Sorry, Secretary Napolitano, But the System Didn't Work

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano should make up her mind: did the system work or not? Following the failed terror attack aboard a Northwest Airlines Detroit-bound flight on Christmas day, Napolitano has changed her tune from: "Once the incident occurred, the system worked," to "Our system did not work in this instance." The real question is whether she actually believes the former declaration or the latter, and whether she's playing politics here. Either way, her behavior following Thursday's incident is disturbing.

The truth is, the system did fail, and miserably. And it's horrifying to imagine what would've happened had terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmuttalab succeeded with his plan to blow up the jetliner.

Given all we've learned since the 9/11 attacks, and the extensive security measures implemented since, several major questions remain unanswered: How does a suspected terrorist from Nigeria, a country with a growing terrorism problem, who was banned from Britain, somehow manage to get himself on a flight headed for a major U.S. city, with no secondary security screening, with a one-way ticket purchased with cash, with no checked baggage on an international flight, with an explosive substance taped to his leg, after being placed on a watchlist after his own father warned the State Department months ago of his son's increasing Muslim extremist radicalization? And how does this Nigerian terrorist manage to spend 20 minutes in the airplane's lavatory, as he prepared his failed explosive, without attracting the suspicion of flight crew?

To be sure, there is no consolation in Abdulmuttalab's botched skills as a terrorist. That he, like shoe-bomber Richard Reid, is inept shouldn't make us feel any safer. His near-success is a very chilling reminder of just how easy it apparently still is to cause mid-air devastation.

The U.S. government needs to rethink its national security apparatus and its intelligence gathering mechanisms in combating terrorism. We cannot protect America from terrorism using military force. Fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan is a total waste of assets in this mission. We need more money and training for the CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other intelligence agencies. And the Transportation Security Administration needs to stop squandering precious time, money and overall resources at airports by pulling non-threatening individuals out of the xray line for secondary screening. The old, the sick and the stroller-bound little ones are not the monsters trying to kill Americans. With military intelligence precision and laser-like focus, we must expend all resources and assets on the real potential threats and stop pussy-footing around in politically-correctville.


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

So What's Next for Airline Passengers, Adult Diapers?

In the wake of the attempted terrorist attack aboard a Detroit-bound Northwest flight from Amsterdam last week, the Transportation Security Administration has outlined new measures for air travel, including requiring all passengers to remain in their seats for the last hour of the flight. I find this especially troubling, as I have the bladder of a 5-year-old and typically make more trips to the airplane's lavatory than a bleacher bum at Yankee Stadium. And when ya gotta go, ya gotta go...

I'm not exactly sure who makes the "Depends" brand adult diapers, but now might be a great time to buy their stock, for I'm sure I'm not the only traveller contemplating slipping one on for extra peace of mind. I'm not joking. Just consider for a moment all those flights you've had where, just as you thought you were about to land, the pilot announces several rounds of "circling" due to inclement weather, ground traffic or unavailable gates. Startin' to squirm already, aren't ya. Under these situations the "I-ain't-gonna-get-to-pee-for-an-hour" rule turns into something much more problematic. Especially to those of you who like your 30,000 foot hops and barleys. Imagine a whole plane-full of cranky, belligerent grown-ups whining about how badly they have to pee. Or even worse (if ya know what I mean...).

And if that wasn't enough, we won't be able to have personal items in our laps during this last hour either. No laptops? No iPods? Books? Magazines? Portable DVD player? Seriously, if I have to fly with my 6-year-old without the DVD player, well, I ain't flying. I often say Bill Gates, Jonas Salk and the Wright Brothers have nothing on the person who invented that thing. So, now what we do for the last hour, talk the person next to us? You mean we actually have to engage them now in idle chit chat as our bladders are about to explode like water balloons tossed off a roof? Train travel is starting to get infinitely more appealing.

To be sure, there's gotta be a better way of keeping our citizens safe from terrorists and their attempts to blow shit up. (By the way, these Muslim extremist virgin-seekers aren't exactly the brightest bulbs in the Jihad. Between shoe-bomber Richard Reid and Thursday's genius Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (who had the highly explosive substance PETN taped to his leg), these guys are so inept they often can't seem to blow up anything but themselves. And the guys who actually did cause catastrophic death and disaster--the 9/11 attackers--likely wouldn't have succeeded either with their highly sophisticated box-cutters had it not been for an America and an airline industry that was asleep at the wheel). How about spending more time and money screening the bastards who are actually trying to kill us and leave the 2-year-olds and blue-haired grannies alone? I swear, if I see one more 90-year-old being frisked like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed I think I'm gonna scream. Especially when monsters like Abdulmutallab, who are on government watchlists for being known or suspected terrorists, are not pulled out of the security lines, subjected to thorough searches and interrogations, and yanked off flights.

One thing's certain: we need to stop being so damned politically correct in this country and stop wasting time on old white people and little kids just so we can't be accused of racial profiling. America can learn a lesson from the Israelis, who only care about keeping its citizens safe, even if they have to hurt a few feelings in the process.


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

"Please Remove Your Jackets, Sweaters and Pants, and Place All Laptops and Electronics...."

There was a time when airilne travelers could leisurely approach the security checkpoints at airports, drop their bags on the conveyor belt, and stroll through the x-ray machine without much fanfare. Ah, the good old days....

Then the horrific 9/11 attacks occurred and the rest is history. Coats, sweaters, shoes and belts had to be stripped off--babies and blue-haired old ladies included--and toiletries needed to be placed in clear separate bags and in a bin, along with laptops and other electronics. By the time you'd get to the other side you needed a scotch, a massage and a nap. But after eight years of getting used to these frustrating, time-consuming and often humiliating safeguards we thought, it can't get any worse, right? Ah, the good old days...

Well guess again. On Friday a Nigerian terrorist with possible al Qaeda ties attempted to blow up an Amsterdam-to-Detroit Northwest Airlines jet as it descended for landing. In what was initially thought to be firecrackers, Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, ignited an incendiary device which, thankfully, failed to fully detonate and instead inflicted severe burns on his body. And how did he manage to get the device on board? By taping explosive powder to his leg and mixing it with chemicals contained in a syringe.

