The Bleeding Heart Capitalist

Decadence

Prom season is upon us. I have blogged previously about the excess that has become the right of passage known as the Prom. It has become, even for this product of Westchester County, astonishingly decadent.

Joanne Goldstein estimates spending $1,500 on her oldest daughter's senior prom in 2004. She cringes at that figure, saying that in many parts of the Lower Hudson Valley the amount of money spent on the prom is out of control.

That is higher than the national average. This year prom-going couples will spend between $1,000 and $1,200, according to promspot.com, an offshoot of the wedding site theknot.com.

In terms of its importance and cost, the prom has taken on the air of a wedding rather than a simple teenage right of passage. Like a bride, many girls go for hair consultations to test their chosen style. Some dye their shoes to perfectly replicate the color of their dresses — something most bridesmaids only grudglingly agree to. (Goldstein's daughter did it to match her bright blue dress.)

"(The) prom was very important to my daughter but (spending that much money) would not have been my choice," says Goldstein, of Armonk. "I sincerely believe as parents that we go overboard. It's part of the culture of where we live. All of the girls feed off of each other."

As another blogger aptly put it, this must have been what Rome looked like towards the end. If these things are so valuable to these girls, I fear for my children.

One other pet peeve of mine: it is the prom, not simply prom. Ones says "I am looking forward to the prom, " not "I am looking forward to prom." Just my two cents.

Bill Paxton's Caboose

We are cheapskates, so HBO is only activated when the Sopranos is in a new season. We therefore knew nothing of the "Big Love" series it leads into on Sunday evenings. I have seen the first two episodes, and I can't decide if it is about a polygamist in a Mormon sect in Utah, or a documentary on Bill Paxton's fanny. I guess showing a 50-year old's derriere every 10 minutes, as well as his Viagra-induced howyadoin' through the sheets is art. To the producers: less is more. 

Sez

If you are going to write an article for national consumption and feel the need to misspell "says" on purpose, you embarrass yourself more than I can express. What a sad commentary on the death of substance in our society.

"Chef" Quits South Park

Isaac Hayes, the voice of Chef in the popular animated satire South Park, has quit in protest of the show's lampooning of religion. This seems a tad curious, since the series has been merciless toward religion since it started in 1997, but it never touched Scientology until this past Autumn. Hayes is a Scientologist.

"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said.

"Religious beliefs are sacred to people, and at all times should be respected and honored," he continued. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."

"South Park" co-creator Matt Stone responded sharply in an interview with The Associated Press Monday, saying, "This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology... He has no problem - and he's cashed plenty of checks - with our show making fun of Christians."

I have a different take, and it has more to do with timing. Hayes had plenty of time to be offended since the Scientology episode this past Autumn and we haven't heard a peep from him. He was most likely pressured to make a statement from his intolerant fellow Scientologists, who would never stand for his continued participation on a show that was less than devoutly reverent toward their "faith."

Busy as Hell, But Not For This

Crazy busy around here, and I've been under the weather as well. I won't bore you with the details.

I had to comment on this, which I saw live, TiVo-style this past evening:

"We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while," Clooney acknowledged referring to an earlier joke by Oscar host Jon Stewart.

"We were the ones who talked about AIDS when it was being whispered. We talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular," he said.

"I'm proud to be part of this Academy. I'm proud to be part of this community. I'm proud to be out of touch," Clooney added.

The awards did indeed strike me as far more insulated from regular people (as in the people who pay to watch movies) than usual, and even though an award ceremony is supposed to be self-congratulatory, they appear to have forgotten what it is they are praising themselves for. The kudos are supposed to be for making good movies, not spearheading the moral growth of our society. George's remarks seemed to sum that disconnect up quite well. If Hollywood, the people who have given us 1000 Porky's for every Guess Who's Coming to Dinner truly think they are ahead of the virtue/morality/idealism curve of our society, then they aren't just virtuously out of touch. They are utterly clueless. If Clooney is so proud to be associated with them, can he explain why we have to TiVo 30+ year old-programs just to prevent my 3-year old from running around the house parroting "ass?"

