Candidate for Tom’s next beard
Just when you think she can't be any more whacked...
Ms. COULTER: No. I think anyone with that level of promiscuity where, you know, you — I mean, he didn’t know Monica’s name until their sixth sexual encounter. There is something that is — that is of the bathhouse about that.
DEUTSCH: But what is the homosexual — that’s — you could say somebody who maybe doesn’t celebrate women the way he should or just is that he’s a hound dog?
Ms. COULTER: No. It’s just random, is this obsession with his…
DEUTSCH: But where’s the — but where’s the homosexual part of that? I’m — once again, I’m speechless here.
Ms. COULTER: It’s reminiscent of a bathhouse. It’s just this obsession with your own — with your own essence.
DEUTSCH: But why is that homosexual? You could say narcissistic.
Ms. COULTER: Right.
DEUTSCH: You could say nymphomaniac.
Ms. COULTER: Well, there is something narcissistic about homosexuality. Right? Because you’re in love with someone who looks like you. I’m not breaking new territory here, why are you looking at me like that?1
Because you're loony? Because you're spouting stupid, old—not to mention debunked—theories about homosexuality as though they are fact? I'm a pasty, white Irishman in love with a dark, brown Mexican. Yeah. He looks like me.
Oh, just so we're clear, the topic of discussion was Bill Clinton. Bill's womanizing is a result of latent homosexuality. Got it. Let me help you out, Ann. Take a good look at Bill Clinton. Now take a good look at Tom Cruise. Now ponder these lines from Willie Nelson's "Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly (Fond of Each Other)":
Well, a cowboy may brag
About things that he's done with his women.
But the ones who brag loudest
Are the ones that are most likely queer.
I used to read Coulter on a fairly regular basis. I disagreed with her on many things, but when she was right, she was really right. But she's just gone off the deep end now. Not even entertaining.
Kinda like Tom. I had a crush on Tom in high school. I think he's cute and has a great smile. His rags to riches story intrigued me and I thought he'd be someone interesting to get to know. Then came all the Scientology bullshit and now he's just one more whack job in Hollywood.
Tom goes apeshit on Oprah. Ann goes batshit on "The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch". Neither one will want to have sex with the other one. Sounds like a match made in Heaven to me.
World’s smallest fiddle
Richard Hatch, of "Survivor" fame, is starting his 51 month sentence for tax evasion.
Hatch, 45, of Newport, R.I., arrived last week at the Federal Transfer Center in Oklahoma City. It wasn't immediately clear why Hatch was moved or if he will serve out his sentence at the facility, which is a hub for prisoners transferring through the federal system.
A federal jury convicted Hatch in January of failing to pay taxes on the "Survivor" prize and other income. He was sentenced in May to 51 months in prison by a judge who said the reality TV star had lied repeatedly on the witness stand.
Hatch had previously been held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts.
He would prefer to serve his sentence near family in Rhode Island or in Florida, said his lawyer, Michael Minns.
"He should be in a camp," Minns said. "The camps are the most comfortable of the uncomfortable. They are still jails, but they get to see the sky and be outside. It's bad for Richard, who is an outdoor person." 1
Maybe he should have thought of that before not paying his taxes and then perjuring himself.
Gay Games Chicago
At first I was going to bitch about the stifling heat and the idiocy of the planners who left us baking in the hot afternoon sun on an open field because someone thought it necessary for participants to line up for the opening ceremonies 3 hours early. OK. I'm still going to bitch about that.
I must admit it was pretty cool to be standing on the field at Solider Stadium looking up at the crowd. That's about where my enthusiasm for the opening ceremonies ended. For starters it was just too damn long. The fact that we had been standing in the sun for over 3 hours didn't help, I'm sure, but four hours? All afternoon they had been saying that the opening ceremonies was for the athletes, but most of the athletes had bailed after the first hour. Some because they had to compete at the crack of dawn and the rest because the ceremonies were terminally boring.
