday evening. Why the double standard? Consider your answer as you read what Brown told KCBS radio’s Doug Sovern (h/t NBer Gary Hall): Brown boasted about his legendary frugality. “I’ve only spent $200,000 so far. I have 20 million in the bank. I’m saving up for her.” It’s true – his stay-on-the-sidelines, bare-bones primary run cost him almost nothing, at least in California political terms. But he also fretted about the impact of all those eBay dollars in Whitman’s very deep pockets. “You know, by the time she’s done with me, two months from now, I’ll be a child-molesting…” He let the line trail off. “She’ll have people believing whatever she wants about me.” Then he went off on a riff I didn’t expect. “It’s like Goebbels,” referring to Hitler’s notorious Minister of Propaganda. “Goebbels invented this kind of propaganda. He took control of the whole world. She wants to be president. That’s her ambition, the first woman president. That’s what this is all about.” Sovern followed this up Thursday: The campaign of Meg Whitman has issued the following statement in response to the comments made by Jerry Brown, quoted in my blog posting “Run Jerry Run.” “Just last week, Governor Brown promised he wasn’t going to engage in mudslinging, but now he is comparing Meg Whitman to Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels. Jerry Brown’s statements comparing our campaign to a propagator of the Holocaust is deeply offensive and entirely unacceptable.” –Meg Whitman 2010 Campaign Manager Jillian Hasner Jerry Brown’s campaign spokesman, Sterling Clifford, confirms to the Associated Press that the conversation took place, describing it as “a discussion after a chance meeting while they were exercising. I wouldn’t vouch for the accuracy of it, but I also don’t want to dispute the accuracy of it. It was jogging talk taken out of context.” He says Brown was not comparing the Whitman campaign to Nazis. UPDATE: Friday afternoon, Jerry Brown issued the following statement: “I regret making the comments. They were taken out of context.” Pretty serious stuff happening in America’s most-populated state, wouldn’t you agree? Yet our media weren’t very interested. Although Politico reported this matter late Thursday evening, as did the Associated Press shortly after, the rest of our supposedly impartial press almost completed ignored Brown’s disgusting remarks. According to Google news and LexisNexis searches, the news divisions of by ABC, CBS, MSNBC, and NBC didn’t file one report on this subject through Friday evening. NOT ONE! I can also find no newspaper reports outside of California. Zero, nada, zilch!  Bucking the trend was Fox News during Friday’s “Special Report” and CNN’s Jack Cafferty giving it a mention on the same day’s “Situation Room.” By contrast, when Fiorina was caught on an open microphone saying that Boxer’s hair was “so yesterday,” the media had a field day. CNN has already done eleven reports on this vital matter impacting our nation. MSNBC’s done three. On the broadcast networks, NBC did three reports, ABC did two, and CBS did one. Those actually included a segment on ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer”    As for newspapers, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New York Daily News, and the Houston chronicle all found Fiorina saying Boxer’s hair was “so yesterday” newsworthy.  I guess our media must think a Republican commenting about a rival’s hair is FAR MORE IMPORTANT than a Democrat calling a political opponent a Nazi. Boggles the mind, doesn’t it? 

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Conan O’Brien Jams With Jack White At Small Show In Nashville

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Comedian covers Radiohead, White Stripes during intimate concert. By Gil Kaufman Conan O’Brien (file) Photo: Michael Buckner/ Getty Images He’s jammed with Spoon and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder during his “Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour.” On Thursday night, Conan O’Brien lived the ultimate rock ‘n roll fantasy when he traded licks with the White Stripes’ Jack White in front of 300 fans during an intimate show at White’s Third Man Records outlet in Nashville. “Those lucky couple hundred people who waited in line all day today and got into Third Man Records tonight got a treat: AN AMAZING ROCK AND ROLL SHOW,” read the post on O’Brien’s blog describing the evening, which was titled “Epic.” The post continued: “Conan blazed through a rocking setlist of stuff from our ‘Legally Prohibited’ show — as well as a few other jams that we’ve never done! The energy in the room was incredible: The band lit by a dim red light, the hot Nashville air thick with excitement; the room packed to capacity — it was a scene the likes of which I’ve never experienced. I could totally see this show being something that happened outside under a tent in the South in the ’50s. A very, very cool vibe.” According to reports, O’Brien, sporting his off-the-air beard and an all-black ensemble and wielding a light blue Fender electric guitar, told the crowd, “I’ve had a crazy six months… Six months ago, I was the host of ‘The Tonight Show,’ the greatest franchise in the history of television. Then I started a live tour, going from small theater to small theater. And tonight I’m pressing a vinyl recording. I’m going back in time! Next week I’ll be on vaudeville. Then I’ll be a steamship captain.” The whole show was recorded on reel-to-reel tape and will soon be released as a vinyl album. Among the songs O’Brien played: Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again”; the Band’s “The Weight”; the White Stripes’ classic “Seven Nation Army”; Elvis Presley’s “Blue Moon”; the Stray Cats’ “Rock This Town”; and Radiohead’s “Creep.” The set ended with White trading licks with O’Brien on Eddie Cochran’s early rock classic “20 Flight Rock.” The whole thing was so old-school that at one point during the set, the band had to take a breather so a technician could change the reel-to-reel tapes. According to the Associated Press , O’Brien played it mostly straight, but he did add comedic touches to some songs. He deployed an exaggerated British accent on “Creep,” saying, “This is the only way I can sing Thom Yorke songs, as a 19th-century chimney sweep with a top hat and a smudge on my cheek.” No sooner had he joked about the old-timey vibe than White walked out on stage with a top hat, which O’Brien rocked during the run through the British band’s breakthrough hit. O’Brien also rewrote the lyrics to Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” singing, “My old show again/I just can’t wait to get my old show again… Off the road again, dear God please get me off the road again.” He closed out the concert by thanking TBS for giving him a new talk show, which debuts in the fall. More than 1,000 people had lined up around the block on a scorching-hot Nashville day in order to secure one of the 300 audience spots in the small performance space at White’s downtown complex, with some securing their places in line 24 hours before the show. White tossed bottles of water to those in line from the roof of Third Man during the day and O’Brien was clearly moved at the end of the night, telling the sweat-soaked crowd, “This means everything to me. This was so cool.” O’Brien will do it all over again this weekend, when he performs at the Bonnaroo festival. Related Photos Conan O’Brien’s ‘Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television’ Tour Invades L.A. Conan O’Brien Kicks Off His ‘Legally Prohibited’ Tour

