I bet Hugo would send them to prison

Sean Penn can be such an insufferable dipshit. Last Friday, appearing in the echo chamber with Bill Maher, Penn suggested prison time for reporters who tell the truth about Venezuelan DICTATOR Hugo Chavez.

“[E]very day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it! And accept it. And this is mainstream media, who should – truly, there should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies.”

How ’bout prison time for useful idiots like Penn?

Filed under: Hugo Chavez, Obnoxious celebrities

Who gives a shit what Jenny McCarthy thinks?

And why did HuffPo give her a forum to spread her uninformed nonsense? Gawker took note of Arianna’s hypocrisy.

The fun thing about Jenny McCarthy’s conspiracy is that if it catches on enough, it will literally lead to the death of children. Trutherism just makes you really annoying!

Filed under: Obnoxious celebrities, conservative blowhards

The Anchorman, disingenuous as ever

Interesting that Mitt Romney is criticizing ObamaCare, since the plan he signed into law as Massachusetts’ governor touted universal coverage through a combination of individual and employer mandates paid for by government subsidies. The conservative Cato Institute called it a mirror image of the Democratic plan, but that’s okay, Romney said, because his was done on a state level.

“It is the ultimate pro-life effort,” said the automaton who, during his gubernatorial campaign in 2002, promised to “preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard.”

Two years ago Romney emerged as the favored GOP presidential candidate of AM radio propagandists and “movement conservatives,” none of whom seemed all that bothered by his domestic resume. Obama proposes virtually the same health care plan and they call him a Marxist.

Filed under: GOP, The Anchorman, health care

Penance for that godawful Victoria Jackson clip

Filed under: Television, comedy

I’m with Sam Jackson

Good of her to thank Hattie McDaniel, but Mo’Nique seems to have studied at the Sean Penn school of self-importance.

Filed under: Film

Oscar’s worst snubs, Best Picture

Some notable oversights (among nominated films, post-1970):

*”Network,” “Taxi Driver,” “All the President’s Men,” 1976. Winner: “Rocky”;

*Apocalypse Now,” 1979. Winner: “Kramer vs. Kramer” … which is not a bad film. The real crime was the lack of a nomination for “Being There”;

*”Raging Bull,” “The Elephant Man,” 1980. Winner: “Ordinary People”;

*”The Verdict,” 1982. Winner: “Gandhi”;

*”Broadcast News,” 1987. Winner: “The Last Emperor”;

*”Goodfellas,” 1990. Winner: “Dances With Wolves”;

*”Pulp Fiction,” 1994. Winner: “Forrest Gump”;

*”Fargo,” 1996. Winner: “The English Patient”;

*”L.A. Confidential,” 1997. Winner: “Titanic”;

*”Saving Private Ryan,” 1998. Winner: “Shakespeare in Love”;

*”The Insider,” 1999. Winner: “American Beauty”;

*”Lost in Translation,” 2003 Winner: Dungeons and Dragons.

Filed under: Film

Today’s reading assignment

There’s something familiar about the tea party movement, writes David Brooks:

There are many differences between the New Left and the Tea Partiers. …

But the similarities are more striking than the differences. To start with, the Tea Partiers have adopted the tactics of the New Left. They go in for street theater, mass rallies, marches and extreme statements that are designed to shock polite society out of its stupor. This mimicry is no accident. Dick Armey, one of the spokesmen for the Tea Party movement, recently praised the methods of Saul Alinsky, the leading tactician of the New Left. …

Members of both movements believe in what you might call mass innocence. Both movements are built on the assumption that the people are pure and virtuous and that evil is introduced into society by corrupt elites and rotten authority structures. “Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains,” is how Rousseau put it.

Filed under: extremism

Whatever happened to Victoria Jackson?

You don’t want to know.Won’t be long before she’s opening for Ray Stevens.

Filed under: Obnoxious celebrities

Oscar’s worst snubs, Best Director

Some notable oversights (among nominated films, post-1970):

*Francis Ford Coppola, “The Godfather,” John Boorman, “Deliverance,” 1972. Winner: Bob Fosse, “Cabaret”;

*Sidney Lumet, “Network”; Alan J. Pakula, “All the President’s Men,” 1976. Winner: John Avildsen, “Rocky”;

*Hal Ashby, “Being There,” 1979. An exception to my rule about mentioning only nominated films. Ashby was snubbed in favor of the director of “La Cage aux Folles”;

*Martin Scorsese, “Raging Bull,” David Lynch, “The Elephant Man,” 1980. Winner: Robert Redford, “Ordinary People”;

*Sidney Lumet, “The Verdict,” Wolfgang Petersen, “Das Boot,” 1982. Winner: Richard Attenborough, “Gandhi”;

*Lasse Hallstrom, “My Life as a Dog,” 1987. Winner: Bernardo Bertolucci, “The Last Emperor”;

*Woody Allen, “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” 1989. Winner: Oliver Stone, “Born on the Fourth of July”;

*Martin Scorsese, “Goodfellas,” 1990. Winner: Kevin Costner, “Dances with Wolves”;

*Quentin Tarantino, “Pulp Fiction,” 1994. Winner: Robert Zemeckis, “Forrest Gump”;

*Joel Coen, “Fargo,” 1996. Winner: Anthony Minghella, “The English Patient”;

*Atom Egoyan, “The Sweet Hereafter,” 1997. Winner: James Cameron, “Titanic”;

*Spike Jonze, “Being John Malkovich”; Michael Mann, “The Insider,” 1999. Winner: Sam Mendes, “American Beauty”;

*Robert Altman, “Gosford Park,” 2001. Winner: Ron Howard, “A Beautiful Mind”

*Fernando Meirelles, “City of God,” Sofia Coppola, “Lost in Translation,” 2003. Winner: Peter Jackson, for Dungeons and Dragons.

Filed under: Film

Oscar’s worst snubs, Best Actress

Some notable oversights (among nominated actresses, post-1970):

*Faye Dunaway, “Chinatown,” 1974. Winner: Ellen Burstyn, “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore”;

*Sigourney Weaver, “Aliens,” 1986. Winner: Marlee Matlin, “Children of a Lesser God”;

*Holly Hunter, “Broadcast News,” 1987. Winner: Cher, “Moonstruck”;

*Glenn Close, “Dangerous Liaisons,” 1988. Winner: Jodie Foster, “The Accused”;

*Stockard Channing, “Six Degrees of Separation,” Angela Bassett, “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” Emma Thompson, “The Remains of the Day,” Debra Winger, “Shadowlands,” 1993. Winner: Holly Hunter, “The Piano”;

*Anyone besides Helen Hunt, “As Good as It Gets,” 1997. I liked her better in “Quarterback Princess“;

*Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth,” 1988. Winner: Gwyneth Paltrow, “Shakespeare in Love”;

*Ellen Burstyn, “Requiem for a Dream,” Laura Linney, “You Can Count on Me,” 2000. Winner: Julia Roberts, “Erin Brockovich”;

*Julianne Moore, “Far From Heaven,” 2002. Winner: Nicole Kidman, “The Hours”;

Filed under: Film