Howard Stern

Not the classiest way to return from a brief absence of blogging, but the King of All Media is on my mind. CBS is suing Howard Stern for breach of contract. The core of the issue is whether Stern exploited his airtime while on regular radio to promote his move to satellite radio. In the year and change before he officially left, Stern loudly plugged his upcoming switch. I have never heard of a radio personality do such a thing- typically, they are mum about where they are headed. That's a point for CBS. However, the company admits they never told him to cut it out. Was that consent? They should have covered their rear ends by telling him to shut up already. He wouldn't have listened anyway. When has Howard Stern ever agreed to shut up?

Do This

I'm disgusted with politics right now. If you want a break from watching the Democrats trip over themselves pouncing on the current opportunity to sound tough on terrorism, and you are over 35, turn on the Game Show Network and watch a "Match Game" rerun from the 70's. You'll laugh if you don't remember the show too, but those of us who recall it will smile at where we were at the time. The economy was a shambles, the cold war was on, we were still talking about Watergate, and it still seemed like a happier, more innocent time. It's like they were having a party and a game show broke out in the corner. And you NEVER knew what Charles Nelson Reilly would say or do next.

David E Kelley is an Anti-Catholic Bigot

I have blogged previously that I rather enjoyed the ABC Dramedy "Boston Legal" in spite of its increasing tendency to make dumb political statements. I no longer enjoy it, and will cease watching it after tonight's Tivo. I have a feeling I'm not alone. The latest episode was not the first to put a big bulls eye on the back of the Catholic Church; previously, they had an absurd storyline on how a corrupt priest refused to aid in the rescue of a kidnapped child, citing the Canon Law forbidding him to divulge anything spoken in the confessional. Not only is it inane to use such arcane minutiae to make the Church look bad, the premise was false. Confession doesn't end in the church. To make the confession valid, the person would have to do penance, and there isn't a priest with a pulse who wouldn't make the penance be THE SAFE RETURN OF THE CHILD.

Tonight, the producers of the show again decided to urinate on the Church again, this time with a storyline on how a Catholic hospital refused to give a rape victim "emergency contraception" (that is, perform an abortion via the morning after pill). There were two Big Lies asserted in the patronizing dialog, which came out with all the aplomb of an after school special. Lie #1 is that the morning after pill prevents pregnancy the way contraception does, which is false. It prevents a fertilized egg from implanting on the uterine wall, killing the embryo. Lie #2 is that abortion foes are more concerned with power and the subjugation of women than  they are with saving lives. How utterly repugnant.

So, tonight I am calling anti-Catholic shenanigans on producer David E Kelley, who seems to have never met an anti-Catholic storyline he didn't like. Mr. Kelley, you sir, are a bigot and I will no longer watch your crap. I don't care if people aren't Catholic or think Catholicism is mystic mumbo jumbo. Fine by me. But if you are going to contrive dull witted and inaccurately premised story lines to grind your theological ax, don't expect me to tune in.

Confronting a Monster

If I had been blogging in 2003, the tragic story of the Collingswood, NJ children who were starved by their adoptive parents would have taken up a fair number of postings. I have followed the story since, and have been dismayed at certain parties who have been so defensive of the Jacksons in spite of the mountain of evidence against them. The mother, Vanessa Jackson, was sentenced to 7 years in prison yesterday, and the boys had an opportunity to address her.

Bruce Jackson rose in a packed courtroom here on Friday, 95 pounds heavier and 15 inches taller than he was 27 months ago when he was found rummaging through a neighbor's garbage can looking for food.

He looked directly at his adoptive mother, who was about to be sentenced to seven years in prison for systematically starving him and his three younger brothers in a case that drew national attention to the failures of New Jersey's child welfare system.

"You would make us eat pancake batter, dried-up grits and oatmeal, uncooked Cream of Wheat, and raw potatoes instead of cooked food," Mr. Jackson, now 21, told her and the crowded courtroom. "You didn't take us to any doctor's appointments. You wouldn't let us watch TV or play with our toys. You wouldn't let us take a shower when we were dirty."

He read from a piece of paper in a calm and determined voice betrayed by a slight slur.

"You yelled at us, cursed at us, hit us with brooms, rulers, sticks, shoes and belt buckles; I still have the marks to prove it," he told Vanessa Jackson, 50, who took him in as a foster child when he was 7 and later adopted him.

"I want to see Ms. Jackson go to jail for life," he said. "You were mean to me my whole life, so you deserve the same thing you did to me for the rest of your life. You took my childhood."