So what does this mean in the future for U.S. airline passengers? Will the Department of Homeland Security now require that we remove our pants too, leaving us standing there even more humiliated in our underwear and tees? Or will we be forced to wear clear plastic pants and shirts and expose ourselves much the same we do our toothpaste and shampoo? Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

I Slept with Tiger Woods

I slept with Tiger Woods. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. It was about to come out anyway, so I figured I'd make like David Letterman and get in front of the scandal and take control. America, I am the 18th hole. There, I've said it. And it feels damn good. I've remained silent these past 2 weeks as skank after cheap-perfume-smelling salacious skank has crawled out of the whorish woodwork to claim their piece of the world's greatest golfer as his once mighty career and wholesome persona have come crashing down like a house of ill-reputed cards. But I've kept quiet long enough.

Let's set the record straight on something: these tabloid bimbos are not the real secret in Tiger's closet. While everyone's supposed to believe it's lusty, busty dim-witted ho's that Tiger's addicted to, the truth is Woods (btw, could he have a more appropriate name right now?) would much rather share his 9-iron and golfer's balls with gray-haired 50-year-old Jewish guys. I'm living proof of that. The hot chicks with the 46" double D's? Nothing more than beards while he's out rippin' up Vegas with every Larry, Barry and Harry in town.

So now it's time to tell my story. And I don't want anything in return, except the truth to be known. I met "The Cheetah" at a "Family Matters" convention on a chilly Vegas night about a decade ago. We were both huge fans of Steve Urkel. I thought Urkel was very funny, and Tiger, well, I think we all know why he liked him. We were on line together to get a Jaleel White autograph, and simply started talking about the show and how much we identified with the uber-nerdy Urkel character (actually, I really didn't, but I pretended to so Tiger wouldn't feel self-conscious). We immediately hit it off and later went to dinner, and then he invited me to his hotel suite...which I thought a bit odd, but naively went along.

Our "affair" wasn't sexual. In fact, there was no sex at all, just some weird homo-eroticness on his part with a surprising naked rendition of "If you want to do the Steve Urkel dance, all you have to do is hitch up your pants, bend your knees, and stick out your pelvis...I'm telling you, baby, it's better than Elvis!" I know...pretty kinky. The whole affair lasted about an hour. And then I fell asleep. Literally. Out cold. On the bed. When I awoke, Woods' was sound asleep next to me. We were both fully clothed, but spooning (for the record, I was on the outside). After I shrieked a horrified John Candy-like "You see that Bears game last week!"..Woods replied "What a game! What a game! Bears gonna go all the way!" and we awkwardly jumped out of bed and quite hastily said our goodbyes. So yes America, I slept with Tiger Woods. And I have absolutely no regrets.

God Doesn't Like the Sick, the Hungry, the Poor, the Homeless?

An interesting thing happened on the Sean Hannity radio show Friday. The right-wing talking-head, while discussing health-care reform and U.S. aid overseas, accused liberals of playing the religion card to impose their belief that it's Americans' moral obligation, and the work of God, to help those less fortunate. He mocked the liberal ideal that it's wrong for one nation to be so wealthy while children the world over go hungry. Feigning righteous indignation, Hannity preached to his 'great-American,' God-fearing listeners how wrong it is to hide behind the cloak of religion for political purposes.

Funny how we never hear any self-righteous criticisms from Hannity when the Republican Party exploits God and religion ad nauseam in order to indoctrinate Americans on its anti-abortion, school prayer, assisted suicide, life support, Christmas celebration and anti-gay propaganda. But those pesky poor folk? The hungry? The Sick? The homeless? Well, according to Hannity's logic, God doesn't care about these people...unless of course they're trying to get an abortion, marry their same-sex partner or committing some other blasphemous act. But use religion to feed, house and care for people less-fortunate? Shame on liberals.

Why is My Party So Spineless?

What is wrong with this picture: when Republicans controlled the presidency and both Houses of Congress they pushed through whatever legislation they wanted. Now that Democrats control Washington, Republicans still seem to be calling the shots. WTF?

A look at the new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Wednesday shows that I'm not the only Democrat who's extremely frustrated and disappointed with the overall performance of President Barack Obama and the Democrats who seem to control government in name only. Obama's approval rating has dipped from 60% to 47%, and only 40% believe he has the right goals; 61% of voters believe the country's in decline; while 55% see the nation headed on the wrong track. It's just under one year since Obama's taken office and already everyone from Republicans, Democrats, Independents, the media and political consultants are discussing the possibility of a "1994-like landslide" in next year's mid-term elections. Have Democrats so thoroughly and so quickly blown their unprecedented seat at the controls? Has Obama failed so miserably to deliver on his promise of change? Have Republicans demonstrated once again that in the political equivalent of a street fight they know how to kick the crap out of liberals? Yes, yes, and yes.

I'm not gonna pull any punches here, the Democrats have become a bunch of spineless pussies. Sadly, this is the way it's always been, which is why my party has held power for about 15 minutes over the last 15 years. Democrats now own the White House, 60 Senate seats, and have an 81 seat lead in the House. Yet the party seems so utterly neutered and unable to accomplish anything unless it waters down every measure to the point of being worthless.

Take health-care reform, for example. The bill, which now appears to be on the verge of collapse, if passed will resemble nothing that either Obama, Democrats or voters initially intended. No public option, no medicare expansion, no provisions for abortion, no meaningful cost-containment measures, no competition. It's little more than a gift of 30-million taxpayer-subsidized new-customers to insurance companies. Just a few months ago about 65% of Americans supported reform, but that number has free-fallen to 32% as the economy continues to struggle, joblessness remains, and Obama's priorities seem oddly misplaced. Throw in Congressional Democrats' spinelessness in caving on all the original key benefits of the measure and it's no surprise why voters have seemingly given up on health-care reform, Obama and the party. Count me in that highly disenchanted group.

