The Left Coast Report: A Political Look at Hollywood
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Trump to Say ‘You’re Fired!’ to Obama?
2. Ozzy Osbourne Slams Westboro Church’s Song Swipe
3. Disney’s Family Friendly ‘Secretariat’ Bucks the Critics
4. Eminem Swears: No Profanity at Home
5. God’s Love for Bill Maher Is Unrequited
1. Trump to Say ‘You’re Fired!’ to Obama?
Time magazine recently published details of a mysterious New Hampshire poll that asked residents about prospective Republican candidates who could potentially run against President Obama in 2012.
One aspect of the poll really caught the media’s attention: its focus on Donald Trump, real estate mogul and reality show star.
The poll appeared to be measuring New Hampshire voters’ acceptance of a Trump 2012 presidential bid.
Trump has denied sponsoring the telephone poll, which reportedly included a 30-question survey. Results were favorable, according to The Donald.
“Well, I have never run for president. I really like the people of New Hampshire because they’re strong people, they’re intelligent people, they know what’s happening to this country is wrong. So I can understand why I did well in a poll,” Trump told CNN.
Although speculation has begun, the 2012 presidential campaign is light years away in political time.
The timing of the poll is beneficial for Trump, though, in more ways than one. Viewership is down for “The Apprentice,” prompting the suggestion that he may be engaging in a PR stunt to boost his NBC show’s ratings.
But Trump actually sounds serious. “I can tell you this. For the first time in my life, I am absolutely thinking about it,” he told MSNBC.
Like all those who are politically savvy, Trump has indicated that he has not made a final decision.
“A lot of people have been asking me to run. I mean, I’ve had a lot of success. I haven’t made a decision but I hear it’s a huge story in the United States right now,” he said in a statement.
Basically, the famed business expert and TV personality has left the door wide open.
“It’s not something I long to do, but it’s something that, if I had to, I would,” he added.
Not only is Trump sounding like a candidate but also he’s singing the tea party’s refrains.
Trump told Fox News, “I see what’s going on with this country, and it’s never been worse. China is ripping this country like it’s never been ripped before.”
“Somebody has to do something,” he told MSNBC. “We are losing this country. This country will not be great if something isn’t done rapidly.”
2. Ozzy Osbourne Slams Westboro Church’s Song Swipe
Ozzy Osbourne is crazy mad at the notorious Westboro Baptist Church.
The Kansas-based church group has been using the rocker-reality star’s tune at its protests, bellowing “You’re going straight to hell on your crazy train” in a rewording of the song’s chorus.
“I’m sickened and disgusted by the use of ‘Crazy Train’ to promote messages of hate and evil by a ‘church,’” Osbourne said in a statement.
Known for its offensive signs and egregious choice of venues, Westboro Baptist Church, which asserts that U.S. military deaths overseas are God’s punishment for American tolerance of homosexuality, recently used Osbourne’s 1980 “Crazy Train” at a Supreme Court demonstration.
Church protesters gathered in D.C. as the high court was set to take up the difficult appeal of a $5 million award to the family of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder. Some Westboro members had disrupted Snyder’s funeral with their repugnant protest routine.
Ironically, Ozzie’s tune has lyrics that urge listeners not to hate but to love instead.
“Crazy, but that’s how it goes. Millions of people living as foes. Maybe it’s not too late. To learn how to love. And forget how to hate.”
The Westboro Baptist Church folks apparently never paid much attention to the words of their pilfered song.
3. Disney’s Family Friendly ‘Secretariat’ Bucks the Critics
Disney’s “Secretariat” is a welcome return to the mouse house formula of serving up powerful, inspirational family fare.
Unfortunately, the movie’s opening brought in a less-than-expected $12.6 million, taking the No. 3 slot at the box office.
The flick predictably received little help from mainstream reviewers.
CNN dubbed it “insistently square.”
USA Today said the true story of the legendary horse “didn’t need schmaltzing up.”
E! described it as a “bland adaptation from the Disney factory.”