Mr. Jackson died in late 2004 and is most likely having his mail forwarded to Hell. He and Mrs. Jackson, who were members of a fundamentalist Christian church, claimed the boys had an eating disorder. Immediately after being removed from the home however, they gained prodigious amounts of eight.

Keith, who was 4 feet tall and weighed about 41 pounds when the boys were found in October 2003, is now 5 feet 2 and 126 pounds. Tyrone, who was 3 feet 3 and 28 pounds, is now 4 feet 4 and 66 pounds. Michael, now, 11, was about 3 feet tall and 23 pounds; he is now 4 feet 3 and weighs 63 pounds.

The most striking gains have been made by Bruce Jackson, who lives on his own in a residential complex. He is now 5 feet 3 and weighs 140 pounds.

Bruce was 18 when he was found. To grow a few inches after that age is not unusual; to grow 15 inches and gain 95 pounds between the ages of 18 and 21 is astonishing. The only difference was that he was getting fed. Sure he and his brothers had an eating disorder. It was called “Ray and Vanessa Jackson.”

He's An Uppity One Too

Some fundamentalist Christians are critical of a Christian production company which has made a Christian-themed movie because Chad Allen, one of the actors, is gay.

Christian ministers were enthusiastic at the early private screenings of "End of the Spear," made by Every Tribe Entertainment, an evangelical film company. But days before the film's premiere, a controversy erupted over the casting of a gay actor that has all but eclipsed the movie and revealed fault lines among evangelicals.

The film relates the true story of five American missionaries who were killed in 1956 by an indigenous tribe in Ecuador. The missionaries' families ultimately converted the tribe to Christianity, and forgave and befriended the killers. The tale inspired evangelicals 40 years ago with its message of redemption and grace, and the film company expected a similar reception.

On Jan. 12, though, the Rev. Jason Janz took the filmmakers to task for casting Chad Allen, an openly gay man and an activist, in the movie's lead role as one of the slain missionaries, and later, his grown son.

An assistant pastor at the independent Red Rocks Baptist Church in Denver, Mr. Janz posted his comments on his fundamentalist Christian Web site, sharperiron.org. He also asked the filmmakers to apologize for their choice.

The executives at Every Tribe stood by Mr. Allen. Jim Hanon, the director, said he was by far the best actor for the role. "If we make films according to what the Bible says is true, it's incumbent upon us to live that," he said. "We disagree with Chad about homosexuality, but we love him and worked with him, and we feel that's a Biblical position."

Hanon is, of course, right. If you disagree with the morality of a gay lifestyle it doesn't justify bigotry, which, the last time I looked, was the antithesis of being a good Christian.

One Web log, nossobrii.blogspot .com, written by Kevin T. Bauder, president of Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, stated in a Jan. 13 entry: "Granted, we must not overreact. And it would probably be an overreaction to firebomb these men's houses. But what they have done is no mistake. It is a calculated strategy."

__________________________________________________________________

Many evangelicals are concerned that young people inspired by the movie will look up Mr. Allen on the Web and "get exposed to his views on homosexuality, and that would cause some of them to question Biblical views of homosexuality and every other sin," said Will Hall, executive director of BPNews.net, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has published articles critical of Every Tribe's decisions.

Other evangelicals said they felt that the message of the film should override such considerations.

Bob Waliszewski, head of the media review department at Focus on the Family, said that he was saddened by e-mail messages from angry Christians who said they would not see the movie.

A generation of young people were inspired to become missionaries by the true story, and Mr. Waliszewski said he had hoped a new generation would be moved by "End of the Spear."

"Has Focus on the Family made a strong statement against homosexuality? Absolutely," he said. "But what is the message of the product? And do we at Focus feel compelled to check on the sexual history of everyone in a movie? Did they have a D.U.I.? Did they pay their taxes?"

Mr. Hanon echoed: "If we start measuring the sin of everyone in a movie, we would never be able to make a picture because none of us would be left."

Mr. Allen, 31, who assists troubled young gay men and lesbians and speaks on behalf of same-sex marriage, said the response stemmed from fear that he could influence young people to become gay, a notion he dismissed.

THAT makes him an activist? This is one of the saddest divisions between conservatives. There are those of us that want less government, a free market and more individual responsibility, and there are those that want just the opposite if it doesn't conform to their desire for a defacto theocracy.