The fear over next year's election is well-founded. Obama is losing the faith of his most loyal supporters, and that's a terrible omen for the party. During the 2008 campaign my pal Nathan Dean had been one of Obama's most ardent defenders. While I consistently argued with him, and here on this blog, that Hillary Clinton would be a stronger, tougher fighter against the GOP Nathan, and millions like him, stood firm and preached the Obama kool-aid. There was no moving Nathan, a loyal Obamacon who accused the rest of us of failing to see the magic in this futuristic agent of change. But consider what Nathan wrote to me this week regarding the president's impotence over health-care reform:

..."Seeing how he operates, with the incredible, once in a lifetime opportunity he had to make a difference, he has absolutely blown it.... Again, he let Republicans get the upper hand, seize the argument, scare people and Democratic Senators off. He tried to compromise with them despite knowing that their plan is to vote no on every piece of legislation he presents....Instead of stepping up and being a President that wants to make real change, and being as nasty politically as he needs to for the good of the country, meaning reconciliation, he's going to let Lieberman go down in history as the guy that killed health-care."

Can you hear the anger and frustration in Nathan's voice? Well, he's not alone. Liberals, progressives and independents are abandoning ship because they believe Obama has failed to deliver on his promise of change. From gay marriage to Iraq to Afghanistan to Wall Street reform to a public option for health-care, the president has waivered and/or flip-flopped on some of the most important issues on which he campaigned. He's so quickly morphed from politics' Boy Wonder, the Messiah, the once-in-a-lifetime-candidate, to the standard-model broken-down tired old politician with no fight left in him. While Americans obsess over their next paycheck and the security of their jobs, Obama's disproportionately expended so much political capital on health-care. Why health care? And why now, as the country fights for its economic survival? To many, Obama seems to care more about his own personal legacy than putting Americans back to work. No small wonder then that voters see his goals and theirs on totally opposite ends.

On health-care reform, there is an answer. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) needs to push through the measure under the parliamentary tactic known as reconciliation, which would require he get just 51 votes instead of 60, which he doesn't have now that Sen. Joe Lieberman has joined with Republicans to filibuster the bill. But here again the Democrats are spineless, refusing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, unlike their Republican counterparts, who did everything including play dirty to push through their agenda.

Debating former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews Wednesday night, Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu (La) said of the former DNC head, who believes the party is wimping out by not using reconciliation: "He is wrong, we are tough enough, and you are right, Chris, about the process of reconciliation. It is not to be used to create broad additional new federal programs."

Oh...my...God...somebody please stop me from smashing my head into a wall. Did former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) give a shit what anyone thought when he deviously used redistricting as his own personal tool to ensure greater GOP victories? He cared about one thing and one thing only: getting the job done. Imagine if Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had the same balls. Yet here we are watching Democrats again self-righteously over-intellectualize everything as the Republican enemy rams its you-know-what you-know-where. When will Democrats learn who they're battling? When will they finally wise up and fight to the death for what it believes in? Jeez, if the party can't push through its agenda now, when the hell will it?


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

"Joe the Bummer:" Lieberman's in the Insurance Industry's Hip Pocket on Health Care Reform

Sen. Joe Lieberman hails from the state of Connecticut, whose capital, Hartford, just so happens to be nicknamed the "Insurance Capital of the World. He's received more than $1-million insurance company campaign contributions since 1998, and during his 2006 re-election bid he ranked second in money received from this special-interest group. This is the same Sen. Lieberman whose flip-flopping on health-care reform this week just might cost the President and the Democrats the most important piece of domestic legislation in modern history. Coincidence?

After consistently supporting a provision to expand medicare benefits to millions of people between 55-64 (endorsing it as recently as three months ago), Lieberman has threatened to join with Republicans to filibuster the Democrats' bill at the last freakin' minute. Not only is the timing of his cock-block highly suspicious, but so is the motivation. Lieberman was elected by the people of Connecticut, not the mega-billion dollar insurance companies. But it's become abundantly clear with whom his allegiance resides. Furthermore, his 11th-hour bomb-drop is a big fat giant fuck you to all the progressives and bloggers who joined the "Beat Lieberman" brigade during the last election. Take that, Markos Moulitsas.

So what happens next? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV) can bow to this insurance industry stooge and water-down the bill or he can splinter off the public option feature from the non-budgetary components of the measure and preempt a filibuster under reconciliation, a parliamentary tactic whereby Reid could push through a government-run health insurance program with just 51 votes instead of 60. If Reid and the Democrats had any balls, this is what they'd do. For crap's sake, the party controls the White House and both houses of Congress, yet they're still pussyfooting around with self-aggrandizing thorns like Lieberman who threaten to derail its agenda.

Lastly, it's time for Democrats to punish Lieberman for his consistent disloyalty, from supporting Sen. John McCain's bid for the presidency in '08 to this latest self-serving ploy. A new poll shows that 81% of Democratic voters want Lieberman to be stripped of his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Sen. Reid, are you listening?


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

The Economy is Recovering, No Thanks to Republicans

It's the Democrats' economy, stupid.

One year ago the United States economy was on the precipice of catastrophic meltdown. One year later America's financial system, while not thriving, is surely showing signs of surviving and climbing back from its abysmal state, with a broad range of economic indicators signaling the early stages of recovery. The economy is indeed turning, and it's done so with absolutely no assistance from Republicans, who've elected instead to take the calculated political risk of becoming the Party of No as the GOP plots its upcoming election strategy. Not surprisingly, not one Republican voted for President Obama's stimulus plan last Winter; just one voted for Health Care reform; and none voted for last Friday's financial reform bill. In short, they've marched in negative lockstep on every single piece of economic legislation this year, effectively dumping the economic crisis in the laps of Democrats, hoping to loudly lay blame in the event there's little or no improvement. I bet they even have the campaign ads already written. But given the economy's progress to-date and its likely future upward direction, "NO" is probably not the best strategy going into next year's mid-terms.

Ask any Republican leader such as House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va) why the voting is virtually 100% partisan and they'll offer up the standard talking points: Obama and the Democrats are raising taxes, exploding the deficit, over-regulating, stifling job creation and growth, and taking the economy in a direction that's harmful to American business and consumers. In short, they say, the President's economic plan simply isn't working.

