Bipartisanship And $3.65 Will Buy An Expresso At Starbucks

Slate's Jeremy Stahl has a couple of good questions about House passage of the American Health Care Act:

How did Republicans wrench victory from the jaws of defeat? How did Democrats do the opposite, and why were they so complacent to the renewed threat that had emerged in the past few weeks?

There were several reasons, including the shifting focus of the Resistance to other issues, Paul Ryan playing rope-a-dope, and the belief of Republicans that they had to pass something, anything, in the face of the staggering decline in the number of Americans who Donald Trump was keeping his promises.

Stahl's colleague Jim Newell fears that the Senate will pass a bill so that the GOP isn't viewed by the popular base as having ratified Obamacare. Nevertheless, he recognizes

.... that plenty of House Democrats and their political operatives didn’t mind seeing the bill pass their chamber to get vulnerable Republicans on the record supporting something that had been polling at 17 percent—if it was just going to die in the Senate anyway.

However, as Stahl notes, "It wasn't until Wednesday- less than 24 hours before a final vote- that Republicans appeared to have the votes to pull it off." Before that, GOP chances appeared bleak.

It was nearly midnight Monday when Jimmy Kimmel presented the now-famous monologue about his son who was born with a pre-existing condition, commenting (beginning at approximately 1128)

Before 2014, if you were born with congenital heart disease like my son was, there was a good chance you'd never be able to get health insurance because you had a pre-existing condition. You were born with a pre-existing condition. If your parents didn't have medical insurance, you might not live long enough to get denied because of a pre-existing condition.

If your baby is going  to die and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make. I think it's something, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, or something else, we all agree on that, right? I mean, we do. 

Whatever your party, whatever you believe, whatever you support, we need to make sure that the people who are supposed to represent us, people who are meeting on this right now in Washington need to understand that very clearly.

Let's stop with the nonsense. This is not football. There are no teams. We are the team.  It's the United States of America.  Don't let their partisan squabbles divide us on something every decent person wants.






The mommy party immediately went into action, almost literally living up to its nickname as Barack Obama tweeted "Well said, Jimmy. That's exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy. And congratulations!"  Stahl pointed out that Senator Warren on Tuesday began

treating the issue as a live one again on her Facebook page, linking to Jimmy Kimmel’s impassioned health care monologue. It was the same from other Democratic leaders. Bernie Sanders only started posting on his Facebook page about health care on Wednesday, also mentioning the Kimmel video. Joe Biden, meanwhile, tweeted his opposition only after the bill passed. Hillary Clinton sent out one tweet about the Kimmel video on Tuesday and then another crying shame at Republicans after the bill passed.

At a minimuim, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Barack Obama all were impressed by Jimmy Kimmel's impassioned plea or at least believed that it would make passage of the punitive Republican bill less likely. Yet as Steve M. found, a Fox News story on Tuesday resulted in many vicious comments directed toward Kimmel. Two days later, the deeply-flawed AHCA gained the support of 217 of 237 House Republicans.

Ninety-two percent of the members of the daddy party voted to repeal the health care bill, the signature issue of the guy who tweeted "well said, Jimmy. That's exactly why we fought so hard for the ACA, and why we need to protect it for kids like Billy..."  Meanwhile, very few Republicans agreed with the ex-President or with the other Democrats overcome by Kimmel's plea.

It shouldn't be surprising, though. Kimmel himself managed to go through the 18 minutes without once mentioning the Affordable Care Act or "Obamacare" while blaming "partisan squabbles."   That seems to suit many important Democrats just fine, and that applies especially to Barack Obama, who after 96 months as President and 3+ months afterward, still hasn't figured it out.

The GOP popular basis, unlike the Democrats' popular base, has no problem with hyper-partisanship. Its voters disagree with Democrats, they don't like Democrats, believe they share few if any values with Democrats, and their representatives aren't going to throw them to the wolves.   And it's now clear, as the heavily-favored Democratic presidential nominee (bolstered by heavy support from the show business community) went down to defeat and Jimmy Kimmel's plea on health care was ignored, they are far less enamored of Hollywood than is the Democratic establishment.

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Introducing The Sexiest Woman In One Industry In One Part Of The World

Esquire Magazine has labeled Penelope Cruz "the sexiest woman alive" and as you can see below, it's not a bad choice, nor is it the worst thing to be labeled.

Or perhaps it is a bad choice. Not because of Ms. Cruz's politics, which are, as applied to the Mideast, abhorrent.

In July, Ms. Cruz joined "dozens of Spanish film stars, directors, musicians and writers" in signing an open letter apparently penned by her husband, fellow actor Javier Bardem, condemning the Israeli incursion into Gaza. Ms. Cruz and Mr. Bardem (especially) faced much criticism, including from Hollywood screen directors, who even threatened to cut off business with the couple, which will probably work until they look at their bottom line.

Subtly entitling the letter "Genocide," Mr. Barden declared the Israeli actions "a war of occupation and extermination" and described as "disgraceful that western countries are permitting such genocide."   He noted  "my son was born in a Jewish hospital because I have very dear close friends who are Jewish." Some of us choose a hospital because it's close, takes our insurance, or has a particularly good reputation.  Barden selects one associated with the religion of his friends. Hollywood celebrities are different.

