PLANET CALIFORNIA

For those who worry about President Bush's trip to Great Britain, here are some considerations:

The anti-war rallies put on by organizations such as the World Socialist Party, the Communist Party of Great Britain, the Council of Mosques, et al. should not distress American citizens. Who is represented are the silly people who insist that communism/socialism really works, if you just give it a chance--kinda like peace.

I doubt the president is too worried about these gangs in that he's been in training for nearly a year handling the anti-warriors right here in his own country! What's a few hundred thousand more?

Besides, the media would have you believe that all Brits hate Bush. About a third of them think he's a twit, the rest are too reserved and polite to pass judgment yet.

The protests will be highly played by the media--for God knows what reason--what part of being killed by a terrorist on American soil do they not get?

I hope all Americans wish President and Mrs. Bush well on his important journey.

Jessica Redux

Wish Ms. Lynch understood the meaning of "discretion is the better part of valor."

What is it with all this truth telling? Usually the truth is subjective, and we expect in our daily lives to present the better part of ourselves to the outside world. That's okay. One of my mentors talks about the Hollywood Lunch (or California Lunch) wherein the participants spill their entire lives out over a glass or two of wine. In other words, way too much information.

But, in this historic case, the fact is Jessica Lynch was RESCUED by the U.S. Army, the very same one she says is not telling the truth and moreover USED her. Jessica, a veteran, still believes all those nice Iraqi doctors and nurses would not hurt her because they liked her. Saddam told them to take care of her, no matter what. They were simply doing what they were told in fear for their lives.

Why, Jessica? Show some class, Babygirl.

WARNING: Hollywood Lunch

Listening to Rush Limbaugh this morning, I have to compliment him on his reentry speech. He's saying what a newcomer with a 30 day chip needs to say to stay "sober." Yes, sober. His addiction happens to be opiates. Others have food addiction, nicotine addiction, alcohol and drug addiction. The state of not using anything that changes one's world view is considered in recovery circles "sobriety." He's got a long road ahead, especially since he still has the backpain.

I Didn't Get Arnold's Invite; How About You?

I'm sure it was an oversight, but somehow my name was left off the inauguration A List. Oh well, I suppose being a movie star and all, Arnold just couldn't trust his people to follow through.

Looks like nice shindig, though.

John Burton, the head Democrat, stated to the LA Times that he would not go out of his way to help Arnold. If the legislative changes are not presented in the proper form and in time, the Dems won't be very helpful.

Well, Mr. Burton, let me just clue you in. Unless you and your hacks have rewritten the recall law, you too are subject to being tossed out. Is your power so important that you'd deny Californians the right to functional government? Your obstruction of Governor Schwarzenegger will come back to haunt you come election day. Californians, even liberal Democrats, want their state government to work.

How absolutely third-world of Burton and his cronies.

California is just too darned big.

Wish we could split California in half horizontally with the north border of South California set somewhere around Santa Barbara (if they'll have us). After all, why should some socialist from San Francisco impact my tax bill? Northern Californians hate Southern Californians anyway, so they wouldn't miss the loss. What? Oh yeah, it's our money they like. I forgot

Anyway, I hope all Californians will put pressure on their reps to do the right thing for the state, regardless of party. If we don't, we'll have lost the chance to truly change things. Maybe even set an example for the U.S. Senate of collegiality and bipartisanship.

In fact, I feel so fuzzy right now, I'd like to apologize to the socialists in northern California. Now, can we move on?

What's Black/White, And Read All Over?

The memo about Saddam and his best bud, Osama (Bin, for short) is currently circulating. Somehow the Weekly Standard got their mits on a smoking gun, although the media refuses to cover the story, and does not admit there is a smoking gun.

I'm at the point where I have to go beyond questioning the intelligence of publishers, editors and columnists. No longer do I believe they are simply naive. No one could possibly not be fearful of terrorism on our own shores and be very bright. Our countrymen were killed on September 11th, "... and more Americas will die no matter where they are," one of the daily exhortations laid on us by Al Qeada and Saddam.

Something drives these folks beyond my understanding. My middle American upbringing just didn't include blaming America for the world's woe. Granted I didn't attend a Yale or a Harvard, but information and education don't stop at New Haven's or Cambridge's city limits.

(Look at Senator Joe Biden. He never let a silly thing like not owning a degree stop him. Most of the time. Senator Biden, by the way, is one of the Dems that I don't have to leave the room when his face appears on TV. He's reasonable and careful not to pull the hate Bush button. His concerns are fairly legitimate and constructive. Wish we had more like Biden--remember Sam Nunn?)