But only a disingenuous Republican could view the downward trajectory from last January's 700,000job losses to November's 11,000 and deny the obvious progress and the job creation that's likely to soon follow. Furthermore, we've experienced GDP growth for the first time since Q2 2008; credit and borrowing has eased; businesses are optimistic; corporate earnings are up; inventories are down; orders are rising; November retail sales beat estimates; the housing market has rebounded; consumer confidence has risen appreciably; the stock market is up 50% since March; and Wall Street's about to hand out record bonuses.

Through all this, Republicans continue straight-faced to claim the stimulus plan hasn't worked, Obama's economic policies are a failure, and that the GOP has a better plan for America's economy. Unfortunately for them we've yet to see anything but NO. To be sure, the administration has pulled the nation back from the brink of financial disaster with absolutely no help from Republicans. It's the Democrats' economy, all right, and voters will probably remember that next November if they continue to see marked improvement, especially in the area of job growth. So much for the GOP's calculated risk?


On another note, we could use your help at The The Adrienne Shelly Foundation. We're a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated in my late wife's honor, and with a simple mission: supporting women filmmakers. Adrienne, who wrote, directed and starred in the hit film WAITRESS, was killed November 1, 2006. Through the Foundation, her commitment to filmmaking lives on. We've established scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Is Obama About to Make a Huge Mistake Over Afghanistan Troop Surge?

President Obama announced this week that he'll be unveiling his war strategy for Afghanistan next Tuesday and in particular his decision on the September request made by Gen. Stanley McChrystal for an additional 40,000 troops. White House sources report that Obama will authorize just 30,000 which, if true, may be a huge political miscalculation.

Any additional troop authorization under the requested 40,000 is going to create a feeding-frenzy of Republicans rhetoric accusing the president of failing to listen to the generals; for being weak militarily; and for placating liberals. At a time when Obama's popularity is waning and he's facing uphill battles domestically on health care and the economy, the last thing he and Democrats need is to have the GOP attacking the administration on the war. So the obvious question is, if Obama's gonna up the ante to 30,000 troops, why not just give the general the 40,000 he asked for, albeit it with stringent progress demands, measurable benchmarks and realistic timetables for "mission accomplished" and a successful exit? In this explosively charged political climate, why feed right into the duplicitous hands of the "Obama doesn't support the troops" crowd?

Also, sending additionally troops--any additional amount--poses a huge political risk for the president among his supporters as well. A Nobel Peace Prize-winning Obama sounding the anti-war alarm while escalating the operation sends a very mixed, confusing message to those who voted for him and expected a troop draw-down rather than a build-up.

To be sure, the 'correct amount' of additional troops needed for the Afghanistan "surge" is an absolutely arbitrary number, with Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gen. McChrystal and countless others in disagreement over how many should be sent to complete the mission, whatever that is. So, why not defer to the leading commander in the region and give him what he sees in his McChrystal-ball rather than over-analyze the situation (as Obama's perhaps done for the past two months...only to come up with essentially the same conclusion), picking another number out of thin air which may or may not be the right one, and which allows your enemies to bash the crap out of you? Wouldn't it be more pragmatic and politically expedient to give the general the benefit of the doubt and shut down the engine of the right-wing attack-machine in the process? It just seems like Obama's regrettably setting the propaganda table for his ravenous GOP dinner guests.

Now on the other hand, instead of trying to play the "let's try to make everybody happy and ultimately make no one happy" game again, Obama could do what many believe he truly wants to, and what voters elected him to do: end the war, period. But this would mean acting on his true convictions. Now that would be novel, wouldn't it?

Palin Forces Oprah Off Television!

Am I the only one who finds the timing suspect? That just days after Oprah Winfrey, Queen of Daytime Television, interviewed former Alaska Governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the media titan announced she's quitting her top-rated talk show in 2011? Seems like voters are not the only ones terrified of The Wasilla Wonder's next move.

Ok, so the notion of Oprah's departure being directly tied to a fear of Sarah Palin is a little far fetched. But, Oprah's ratings, and her confidence, have been continuously slipping, and let's face it, Palin's some kind of force to be reckoned with, no? As I wrote last week, I think Oprah's genuinely disturbed by the fact that audiences seem to respond to Palin more than her. And what about the moment during the interview when Oprah joked about Palin as future competition: "Oprah, you're the queen of talk shows. There's nothing to ever worry about," . But perhaps worry she did, as it's quite possible The Big O, just days later, decided: "Oh screw it, I'm Oprah Winfrey, and I ain't gonna knock heads with this bimbo in a year or two. I'm outta here!"

Now this is all supposition, and maybe Oprah's simply throwing in the towel all on her own. After all, she's had a phenomenal 23-year run. But she's also very smart and prescient, and I suspect knows what the rest of us highly perplexed observers already know: never, ever underestimate the inexplicable popularity of Sarah Barracuda.

More Republican Lies and Deception Over Cancer Screening

It's highly unfortunate timing for the Obama administration that two new cancer-screening recommendations have been made by government and independent medical groups in a week where the president is seeking legislation for his historic health-care reform bill. While the measures have sparked intense controversy, it's irresponsible and disingenuous for Republicans to label these new guidelines as partisan-based and illustrative of the sort of "rationing" they claim reform will bring. Just like global warming, health-care has become overly politicized, and some things simply aren't political. We all breath the same air, drink the same water, and can contract cancer regardless of political persuasion.

The first finding announced earlier in the week by the federal Preventive Service Task Force recommended less-frequent breast-cancer screenings for women under 50. The second was announced Thursday by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) offering new guidelines for pap smears in preventing cervical cancer, specifically that women should delay having them until the age of 21. As expected, both recommedations have unleashed a torrent of emotions and debate on both sides of the aisle, and from women's groups, cancer-prevention advocacy groups and within the medical profession. Now, I am neither a doctor or a scientist and I am not going to pretend to have anything but a personal, and highly visceral reaction to these new guidelines. But I will strongly argue against exploiting these very sensitive subjects for political purposes, which is shamefully what the GOP is doing as it attempts to kill the reform bill.