The actor maintained additionally "I also work in the U.S. where I have a lot of Jewish friends and acquaintances" ("who reject" Israeli policies). His effort at inoculating himself against charges of anti-Semitism should fall upon deaf ears of Americans old enough to recall people pleading, as once was the fashion, "some of my best friends are colored." Be forgiving: it was far more discreet and diplomatic than wearing a white sheet.

Not all, or even most, criticism of Israeli actions constitutes anti-Semitism.  Let's put aside those leaflets Israeli forces typically showered upon areas to be bombed, giving residents at least some time to evacuate.  Accusing a nation of genocide and pursing extermination when said nation is a nuclear power which invaded a country, then stopped and agreed to a cease-fire as it was attaining military success, is well over the top. It is so patently inaccurate (as well as obviously incendiary) that it fails to qualify as anti-Semitic only when compared to promiscuously labeling Jews as "k_ _ _ _.," which even in Mr. Barden's case would have been deleterious to a career

Still, signing a ridiculous letter penned by her husband should not be (and wasn't) sufficient to disqualify Penelope Cruz as being selected the sexiest woman alive.  Fortunately, there is something, to merit.

Nonetheless, it is extremely unlikely that Penelope Cruz is the sexiest woman in the world, and probably not even the second sexiest. (Must we say sexiest woman alive? The competition from corpses is limited.) Ms. Cruz may be the sexiest female celebrity, more impressively the sexiest female public figure, or at best the sexiest woman working in the United States of America.

But Ms. Cruz, it is safe to say, is not the sexiest woman anywhere in the world. In the USA alone, there is very likely a female college student, waitress, engineer, lawyer, retail clerk, truck driver, teacher, or homemaker who is sexier.  She faces huge odds.

And that is only in the U.S.  There are approximately 196 countries, as well as numerous territories and colonies, in the world.  Somewhere, there is a sexier woman, be it in Belgium, Zaire, Thailand, Palestine, or in 200 or so other places. We don't know where, but she is somewhere.

Penelope Cruz's talent is justifiably enjoyed and admired by millions of Americans and her beauty is appreciated, inevitably and understandably, by millions more. But her selection, added to that of prior winners Jessice Biel, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Beckinsale, Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Minka Kelly, and Halle Berry, make clear the bias toward Americans- and much more so members of the Hollywood community.  

Esquire is not alone, as People magazine and others exhibit similar ethnocentrism, a partiality for individuals who make their bones entertaining us in the west. (And People is worse- its Most Beautiful List is all women. Quite a coincidence.) So let us celebrate the physical beauty of those women and men we know and love. But let's not pretend that we have reason to believe they are the sexiest human beings in the world.

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Priorities Skewed, And Not

Every child in public school is introduced to the United States Constitution, including Article IV, Section 2.  Perhaps you remember that it begins "The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States, including the right to an Academy Award."

Weren't you aware of that provision?   Neither was I until directed to it by co-chairperson Amy Pascal of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is the production/distribution company for Zero Dark Thirty, nominated for five Academy Awards, including best movie.   By all accounts it is an impressive movie but Martin Sheen and Ed Asner, two actors accustomed to liberal advocacy, have criticized the film.  And deciding that principle trumps artistry, actor David Clennon has announced

I firmly believe that the film Zero Dark Thirty promotes the acceptance of the crime of torture, as a legitimate weapon in America's so-called war on terror. In that belief, following my conscience, I will not vote for Zero Dark Thirty in any category...I cannot vote for a film that makes heroes of Americans who commit the crime of torture.

Appearing on Cenk Uygur's The Young Turks, former CIA operative Lindsay Moran explains

It is an amazing movie, but very revealing about the entire hunt for Osama bin Laden.   It contains a lot of disturbing scenes of detainees being tortured...  What I find ironic is the government claiming that this is classified information and would put Americans at risk at the very same time that two Hollywood filmmakers were given unprecedented access to the CIA -- basically made an infomercial about CIA interrogation.

But exploding in righteous indignation, SONY President Pascal thundered

To not include that part of history would have been irresponsible and inaccurate. We fully support Kathryn Bigelow and [screenwriter] Mark Boal and stand behind this extraordinary movie. We are outraged that any responsible member of the Academy would use their voting status in AMPAS as a platform to advance their own political agenda.

Competing values sometimes make for a difficult ethical decision.  Not this one.

Barry Bonds, who (along with other baseball greats) this month received far fewer votes than necessary for induction into the Hall of Fame, is a difficult ethical decision.  Bonds was front and center of the steroid era who, as Sports Illustrated put it in 2006, took "a wide array of performance-enhancing drugs over at least five seasons in a massive doping regimen that grew more sophisticated as the years went on."  He also was inarguably the best player of his generation and arguably the best player ever, a sensational outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants before he even began 'doping.'

So go ahead- ponder away about whether Bonds and the other players (all rejected) up for the Hall should have been denied admission for 2013.  But the argument of Amy Pascal about another sector of the entertainment field is askew and just plain hypocritical.