The weirdest reaction came from Salon magazine, whose reviewer managed to find a “troubling racial subtext” to the film’s “honey-dipped fantasy vision of the American past as the tea party would like to imagine it.”
When a member of the mainstream press brings up the tea party, he or she often finds a way to compare that movement to the Nazis. Salon stayed true to form: “In its totality ‘Secretariat’ is a work of creepy, half-hilarious master-race propaganda almost worthy of Leni Riefenstahl.”
Disney spent around $35 million on the film, and despite the critics’ insane rants this movie has, shall I say, legs.
In its second week, Sony’s “The Social Network” again finished first, adding another $15.5 million to its tally (dropping only 31 percent). Katherine Heigl’s latest romantic comedy, “Life As We Know It,” opened with a disappointing $14.6 million, taking the No. 2 spot.
Since Warner Bros.’ production budget was around $38 million, the company should be all right. But Heigl is supposed to be able to fill theater seats like Julia Roberts used to.
The other new release, “My Soul to Take,” Wes Craven’s serial killer entry from Rogue Pictures, thankfully took in only $6.9 million and finished fifth.
4. Eminem Swears: No Profanity at Home
As is the case with many rappers, Eminem, a.k.a. Marshall Mathers, has built his career on the use of vulgarity.
The Grammy winner has drawn criticism for misogynistic, violent, homophobic, and profane lyrics, particularly in early albums such as “The Slim Shady LP” and “The Marshall Mathers LP.”
Now Eminem claims that he forbids cursing in his own house.
In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” the rapper revealed his domestic censorship program to Anderson Cooper.
“Profanity around my house? No,” he said.
“I’m not saying there’s not glimpses of me in the music, [that] there’s not truth in . . . things that I say, but this is my music, this is my art,” he said.
Citing the same reason some of his tunes have been banned by many American households, Eminem explained that he is uncomfortable using foul language in front of his own teenage daughter, Hailie, and his two adopted daughters, Lainey and Whitney.
“I’m a parent, I have daughters,” he said. “I mean, how would I really sound, as a person, walking around my house ‘Bi***, pick this up.’ You know what I mean? I don’t cuss.”
Since Eminem can’t use swear words, an album made at his house would last a nanosecond.
5. God’s Love for Bill Maher Is Unrequited
Bill Maher, who years ago hosted the ABC late-night talk show “Politically Incorrect” and currently hosts HBO’s “Real Time,” consistently has demonstrated an antipathy for religion, religious expression, and the Judeo-Christian God.
Maher’s attitude is typically condescending. At the same time, he tends to ignore the fact that the vast majority of faith-filled folks aren’t the extremists he cites as his examples.
On a recent installment of his show, Maher took issue with something that Glenn Beck had shared with the public – that before he got married, his then-fiancé wanted to pick out a religion.
Maher said the idea of choosing one’s faith is “f***ing crazy in adulthood,” distinguishing it from faith that is “forced into your head as a child.”
He has described religion as a “neurological disorder” that justifies “crazies” and prevents people from thinking logically.
On his shows, Maher often argues that religion, rather than flawed human nature, is the cause of many of society’s ills.
Before the advent of monotheism, the world was a far more brutal place. Whenever societies have cast out the very religion that Maher bemoans, increased violence and destruction inevitably have resulted.
The liberties Maher enjoys in this society, including the freedom to rail against belief in God, are the same “unalienable rights” emblazoned in our nation’s birth certificate – and proclaimed to have come from that very same God.
Maher may not acknowledge it as he vilifies the Judeo-Christian tradition that produced this exceptional country, but he was one of the lucky ones, born into this blessed land already equipped with rights “endowed by [the] Creator.” And no one has the authority to take those rights from him or anyone else.
That’s our national philosophy, and in the past we weren’t hesitant to recommend that others adopt it, too.
Interestingly, those God-given freedoms have allowed Maher to thrive in a highly competitive and dream-come-true business.
A little faith, maybe the size of a mustard seed, might usher in a mountain of gratitude.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.