In one sense, the controversy may be somewhat overblown. The ACOG's pap smear findings are similar to what the medical profession has been suggesting for years about prostate cancer prevention. That it's healthier and more effective to screen for, and treat, this very slow-moving disease as men age rather than in earlier years, especially as false positives can lead to unnecessary and potentially harmful biopsies and subsequent side-effect-laden treatments.

But on the surface, the task-force's mammography recommendations seem outrageous and irresponsible. I for one belong to the "there can never be too much cancer-screening" camp. That's just a very seemingly logical mantra to adapt, in my neophyte, medically-uninformed opinion. And I say that as someone who's lost loved ones to this dreaded, ravenous disease. In fact, I hate cancer, and I'm all for spending as much time and money researching cures. But medicine and cancer-prevention is not that simple, according to many individuals who have medical degrees hanging on their walls instead of pictures of Shakira (ok, my secret's out...). So I'm going to let the experts continue to argue the merits, or lack therof, of reduced, increased or status-quo cancer-screenings.

And that's precisely my point: let's let the medical professionals, scientists and researchers do their job and keep the politicians out of this debate. Contrary to right-wing charges, both medical groups were established as apolitical (in fact, the task force was appointed by George W. Bush) and neither focuses on health care costs in drawing their conclusions. To be sure, there's too much at stake here to reduce such a colossally important medical matter to mere pawn-status in the anti-Obama wars of partisan zealots like Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Ok) who are literally salivating at the "let's kill health-care reform" gifts they think they've been handed this week by the task force and the ACOG. What we don't need is more self-serving, duplicitous, inflammatory rhetoric about killing granny, rationing treatments and the perils of socialized medicine. Republicans must stop spreading lies in their insatiable hunger to deceive and manipulate Americans over health care reform. They must keep their personal emotions, religious beliefs and political motivations out of the debate. Haven't we learned anything from the Terri Schiavo case?


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited (only 18 left). To purchase, please call Jessica at 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Was This Magazine Cover of Obama "Sexist?"

I just did a radio interview where I was asked about the Newsweek cover shot of Sarah Palin in tight running shorts, and if I thought it was sexist. Clearly, the magazine cover has been capturing the attention (and I suspect the fantasies) of many. America, meet your newest pin-up, Sarah Barracuda.

To the Republicans who've been critical of Palin's mistreatment by the big bad liberal media, I say, stop your whining. Nothing's more unflattering than a thin-skinned conservative. The Newsweek shot is no more "sexist" than the May Washingtonian cover of a bare chested beefcake President Obama, who the publication called its "hot new neighbor." Nor was the "President Cool" Ebony cover, or the New York Obama-terrorist satire cartoon-cover, racist.

Let's face it, the cover is a fair representation of Palin: an empty suit with a hot bod and a pretty face. She didn't get where she is today (wherever that is) by being a highly experienced, overachieving policy wonk numbingly versed on world affairs, economics and the environment. Former Republican presidential candidate John McCain thrust her 16 months ago into the national spotlight knowing she'd become America's favorite MILF, arousing (pun intended) his base and perhaps a few dirty old independents. He could've chosen a lot of other infinitely more qualified women like Liddy Dole, Christy Todd Whitman or Kay Bailey Hutchinson, but neither of them have the sleek gams or bodacious ta-ta's of The Wasilla Wonder. And she's been milking it ever since, trading on her womanly charms for maximum profit and exposure (pun intended). As I reminded the radio reporter, it isn't Hillary Clinton or Olympia Snowe in that Newsweek shot; there couldn't have been a "sexist" cover without a complicit Palin. Playing the victim card now seems terribly disingenuous.

A couple of other Palin thoughts while I'm at it: watching the Katie Couric "what do you read" clip on Oprah this week was more humiliating and embarrassing the second time around. And, Palin's explanation for why she didn't answer the question is even worse. She said she was "annoyed," and thought Couric was suggesting that Alaska was a "foreign country," isolated from the rest of the world. "It was unprofessional of me to wear my annoyance on my sleeve like that," she admitted. So, either one of two scenarios exist: either Palin is utterly misinformed and lacking in intellectual curiosity in not reading books and magazines, or, she's a catty hothead who blows her cool on national TV. Neither individual is someone we'd want just a heartbeat from the Oval Office.

Lastly, in her interview with Barbara Walters this week, Palin was asked to rank President Obama's performance to-date from 1-10. "Four," uttered the unsurprisingly derisive Palin. Well, if Obama's a four, she's a negative four-trillion. You betchya.

The Big Surprise Moment During the Oprah/Palin Interview

For weeks now we've been teased with promotions for the much-anticipated interview between talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey and America's most infamous political train-wreck, Sarah Palin, which finally aired Monday. Everyone wondered how the chat would go. Would Palin spill some dirt on McCain? Bash almost-son-in-law Levi Johnston? Announce that she's running for president in 2012? But the real telling moment came in the first seconds of the sit-down, as Oprah, perhaps feeling threatened and insecure by a woman who for some strange reason seems to captivate audiences more than her, attempted to make the hype all about her. They don't call it The Oprah Winfrey Show for nothing. It was a moment worthy of a WWF Smackdown: The Narcissist vs The Maverick.

Did you feel snubbed that I hadn't invited you to be on the show during the campaign?, Winfrey immediately asked The Wasilla Wonder. To which a rather snarky Palin quipped, "No offense to you, but it wasn't the center of my universe." Oh no she di-'int! Palin then added, "I've heard more about that during the last few weeks than during the campaign." Clearly taken aback, an incredulous Winfrey asked, "You didn't even know about it?!" Wow. It was kind of painful to watch. It was as if Oprah was pleading, Wait, don't you know who I am? I am Oprah...Winfrey....I elect presidents...I turn no-name authors into superstars....I make middle-aged, middle-American white women swoon more than Josh Groban! Are you telling me you didn't obsess about me when you were on the campaign trail? Shocking! Truly shocking!

And there you have it. The one big, and only truly relevant moment in the interview. The Mammoth Ego from Chicago meets the Mighty MILF From Alaska. Last time I saw theatre this good a bunch of human cats were jumping around on Broadway.

But just when I thought it was all over, another AHA! moment occurred when the Id-bruised Winfrey wondered if she should take heed of all the chatter about Palin getting her own television program:

"Oprah, you're the queen of talk shows. There's nothing to ever worry about," . Nicely done, Sarah. Perhaps you're a little smarter than we think...