The opening ceremonies of the Olympics celebrate the contest about to commence. They celebrate the athleticism of the competitors and display something of the culture of the host city. The opening ceremonies of the Gay Games was little more than a glorified political rally. For every 15 minutes of actual entertainment, there was 45 minutes of speeches, some of them rabid in their rhetoric. Not that there weren't some good points made. This is just not the venue for it. We didn't come here for a political rally. Most aren't here to make some kind of political statement. We are here to compete. We are here to focus on the now. We are certainly not looking backward and we have little time to worry about tomorrow. There is much worth celebrating. What was the point of beginning such a positive experience with such a negative message? The opening ceremonies was not for the athletes. It was for a handful of gay activists who used the opportunity to spout their rhetoric from a jumbo-tron.
What, for example, has been occupying my thoughts the last two days? Has it been what a remarkable opportunity the Gay Games is for athletes of any level to compete at a large sporting event and be welcomed and cheered for the effort they make and their personal achievements regardless of whether or not they earn a medal for it? Has it been what a remarkable opportunity it is for a "small town" guy like me—who has never seen so many homos gathered together in one place in his life—to feel more "integrated" into society than in my own home town? I always seem to forget how homogeneous Utah is. For someone who doesn't like the lime light, who doesn't like to stand out, it's nice to feel common place for a change.
These have been good experiences for me, but is that what I have been thinking about the last few days? No. I have been pondering the impotent rage of the gay rights movement and how it seems to be sliding into irrelevance. I have not talked to one single person who though the political nature of the ceremonies was appropriate. The most charitable of them simply dismissed it and moved on. The hijacking of the opening ceremonies his hardly the only example. How many emails from HRC sounding the clarion call to action to defeat the dreaded FMA did you get? An amendment that didn't even have a snowballs chance in hell of passing. Why can't we just ignore such juvenile posturing of the right? Surely there are better things we can be doing with our time and money.
It seems painfully obvious that gay rights establishment is more concerned with its own agenda than with actually discovering what it is gay people care about. It should be no surprise that some are talking of the Stalinism of the gay rights movement. Alienate those whose interests you profess to be defending and watch how fast your movement becomes little more than an echo chamber.
Where’s the hammer?
I hope there's a special place in Hell reserved for the sadistic bastard who designed fire alarms to begin sounding their low battery warnings at 2:30a.m.
Up, Up and Away
As part of the Fourth of July Festivities down in Utah County, they have a large hot air balloon festival. D and I dragged oursevles out of bed at 5:30 so we could be down in Provo by 6:30 when the Balloon Festival starts. They'll be having demonstrations and competitions Monday and Tuesday as well.
It was actually pretty cool to see so many balloons in such a small space. Here is a handful of photos for you.
Superman
Took the girls to see "Superman" yesterday. The 14 year old has a new superhero heartthrob now, Brandon Routh having supplanted Christian Bale.
At first I was bugged by how much Superman looked and sounded like Christopher Reeve. I tried to tell myself they were just trying to stay true to Superman as he had already been created, but that's not something Hollywood has ever worried about before. Indeed actors in general are anxious to make a role "their own." Once it finally dawned on me that it was probably done as a tribute to Christopher Reeve, I was okay with it. By the time the movie was over I was having fewer moments of deja vu.
I liked this Lois much better than the earlier one. Kate Bosworth did a fine job of making her a modern woman and human. I also thought Kevin Spacey was marvelous as Lex Luthor. The man's versatility never ceases to amaze me. And I hope that Bryan Singer keeps making superhero movies, because, frankly, his are the best ones out there.
It never ceases to amaze and disturb me how much the themes of isolation present in every superhero movie and story continue to resonate with me. It's been decades since I was a quiet, geeky teenager who hung out on the fringes of high school society because I didn't really fit in anywhere else. College wasn't much better either. Not that I'm some kind of super socialite now. Maybe that's why it doesn't seem to take much to transport me back to those days. Bleh.
Today in the headlines
Ya think?