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Nelson Mandela will attend FIFA World Cup opening ceremonies in South Africa

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

As was announced today by his family, South Africa’s Former President Nelson Mandela is scheduled to attend the opening ceremonies of the World Cup this week. This means the world event has now become an even bigger one with the promise of an appearance of this great man who worked long and hard for his country’s unification, winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. The World Cup symbolizes that courage, and so to have this global leader show up to start the event will mean, well, the world to the millions who admire Mandela. Although the Nelson Mandela Foundation said the great man will be appeared, this has been confirmed by Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela today who told the press: “He will come and greet the fans… before he retires to his home. We’re trying to see how long he will stay at the stadium. At least 10 to 15 minutes.’ Since this South African icon is now 91, and since his appearances are not very frequent, all fans of football (both soccer and American) and all fans of civil rights should be sure to put their focus on Nelson Mandela as he greets the world at the opening ceremonies of this world-class event. Hopefully, the whole experience will mean a big boost to South African tourism as we start to watch the FIFA World Cup beginning Friday in Soccer City.

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Rabbi That Filmed Helen Thomas’s Anti-Semitism Gets 25,000 Hate Emails

Posted on June 10, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

It’s not just members of the media standing up to support disgraced journalist Helen Thomas after her unscheduled retirement caused by anti-Semitic remarks she made  on camera last week. The rabbi that caught her disgusting comments on videotape and put them on the Internet has received 25,000 hate-email messages – and counting. Hours after MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann actually called Rabbi David Nesenoff one of his “Worst Persons in the World,” CBS-TV in New York reported the vicious electronic attacks streaming into the rabbi’s inbox like a “ticker tape” (video follows with partial transcript, h/t HotAirPundit ): ROB MORRISON, CBS2 NEW YORK: Four days ago Long Island Rabbi David Nesenoff launched his new website with these now-infamous comments from legendary journalist Helen Thomas. MORRISON: The veteran newswoman apologized and then retired. Since then, Rabbi Nesenoff says the hate mail has been pouring in.  RABBI DAVID NESENOFF: As we’re talking here, right now, the emails on my email are like a ticker tape. It’s been this way for a week. It’s going, going, going.  MORRISON: 25,000 and counting — messages like:  “The Jews need to go home just like the filthy illegals that plague America, same (expletive).”  “I know your type you gentile hating Jew boy. Come and face me turd. I’ll smash u under my boot.”  “Hitler was right. Time for you to go back in the oven.”  Most of the senders not even bothering to hide their email addresses.  NESENOFF: These are people that feel very mainstream about anti-Semitism and hate. They feel so proud of it. There is an arrogance about it. There is no shame. There certainly isn’t, nor is there any shame from media members likely missing what the real story is here: rampant anti-Semitism in America and how it goes largely over-looked by our press. In this instance, so-called journalists in their zeal to support Thomas are even defending it. By contrast, any incident of possible racism towards minorities will get great attention by the affirmative action supporting press. Take for example the CNN.com report Wednesday that blamed white people for President Obama’s pathetic response to the Gulf Coast oil spill. Since Obama threw his name into the ring as a presidential candidate back in February 2007, his adoring press have tried to bring race into the discussion whenever possible.  Consider how quickly the Cambridge police department was labeled racist during last July’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. episode. Media then conveniently called it a “teachable moment” about race relations in this country. So why isn’t the nation’s longest living member of the White House press corps making disgustingly anti-Semitic remarks to a rabbi a “teachable moment?” Far from it, as NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted Tuesday, “[T]he only soundbites came from sympathetic media colleagues, wishing her well.” So what did Americans learn from THIS moment? If you’re a journalist that makes an anti-Semitic remark, your colleagues will support you. Isn’t that a nice lesson as anti-Semitic acts of violence around the world continue to rise? Or hadn’t you heard that such attacks more than doubled last year? Oh. That’s right. You couldn’t have known that, for our media chose NOT to report it .  Wasn’t that convenient?  Add it all up, and just as our press exploit real or imagined racism to advance their agenda ESPECIALLY if it can help an elected official they support, anti-Semitic acts are not only regularly ignored but also excused if need be. Why this is still the case 65 years after the few surviving Jews were liberated from Nazi death camps after World War II is truly astounding. 