Deeply committed leftists are not stupid. Crazy perhaps, mean as snakes, yes, but not stupid. Even stupid people don't overlook the liberation of the 27 million people in Iraq. I wonder what's caused the disconnect. Probably a collective desire to be, well, collective. Oh sweet Mother Jones, collectivize me.

Meanwhile, the rest of us should be wearing dunce caps, according to them.

What's black/white, etc? The World Wide Web! Thank ya, Lord!

Thanks for the read.

Now, I'm all for telling the truth. But when you've got a huge war going on, a military with borderline morale and a million dollar book advance on the line, isn't it all right to just say, "It was awful" and be done with it?

Sorry, but as far as I'm concerned little Jessica can take a flying leap into the closest sand dune. This mess cook, hardly a front line soldier such as the ones who are currently losing their lives and limbs, was evidently so mesmerized by the big media queen, Dianne Sawyer, she felt she had to assuage her survivor guilt. So much for heroism.

I just don't get it. Doesn't anyone feel any patriotism anymore?

The Economy, Stupid

James Carville, that silver tongued devil, originally said, "It's the Economy, Stupid." It goes to show you that if you live by the phrase, you'll die by it.

Unfortunately for the Dems, it IS the economy, Stupid. GDP is up, the best since 1984, job growth is up and unemployment is down. We're on the cusp of the Christmas season. Just wait for the fourth quarter numbers to put President Bush over the top next election year.

Meanwhile, let's talk about NAFTA, international trade, etc. It's not hard to see what's going on. The world trade folks have had their way and thousands of American manufacturing jobs have been shipped offshore to our poorer friends. I never liked the idea for this reason.

Maybe the idea was the U.S. would become a service economy and everything would be okay. Off the top of my head, I don't have the numbers, it seems to me that to have this type of system, the workers must be fairly well educated and adaptable to that style of work.

We have neither the brain trusts nor the adaptability to transcend this gap. So, the steel worker, for instance. You want him to do what? Work at a computer?

The textile worker? She or he could maybe adapt to a new job--janitor?

This stinks. We need to fire up those steel mills again, get the engine going in America. Buy steel from Japan? No, no, no, no. Absolutely not.

And make importing countries actually pay the tariffs as called for in all our agreements, and increase them while were at it.

I may be unsophiscticated and unqualified to discuss these abstract economic theorems, but why not slimdown those corporate farms?Start converting corn to fuel. Give the big agricultural conglomerates foreign markets, but the let American farmers do the growing. Let Detroit produce automobiles again with domestic steel. Why not?

As for revving up our economy immediately, continue with tax cuts, make our military dollars go for American made only systems (no foreign subcontracting--none). Ramp up, make war machines in California again!

The psychological effect on Americans would be phenomenally uplifting. The reason Americans are so weird about war and politicians is they're fed up with the BS. Why would a country knowingly cause some occupations to become virtually obsolete? What happens to those Americans?

No one can tell me why huge corporations get to remove farmers from the marketplace, and make it all right. No one has been man enough to tell me why we have to buy Japan steel.

And what is the deal with WalMart literally taking little towns off the map? How? By driving the local drugstore, local pharmiscist, local hardware dealer, local photo lab, you name it, out of business. Isn't this the very same problem we had with Standard Oil? Do I smell a Clinton/Walton deal? Hey, it worked for Tyson (they've avoided the penalties for dumping chicken blank in Arkansas' rivers for years now). It makes no sense.

Americans, above everything, are sensible.

By the way, if it's a service economy you're looking for, we'd best get our young'uns to the point that they can READ.

Speaking of France

The French Minister of Tourism is making the rounds of the talk shows explaining why Americans should start traveling again to France. Hmmmm. Does this mean Frenchmen won't laugh and point while we struggle through the menu? I doubt it. As my old Uncle Homer used to say, "I didn't leave anything in France." Oh, yeah. He received the French Medal of Honor for his heroism in saving a French town in WWI. He brought it home.

I Just Want To See Her

I'm on the hunt for Maureen Dowd again (hereinafter known as "Dowdy"), that NY Times writer I detest for her hit and run tactics on anything decent in this life. Is she a real person, or is the picture of her really a guy with a huge nose made up in drag?

Show yourself, you hatemonger. Even Robert Scheer of the LA Times has the courtesy to appear in PBS debates.

I'll reply to her latest bomb: she actually accuses the president of being insensitive to the fallen heroes of the war. Says he needs to go to more funerals. Uh huh.