Republicans Once Again Shamelessly Exploiting Terrorism For Political Purposes

It's been a great week for Republicans, that is if you consider raging hypocrisy and shameless propaganda successful virtues. Two national security issues have come to the forefront and have given the GOP and its allies a major opportunity to criticize President Obama and the Democratic leadership.

The first case involves the November 5th Fort Hood shooting rampage by US Army Major Malik Nadal Hassan, who Republicans are demanding be called a terrorist for killing 13 people in what they claim is the first act of terrorism on U.S. soil since the September 11, 2001 attacks. The second involves the Obama Administration's decision last week to try alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other terrorists in civilian court in New York rather than through a military tribunal, a move the right warns puts Manhattan, the judge, jury and victims' families in grave danger. You can literally smell the political posturing. The opportunity to hang a terrorist attack on Obama is a Republican's wet dream.

In the Hasan case, it's certainly quite politically expedient for Republicans to throw the terrorist tag on the psychotic psychiatrist. But perhaps they should wait for evidentiary proof that Hasan was indeed an Islamist jihadist connected to a terror organization in a plot to kill U.S. soldiers and not simply a horribly deranged, conflicted individual who committed a random act of violence.

Those who rush to label Hasan a terrorist must remember the charges of WMD and al Qadea connections against Iraq and Saddam Hussein. They were wrong then and they could be dead wrong now. If Hasan is indeed a terrorist, and his rampage a true act of terrorism, let that be the conclusion of a military investigation rather than indictment by partisan rhetoric. As heinous as Hasan's massacre was, perhaps that's all it was: a horrific, premeditated massacre. But that conclusion would not afford the GOP, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and other conservatives the opportunity to exploit the dead purely for political purposes.

The most important test for Americans in the Hasan case is deciding what actually constitutes as terrorism, and therefore who is a terrorist. Any mentally ill Muslim can walk into a supermarket and yell "Allahu Akbar," as Hasan had before opening fire on his fellow soldiers, but does that in and of itself make him an Islamist terrorist rather than simply a violent fringe lunatic? Does this give license to Republicans to frame the debate with reckless, irresponsible and incendiary rhetoric? As ThinkProgress’ Matt Duss put it: "The definition of terrorism is not ‘any violence by any Muslim anywhere at any time for any reason’."

The rhetoric is no less in Attorney General Eric Holder's decision on Mohammed. To show how political this situation has become, consider the blatant hypocrisy since Friday of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who's been harshly criticizing the Obama administration as being soft on terrorism yet had nothing but praise and support amid the New York prosecution of the 1993 World Trade Center bombers:

"It seems to me that the Obama administration is getting away from the fact that we’re at war with these terrorists. They no longer use the term, ‘War on Terror’....This seems to be an over concern with the rights of terrorists and a lack of concern for the rights of the public...
It gives an unnecessary advantage to the terrorists and why would you want to give an advantage to the terrorists, and it poses risks for New York."

But back in the mid-90's Giuliani sang a different tune:

"It should show that our legal system is the most mature legal
system in the history of the world, that it works well, that that is the place to seek vindication if you feel your rights have been violated." [The New York Times, 3/5/94]

"...New Yorkers won’t meet violence with violence, but with a far greater weapon: the law." [The New York Times, 3/5/94]

"I think it shows you put terrorism on one side, you put our legal system on the other, and our legal system comes out ahead." [CBS Evening News, 3/5/94]

The notion that a civilian trial is tantamount to letting these terrorists walk, or inviting them to turn the criminal justice system into a circus, or posing a tremendous threat to New York City, is completely without merit whereas history is concerned: since 2001, 195 cases of terrorism have been uneventfully prosecuted in civilian courts, with 91% ending in convictions, including those of '93 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef, 9/11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui and shoe-bomber Richard C. Reid. But this little factoid surely won't stop Republicans from turning both of the cases into an extremely noisy rallying cry.


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited (only 25 left). To purchase, please call Jessica at 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Katie Couric Should Be Fired!

So, former vice presidential candidate and girl-wonder Sarah Barracuda Palin writes a 413-page memoir, Going Rogue, (due out Tuesday) and sits with mega-media-mogul Oprah Winfrey to dish about the big bad partisan press that treated her unfairly during the 2008 campaign. She took extra special jabs at CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric--who she accuses of being biased, condescending and "badgering"--and ABC newsman Charles Gibson, who she said appeared bored, patronizing and judgemental as he "peered skeptically" at her from his authoritarian nose-dangling reading glasses.

I have to say, I agree with Palin. In fact, I am calling for CBS to fire Katie Couric for her outrageous inappropriate, unprofessional and offensive behavior. Let me remind you of Couric's crime: During the interview, Couric asked MILFY to explain why Alaska's proximity to Russia translates to having foreign policy experience. And then, Couric had the uber-audacity to ask the woman who wanted to be next in line to the Oval Office what newspapers and magazines she reads regularly, and an uncomfortable Palin replied: "Um, all of them, any of them."

I'm sorry, but what part of "seeing Russia from my window" does Couric not get? This is exactly the kind of foreign policy vision America needs. And, to ask Palin what she reads? How dare Couric throw Palin such a hardball question like that, one that truly smacks of some serious liberal-fueled badgering? This is a woman who lobbied to literally be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Leader of the free world. Show some respect, Katie, and ask her to explain the complicated cultural and religious differences between Iraq's Shia, Sunni and Kurdish populations as relating to a solution to the war. Ask her to give an overview of the Arab-Israeli conflict and what her strategy would be for bringing about a lasting peace in that region. Ask her to explain the role played by the insurance, pharmaceutical and medical industries in America's health-care problem. Ask her to explain how credit default swaps, derivatives and other risky financial instruments nearly brought Wall Street to its knees. Now these would be softballs; slam-dunks Palin could've answered with her purdy lil eyes closed, thus demonstrating her overall intelligence and political savvy. But instead, Couric opted for the low road and spilt her vitriol in the form of the brutally difficult what she reads question.