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Liberals Mock ‘Hatchet-Faced’ Helen Thomas

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Liberals are forgiving of Helen Thomas’s “get the Hell out of Palestine” remarks to the Jews — even the Jews. But they’re still making fun of the lady’s face. On Tuesday, Norman Lear sent in a two-paragraph statement to the Washington Post’s On Faith page that announced: What we all intend, at least what our cultures and religions say we all intend, is good. Among them is forgiveness. As journalist Helen Thomas leaves the national stage after her 50-year run, it’s time to forgive that now ancient hatched-faced [sic] whippersnapper , whose just being there delighted us for so many years. I will never forgive her offensive last words per se, but rest well, Ms. Thomas, on the billions of other words and on the 90 years it took to say them, Mocking Thomas as “ancient” is odd coming from Lear — he’s 87. On her radio show on Tuesday, Randi Rhodes was discussing the adultery allegations against South Carolina GOP gubernatorial nominee Nikki Haley, but ended by mocking Thomas: [S]she is the darling of the tea party. She got Sarah Palin’s endorsement. Um, and people keep popping up saying they’ve had extramarital affairs with her!  And the people who have said that, you know, they’ve had affairs with her run the gamut. You’ve got a blogger, a prominent — prominent — a political blogger; and a lobbyist, both claiming to have had affairs with Nikki Haley, I mean — the fact that she’s attractive makes their claims a little less suspicious. But something tells me that if this woman looked like Helen Thomas, these guys would not be stepping forward to say they had sex with her!  On his radio show on Tuesday, liberal Bill Press was complaining that Thomas was forced out for having an unpopular opinion, and insisted it was a terrible idea to distinguish news media from opinion journalism in the briefing room: I don’t think we want to invite any White House, any administration, to decide where people sit in the press briefing room or who gets in the door based on whether or not they have an opinion, and they express an opinion, even an opinion that we disagree with. And even an opinion that is pretty inflammatory. If you start that, that is a real, real slippery slope. It is a slippery slope, since the “objective” media often decide to avoid the entire concept of objectivity. But the correspondents association is talking about a brighter line than that, where Thomas and folks like Les Kinsolving (who’s a talk-show host, not a reporter) would be moved back in the pecking order. If a press conference is about advancing the news, and not just your personal opinions, then it shouldn’t be that controversial for the “news” people should get first dibs on the questions. Press added later: “I don’t care who the president is, the White House press corps should not be a bunch of pussycats.” As if he really minds the media going soft in the current era.

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Tom Cruise To Revisit Les Grossman Role In New Movie

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Benny Hollywood| Leave a comment

Cruise and Ben Stiller are producing the comedy based on the ‘Tropic Thunder’ and MTV Movie Awards character. By Josh Wigler Les Grossman at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards Photo: Paramount If you thought Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Michael Cera, Will Smith and the rest of the Hollywood elite were safe from movie-studio exec Les Grossman’s fiery insults and cutthroat business ethics, think again. In a press release issued Wednesday (June 9), Paramount Pictures and MTV Films announced the development of a comedy focused on Grossman, the foul-mouthed movie producer played by Tom Cruise in “Tropic Thunder” and the 2010 MTV Movie Awards . Cruise, Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfield of Red Hour Films are producing the project with “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” screenwriter Michael Bacall tackling the script. Unsurprisingly, the press release phrases the movie’s development as if Grossman were actually a real person — which, of course, he is! Tom Cruise is said to be in talks to portray the media mogul in the film. As for the film’s plot, “Grossman” himself explained: “To quote my great friend Kirk Lazarus, ‘I don’t read the script, the script reads me.’ ” “Les Grossman’s life story is an inspiring tale of the classic human struggle to achieve greatness against all odds,” said Stiller, Grossman’s “Tropic Thunder” co-star. “He has assured me he plans to, quote, ‘F—ing kill the sh– out of this movie and make “Citizen f—ing Kane” look like a piece-of-crap home movie by the time we are done.’ I am honored to be working with him.” Paramount Film Group President Adam Goodman added: “Everything I learned in this business, I’ve learned from Les. I started out as his assistant, and from the first day he threw his desk at me when I got his lunch order wrong, I have loved him like a father. I am forever grateful to Ben and Stuart Cornfield and their ability to secure his highly coveted life rights.” For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com .

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Tom Cruise To Revisit Les Grossman Role In New Movie

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