Pascal criticizes Clennon on two fronts:  Zero Dark Thirty is "extraordinary" and the actor/voter merely is "advanc(ing) their own political agenda."   The first is probably true but subjective, and irrelevant.  It is a zero sum game, with one film winning and the others losing in each category, and presumably each of the films merits a place on the ballot.

And advancing one's own political agenda?   This would hardly be the first time political considerations have entered into nominations or voting for awards in the industry.   Hollywood, further, is rife with politics and would-be politicians.  Perhaps, someday, there will even be an actor who goes on to become a big-state governor and two-term U.S. President.  Nah.  That'll never happen.

But the controlling factor is whether Zero Dark Thirty a political movie.   This is not A Hard Day's Night or even North by Northwest.  It is a movie about Osama binLaden, and one which strongly implies torture is efficacious, a highly controversial position.  It serves, intentionally or otherwise, as propaganda for the U.S. government and its approach to terrorism and whose screenwriter and director apparently benefited from a curious relationship with the C.I.A.

It's good entertainment, though, and is making lots of money for lots of people.  And that, apparently, is all which matters for people who embody Hollywood's sense of entitlement.  There is no Constitutional right to win an Academy Award.   Amy Pascal may not understand that, but at least a few people, David Clennon among them, do.



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"Social Conservatism" Goes Hollywood

Sarah Palin has it covered.

The former governor of Alaska, touted as a "social conservative," is little different on economic issues than on cultural ones. David Corn of Mother Jones notes that Palin criticized the Troubled Asset Relief Program at a tea party convention on February 10, 2010, then on Fox News Sunday the following day blasted the program as "crony capitalism." Campaigning for Joe Miller for U.S. Senate this summer, Palin suggested that Miller would never repeat Lisa Murkowski's support for "endless bailouts."

Oops. When CBS News' Katie Couric had interviewed the vice-presidential nominee, Mrs. Palin gave a rambling answer while appearing to endorse TARP. Her support was much clearer when interviewed a few weeks later by CNN and she was adamant in her 2009 book Going Rogue, when she knocked those Republicans who had voted against the "Bush-backed economic bailout plan."

In her latest book, America By Heart, Palin knocked as "victims of the cult of self-esteem" contestants on" American Idol," which features a "seemingly endless supply of people who can’t sing but are deluded enough to get in front of a national television audience anyway.”

True enough, as far as that goes. Unfortunately, the on-again, off-again governor has a different impression of Hollywood when it comes to "Dancing with the Stars." As her daughter was due to appear on the Southern California-based program, Sarah enthusiastically tweeteed "SWEET diversion from politics! Dancing W'The Stars party in r livingroom tonight w/friends who r lovin' this change of pace 4 Sweet Bristol!" She followed, after the dance, with "Over-the-moon excited and happy for Bristol! Cheering her on @ DWTS party in the Palin living room." It was accompanied by this photograph:




Her supporters believe this is the same Sarah Palin who, at the GOP presidential convention, declared that small town people are "the ones who do some of the hardest work in America, who grow our food and run our factories and fight our wars" and boasted "I grew up with those people." It is also the Sarah Palin who was for Wall Street bailouts before she was against them and grew up with "those people" in the heartland but now has gone Hollywood (except when convenient to pretend otherwise). And in the words of Dick Cheney, "big time."

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Move Left

This is fortuitous. The day after my post noting that the pharmaceutical industry has discovered that the American citizenry has turned (somewhat) left, we learn that the team behind FOX's "24" drama has figured it out. According to one comentator, "the producers are trying to adapt to a new political reality" and the United Kingdom's Telegraph explains

As the hero of the television action series, Bauer became a modern icon of rugged American values and a fictional flag waver for the Bush administration's determination to defeat terrorists.

The intelligence agent, played by Keifer Sutherland, has never been afraid to torture or shoot to kill while tackling villainous foreigners intent on waging war on the American homeland....

When the series returns for its seventh season on Sunday night, Bauer will mouth the views of Mr Obama, who has vowed to end "enhanced interrogation", also known as torture, and close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

And in an apparent bid to get in tune with the new president, the new season opens with Bauer facing a congressional investigation probing his use of torture and summary executions in previous series. "It's better that everything comes out in the open," Bauer says, echoing Democrat demands for greater transparency over US counter-terrorist tactics.

"We've done so many things in the name of protecting this country, we've created two worlds. Ours and the people's we've promised to protect. They deserve to hear the truth and decide how far they want to let us go."

The article focuses on the displeasure on the right, particularly of the out-manned (out-personed?) Hollywood right, that the program, previously imparting conservative values, now apparently is moving toward the center. Obviously, that would not be occurring because those responsible have had a sudden change of heart, but rather that they believe the market has. the entertainment industry is malleable and will throw principle overboard for profits every time. Here again it demonstrates the essential, underlying ethos of American conservatism, as noted by Thomas Frank: "Fundamentally amoral, capitalism is loyal to no people, no region, no heroes, really, once they have exhausted their usefulness..."