And Gibson? She should've smacked those obnoxious glasses right off of Gippetto's face. Sure, Gibson tried to mask his intense hatred for Palin by seeming to act in the same near-catatonic, monotone manner that he does during every single other interview he's ever given, but we could see right through that charade. He can't stand Palin, and it showed...or didn't...but we knew it was there...sort of...I think...we just couldn't see it, that's all. Doesn't mean it wasn't there. Kind of like WMD.

Call me crazy, but I deem Couric's behavior, and the harsh treatment by Gibson, an egregious abuse of the public's trust and an affront to professional journalists everywhere. Fire them both!


Watch CBS News Videos Online


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited (only 30 left!). To purchase, please call Jessica at 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

The Simplest Justification for a Public Option

Though not the least bit surprising, Republicans have been manipulating the current health-care debate with incessant partisan posturing, lies and deception and endless anti-Obama/liberal propaganda. But consider the following very simple case for a truly meaningful public option:

-Americans expect and receive government-provided free education: Democracy
-Americans expect and receive government-provided free police protection: Democracy
-Americans expect and receive government-provided free fire protection: Democracy-Americans expect and receive government-provided free sanitation: Democracy
-Americans expect and receive government-provided free libraries: Democracy
-Americans expect and receive government-provided free criminal defense: Democracy-Americans expect and receive government provided free food stamps/welfare: Democracy
-American veterans expect and receive government-provided healthcare: Democracy
-If average Americans were to receive government-provided health care: SOCIALISM!!??

What's wrong with this picture? Need I say more...


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited (only 30 left!). To purchase, please call Jessica at 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

F**K You Sean Hannity!

That's right, fuck you Sean Hannity. Someone had to say it. You are anything but the "great American" you and your brainwashed listeners delusionally call each other every five minutes. In fact, to the contrary, you're about as unpatriotic as they come. You root for America to fail. Just so you can keep spewing your partisan venom at President Obama and Democrats. Shame on you.

I say this not as a Democrat who's upset with you, because I'm not. Truth is, I and most other Democrats couldn't care less what you have to say. We find you ignorant and insignificant and can't believe anyone actually chooses to listen to you on the merits. But what's most shameful about you is how you blatantly lie and deceive your own audience. People who put their trust and faith in you. And you pay them back by feeding them bullshit at every possible turn. If only they know just how full of crap you are. But their ignorance of the facts is exactly what you prey on. As ill-informed as you are on the issues, they make you appear smart. And that's not easy.

Hannity on Friday was predicting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lacked the votes needed to pass the health-care reform bill, or "Pelosi-Care" as he calls it. That the measure had hit a wall and that Democrats were abandoning ship. He smugly mocked Pelosi, complete with devilish Dick Dastardly cackle, because she had been predicting the bill's passage. Oh, how just a few hours can make someone look completely out of touch. As usual, wrong again Sean.

Hannity, like most disingenuous right-wing talking-heads, has been wetting himself over what he claims to be a "horrible week for Democrats." Give these guys a couple of gubernatorial victories and they predict the Rise and Fall of the Obama Empire. Truth is, on a national level, Democrats have won every single House and Senate special election over the past year, including two last Tuesday. Every one. If there's any referendum going on here it's on the Republican Party and its incumbents, not Obama. Voters are resoundingly rejecting conservatives from New York to California. Hannity and his fellow liars can yap all they want about the significance of Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell's gubernatorial victories in New Jersey and Virginia respectively, but these two statewide contests prove nothing on the national scale. They were fought and won primarily on local issues. Given all the victories the left's piled up in the House and Senate under Obama, I'd be worried if I were Michael Steele and his GOP. And as for last week? With the two House wins and the health-care bill's passage, I'd say it was a pretty good one for Democrats. Nice try, Sean.

Hannity also incessantly lies to his listeners about the economy. He simply cannot admit there's been significant improvement. He rails on that this is now "Obama's economy," yet deceptively shields his audience from he truth about how the president and his economic team have pulled the nation back from the brink of financial Armageddon this time last year. You won't hear him talk of GDP growth, huge declines in job losses or recovery in the banking, housing, retail and auto industries. You won't hear him discuss the Dow's rise from 6500 to 10,000. Don't hold your breath waiting for anything truthful such as, "While we still have a long way to go, we sure have come a long way and are seeing many signs of improvement." Of course not. That would make him honest and objective.

Sorry Sean, but this is definitely not Obama's economy. Obama's trying, and very deftly I might add, to fix the shitstorm Bush dumped in his lap. In office just 10 months, the worst economy since The Great Depression is no more Obama's than the 9-11 attacks were Bush's fault.

If Hannity truly wants to be a "great American," he can start by being truthful to his listeners and stop rooting for his supposedly beloved America to fail.


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited (only 30 left!). To purchase, please call Jessica at 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

The Sad Tale of Greg the Republican

I have this friend. We'll call him Greg. Greg's an insufferable Republican. One of those Republican stooges who drives you nuts. The kind that seems brainwashed, defying logic and blindly defending the GOP and anything Republican as if they're on the payroll. Even if it goes against their own self-interest. I believe it's mild insanity.

Greg's not stupid. He's actually rather intelligent. Has a graduate degree. He's not the stereotypical resident of Dumbfuckistan. In fact, he's from Southern California. Lives in a ritzy gated community. An exclusive yet culturally diverse enclave that is home to all ranges of white people: rich white people, really rich white people, and super-rich white people. He owns a technology company. One that in fact does business with the U.S. government. But when it comes to politics, Greg seems as mindless as a Pied Piper rat. I often wonder what drives an otherwise savvy guy to the point where his ability to reason is paralyzed by the political filters through which information passes...distorting reality beyond recognition. What makes him and others so unconditionally loyal to the Republican Party, where they can no longer think straight?

To be sure, these folks are so consumed by partisan vitriol that, for the opportunity to bash President Obama and Democrats, and with an insatiable desire for power, they literally root for the economy to fail. They want the government to suffer. And they're willing to to get their own asses kicked financially just so they can say "I told ya so" about Obama and perhaps win an election next year. It's baffling. It's shameful. And, quite frankly, unpatriotic.