Partial Birth Abortion, a Euphemism for Infanticide

One day after the president signed the ban on PBA, two federal judges, one in California, overturned it. Nevermind that the congress and president voted this into law, the courts again are legislating from the bench.

This has to stop. Federal judgeships have a historically high vacancy rate because every candidate placed before the committees are "borked." The Republican strategy seems to be to force the Dems to go ahead with their filibuster on Janice Rogers Brown, another black conservative, Bush's latest attempt at filling a federal slot.

Meanwhile, the ridiculous notion that no one on the courts can be pro-life is causing real problems in our democracy. This all plays into the pro-abortionists' hold on the Dems. If they don't approve of a Bush candidate, abortion is still legal, right? NOW and others insist this is just the Republicans' starting to overturn abortion laws.

Well, if their idea of abortion to take a little bitty baby's head out of its mother's womb, then stab it with a pair of scissors, then yeah, you pro choice people need to worry. This procedure is not partial birth abortion, it is infanticide. Have we lost our minds?

Read about it, then weep.

Thanks for the read.

My husband and I watched the CBS line up of sitcoms last evening. I wish I could say we found a bit of escape and pleasure, the only reason to watch such things. I can't. It was abysmal, infantile, embarrassing and off the mark.

The first offering was something called Yes, Dear. I'm sorry to say I spent a good fifteen minutes before I began surfing.

At 8:30, Still Standing came on. The usual situation--two parents and two children, the sister-in-law and the male best friend of the father all live in a house where no one has privacy or boundaries, the children are completely out of control and lip off as if they were talking to their friends. The parents are idiotic twits with such far flung interests as Arrowsmith and other 80s iconic crap. The sister-in-law could be funny, if only she were funny, and the best friend is nothing more than a functionary character to second banana the male lead.

Here's last night's episode. The son comes home smelling like a goat. He obviously has tried to cover it up with gallons of cologne. The parents, concerned that he's using too much cologne decide to help their son by talking with him on the usage of cologne.

Cut to the kid's bedroom. Father comes in, does the odor schtick, opens windows, etc. As the conversation progresses we find Sonny is embarrassed to take showers because he's "different" than the other boys. The story progresses to Father telling Son to stay after the rest of the class leaves, take his shower.

Mother takes over, tells her son she understands, and is there for him. Son is embarrassed, angry at Dad for telling. By the time we're well past the third commercial, everyone knows that this kid has a problem.

The kicker comes when the whole world finds out why the kid's so self conscious. It is not under-development that is the problem, it is over development.

The last scenes depict a 13-year old child being exposed as having huge genitalia. Up the stairs he goes, leaving the adults to salivate at the prospect. The lechery and debauchery is seen on their faces, including the mother's.

Hubby and I sat astounded, glad we didn't have a teenager watching this with us.

Everyone Loves Raymond was terrific. The writing knows where it's going. First, middle and delightful denouement. It is life, not colloquial Studio City.

Thinking we might have another winner, we tuned into the next: Two and a Half Men. This time we're presented with an eight-year old boy leering at the near naked and tattooed bottom of the lead's girlfriend. The other lead, the father of this child and brother to the other lead, to his credit, complains how inappropriate it is for this to have happened. Further along, the discussion of breast implants came up among the men and the child.

Second segment, estranged wife of father is concerned because kid draws a picture of a women's behind in school. Confronting the two characters, the woman storms into the house. She's met with the "wacky, zany" group, and by the end, not only do we not get resolution of the exhibitionism of the girlfriend, the estranged wife discovers she's a Lesbian, thanks to the girl with the tattoo on her bottom.

This happens in my house all the time.

So, there you are. Another example of the disconnect of the Hollywood writer and modern man.

Many Screen Writers Act Like Little Boys With Huge Sexual Identity Problems

Find a message board of screen writers and you'll find the most amazing array of these arrogant, know-nothings masquerading as one of the big kids.

First of all, they're unrepentant ageists. When I attempted to join the "group," they dissed me as old and out of touch. I am not out of touch.

Their outward contempt for any woman over the age of 50 astounds me. I've been acculturated enough to know that such judgments don't usually see the light of day. But I found out. The judgment thing? That only applies if you're a protected class. Guess little old ladies like me are not.

I found the depth of their art usually included unresolved sexual issues, the type of which most of us have outgrown or ameliorated. Out of this neuroses comes much of the "art" in Hollywood. The art which tries to say that all of us are actually latently gay and everything stems out of that. Kinda like Freud who decided that all women's problems were a result of hysteria and sexual repression.

Great. I waiting for the scene of the husband and wife who negotiate for sex. Instead of saying she has a headache, she can say, "I think I'm latently gay."

How else can you eplain this barrage of gay themes? Someone's giving them the green light. Because it's popular? I don't think so. Less than ten percent of the population is gay. Okay, then it must be for their own satisfaction, a device to keep them from having to write to rest of the society. We've had our day, they say. It's time for confrontation by exposition.

And each word they write is political.

They call it art. I call it another way to make money. Most of the writers know they'll be rewritten anyway. No one sells a spec anymore. It all goes to the rewriters, especially those that can pull in six figures to make the project winnable. Those are the facts.

Art is not the issue, nor will it ever be. If it were, we would have films like "Dude, Where's My Car?"

The Reagans Gets Pulled

Amid shouts from the Left about censorship, CBS has evidently decided it just ain't worth it to air the Reagan movie. Good thinking, Viacom.

The post mortem will include the argument about destroying someone's art, or as the L.A. Times reported this morning a CBS anonymous stated outside pressure from some conservative fringe groups has caused the network to bow to their censorship.

Baloney. There's no censorship involved here at all. The truth is the film is rife with lies and slander. To take all of the untruth out would likely involve shooting a whole new movie.

I suggest the producer start with a decent looking Reagan and Nancy. Brolin looks like he needs to go to the bathroom. Judy Davis looks like a harpie.

As an artist myself, I always laugh when I hear the "creative process" and "art is truth" talk. Line up any screen writer and tell him you'll give him $600,000 to write a play about anything and he'll take it. It's all about money and prestige.

The Hollywood Stare

When I'm in Hwood at a function, to keep myself busy (I'm not "someone" so I don't get talked to much--I have to iniate any discourse) I watch people. What I've noticed is that no matter where I am, at the Oscars, a meeting, walking down a street, eating lunch, I am met with The Stare.

Now, The Stare is more than just looking straight ahead. It consists of actively ignoring other people who aren't like the Starer. It involves looking over the head of another person while he is talking to you, or as you meet someone walking by, say in a lobby or at a function, it is looking quickly at you to see if you're anyone, then quickly returning to a rather snooty gaze ahead. One time when I was in a bathroom at the Academy Awards, I witnessed gobs of starlets and real stars ignoring one another, looking straight ahead in the mirrors. It was the damndest thing I ever saw. Another world.

Fifteen young women with huge bosoms, tiny bodies, stiletto heels and Versace wardrobes who evidently signed the agreement not to converse with each other in public. Since I'm just a hick, I had the audacity to tell one Oscar winner she looked wonderful. She looked over at me, and down of course, curled her upper lip ala Elvis, said thank you very much, then returned to her eyeliner. I had broken the vow of silence, evidently.

I've told many a Gucci shod lout (probably a producer--he was very overweight) who allowed the door to slam in my face, "You'd never do this if your wife were here." Guessthis means he won't be reading my script. Oh well.

These oversexed Alphas, the silent, aloof stars, the callow writers: everyone of them wants to be in the group more than anything in the world.

Yeah, these are the kinds of people I want steering my children's culture. How about you?

The Water and the Guru

I attended a three-day seminar (these have become a cottage industry among out of work writers) for screen writers a couple of years ago. Besides being surprised by the number of people who put out $500 to attend this thing, I was marked by the age of the attendees. Very young. Very avant garde. And as usual, very impolite.

The leader, who shall remain nameless lest I be sued, ranted on about politics (he even brought up Oliver North, for God's sake) and the state of Hollywood, ad infinitim. Egomaniac that he was he allowed no questioning or interruptions. When one poor soul did interrupt him, he disgraced her in front of the entire class, calling her basically an idiot. I should have known then talking to him was not a good idea.

But, I'm a slow learner. At the break, I found a slot next to him, waited till the others were done, then opened my mouth to speak. Just as I did so, the water glass that he had set down next to him got knocked over by my huge purse. The glass broke, water soaked his feels-like-buttah slacks, drenced his handmade Italian shoes. I was mortified, and felt like the biggest moron to ever cross his path.

He assured me I was indeed the biggest moron he'd come across. Instead of being gallant, a gentlemen, he was rather rude. Yes, I got The Stare. Guess I deserved it.

Next time I'm in Hwood, I hope to refine my study of The Stare and report my findings to the rest of you rubes.

Thanks for the read.

The experts among us have spoken. See if the following topics don't elicit some phony, specious claptrap from the so-called experts. Thanks for sharing, Sean Penn, now sit down and do your Jerry Lewis imitation.

Iraq

At a party the other night, I was talking with friends who are basically apolitical. The talk turned to politics. One person spoke up. "I just hate the Democrats."

Others responded, "They never stop, " and "They should be ashamed of themselves."

Naturally I was delighted, but mostly taken with the display of Americans' fundamental understanding of the seriousness of this war. Actually, what appears as all-American, God-given free speech is simply the ugliest and most dangerous part of what the Democrat Party has become. No one says they can't say the war's a new Vietnam; yes, God knows you've reminded us countless times it's your right. But, why?

On what do these people base the call for more troops? Who says the post-war strategy has failed? What, exactly, do the anti-war people want to do instead? What has convinced the Democrats and others the war is Wrong? Do you think when our guys died on Iwo Jima, anyone in the greatest generation said, "See? More soldiers died. We'd better bring them home."

Why do the media use such phrases as, "...the most deadly day of the war...," "...the beleaguered president addressed the...," and resurrect old buzzwords of the left. Remember "quagmire?"

The Left believe they can just keep that drum beating, over and again. Just like they've done for decades now. They still believe Americans will be dumb enough to agree. Actually, Americans can be duped with exciting, contentious and uncomfortable language, but I'm seeing the other firebreathers among us speak out.

Generations X and Y need to wise up and grow up. They are the ones who will pay with their lives to rid the world of the terrorist phenomenon. And the Boomers need to support the young folks in the military. I'm afraid for each and every one of them. Thus, I will continue the diatribes.

I got a wonderful email this morning. Forwarded by a great friend of mine, the subject line said: "Remove Crosses?" Scroll down to a quick sentence: "The ACLU want to remove all crosses from federal property." Scroll down to a large image of a National Cemetery containing row upon row of white crosses. In this case the picture is worth millions of words.

CBS, It's Too Late

The skinny today is that CBS is trying to palm off its disastrous Reagan movie to SHOWTIME. As if that'll fix things. Again, we have to deal with people who live in trees.

I've watched a lot of cable TV analyses of CBS' strange choice to air the film. Most of the "experts" were Hollywood "journalists" (if they're journalists, I'm Jessica Lynch). To the person, the disconnect from real world people is astounding. None would admit that this could possibly hurt CBS. Audiences will forget in two months. I don't think so.

I invite them and you to sign up at BoycottCBS.com. I, for one, will not watch CBS again if they run the movie on either SHOW or their network. Nor will I buy the products that are advertised.

Most Americans are way too forgiving. There is nothing that would inspire me to invite any of the individuals involved in this loonfest about Reagan to dinner, or ask them to speak at a club meeting or even acknowledge their presence. They are despicable hacks who are intent on destroying President and Mrs. Reagan's reputation and distort history. It is unacceptable. (Read my tribute to Ronald Reagan in The Republican Party, link on the right.)

As far as Streisand's protestation she hadn't read the script she's producing, everyone who believes it stand on his head. Is she telling me she's never read one of Mr. Streisand's scripts he schleps home (rarely, I'm sure)? I could swear she'd be a better business woman than that. Not read the script you're producing. Sure, Babs.

The do-as-I-say-not-as-I've-done crowd should recognize their remarkable sensitivity to the Kennedys when they placed the script about JFK in the "Wait Till Jackie Dies" file. What hypocrisy.

Jobs, Jobs For You and Me

The Democrats have been broadsided by the impressive, unexpected gain in the GDP the third quarter. Hmmmm.

Here's how we fix things: Ramp up for record breaking, huge production of war products insisting that all parts must be made in the U.S. No exception. Keep all manufacturing home. No capability? Oh, I think if we could build thousands of B29s and 52s in WWII with little notice, we can do it again. After all, some of this is rocket science. Who better than the U.S. to build em?

A little isolationism might be what's needed. We're pretty much alone as it is. We might as well take advantage of it.

My ideas are all so crazy they might just work.

All Politics are Local

Whoever made that statement must have looked at my little town's election tomorrow. Called the most important in the city's history, the reform faction is saying we must change to become a charter city. The incumbents, well known and accomplished, are for the status quo. In fact, the status quo is really quite dynamic. The population has increased from 25,000 when we moved here five years ago to 34,000.

The election is also the most hateful it's ever been. Too bad. But that's politics: the conflict of change.

Thanks for the read.