Greg and people like him truly appear to be upset at any sign of a recovering economy. It's as if their brains have chips that translate language into partisan drivel. You say "Wow, did you see that awesome 3.5% GDP number?" They hear, "Obama's successful." You say, "Retail sales are strong, and consumers are spending again," and they hear, "Obama's economic policies are working." They wince at good news. Therefore, you cannot engage them in intelligent, rational discourse. They are consumed with the "Republicans good, Democrats bad" mantra. It's all they can hear. And it's what drives them. So their typical response is to try proving that things are really terrible and getting worse. No matter how uninformed and foolish it makes them appear.

Greg keeps sending me articles. Has been for a year now. It's like he's possessed. On a mission. Nothing but pessimistic, negative, bearish, politically-rooted propaganda about the economy and the stock markets. The funny thing is though, Greg is in complete, utter denial. He and his naysayers have been dead wrong all along. The Dow has surged from 6500 to 10,000, and with it the economy has come out of recession, showing solid, consistent gains in the financial, banking, automobile, retail and housing markets. We've witnessed appreciable growth in the GDP; a steep drop in job losses; declining inventories; increases in manufacturing and productivity; increased borrowing; a rise in consumer spending; strong corporate earnings; and other very positive economic indicators. But none of this matters to Greg & Company. Their hatred of liberals, and their intense hunger to see Obama fail, keeps them oblivious to reality. In the face of clear, obvious economic recovery, these Chicken Littles keep yelling "The sky is falling, the sky is falling." And worse, if need be to bring Obama down, they'd be willing to lose more jobs, more home value, more investment dollars and more corporate sales. Their party first, country second mentality is unconscionable. They want America to fail.

Fortunately for Greg and his pals though, they get to play Chicken Little while Obama's cleaning up the economic shitstorm their president left him. If only they were able to show a little appreciation.

A "Republican Renaissance?" Yeah, and I Hear the Mullet's Coming Back Too"

There's colossal joy in Mudville this week as Republicans predict sweeping success in next year's mid-term elections in the wake of Chris Christie's and Bob McDonnell's gubernatorial wins in New Jersey and Virginia respectively, and in what they say is a clear repudiation of President Obama and Democrats' "liberal agenda." A newly energized GOP Chairman Michael Steele is calling it all a "Republican renaissance." Talk about premature ejaculation.

But the real picture is anything but rosy for the GOP. The truly bigger race, in Upstate New York, handed them a humiliating defeat in the solidly red 23rd Congressional District, where a Democrat hasn't won the House seat in over 100 years. This was a national election based on national issues, and therefore a clear affirmation, not a repudiation, of Obama's performance...something which Steele, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and all the other propagandists are conveniently ignoring but are shaking in their Uggs over. Christie and McDonnell won on purely local issues. Their victories mean absolutely nothing on the national stage. The real takeaway from Tuesday is that voters still want change; the sort of change that does not bode well for the GOP.

But Democrats should not be complacent or assume the tide is with them. An early warning to the left: be very, very leery of your counterparts across the aisle. They are angry, resentful and desperately want to be back in power. They will do and say anything to achieve that end. And they're pretty good at it. Great at propaganda. Skilled in truth-stretching. Will even lie through their venomous teeth to get what they want. And now they're reinvigorated. Their victories this week have left them with a euphoric, and inflated, sense of self and entitlement. The Republican orgasmatron is in high-gear, with promises of the proverbial happy-ending. The talking-heads are now bragging that most of the country is conservative, anti-big-government, anti-abortion, faith-based, pro-war, tea-baggin' Obama-haters who will kick Democrats to the curb next year. To the contrary though, as Democrat Bill Owens' victory in NY's 23rd indicates, voters continue to be trading in their Republican clunkers for the newer Democratic model.


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited (only 40 left!). To purchase, please call Jessica at 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

One Spin You Won't Hear From Republicans About Tuesday's Election

Democrats lost two key elections Tuesday, the gubernatorial races in New Jersey, where Republican Chris Christie defeated incumbent Jon Corzine, and in Virginia, where Bob McDonnell defeated Creigh Deeds in a special election to fill the vacating Tim Kaine's seat.

As expected, the Republican spin-machine is in euphoric overdrive, maniacally labeling these victories a broad repudiation of President Obama's "liberal agenda" and an ominous foreshadowing of things to come for Democrats in next year's midterms. Granted, a strong night for the
GOP--winning is always better than losing--but hardly a sign of any tidal waves of conservatism sweeping the nation, as right-wing pundits are boasting.

But what you won't hear the spinners crowing about is the shocking punch to the gut the GOP took in Upstate New York's 23rd Congressional District, where a Democrat won for the first time in over 100 years. That's right, 100 years. Despite massive support from right-wing heavyweights (pun intended) Rush Limbaugh and GOP oracle Sarah Palin, Republican Doug Hoffman was defeated by Democrat Bill Owens, for whom Obama campaigned aggressively. Let me be the first to say that Owens' win is a resounding affirmation of Obama's performance.

It's important to note that, unlike NY's 23rd, the NJ and Virginia elections were won on statewide and local issues. Christie's victory can be attributed to two central themes: corruption and property taxes. Hardly a referendum on Obama or Democrats nationally. And Virginia? Well, that solidly red state hadn't voted for a Democratic president since 1964. It's a bit of a stretch to say McDonnell's win is a reshaping of the broader national political landscape. Remember that former Governor Kaine was a conservative Democrat and Obama's victory last year was a huge upset. Let's keep things in perspective: it's not like McDonnell turned Massachusetts red.

Speaking of his victory and what it all means, Christie said, "Tomorrow we're going to take back New Jersey for the least fortunate, who don't want government to fix every problem." Yeah, if we can be certain about one thing, it's that poor folks hate all that government assistance. Medicaid? Public education? Food stamps? Cash-for-clunkers? Home-buying tax credits? Mortgage relief? Yes, I'm sure the "least fortunate" would much rather see those most fortunate rich folk get huge tax cuts instead. So now Christie's "least fortunate" got what they wanted: Chris Christie to the rescue to save them from all that big-government, problem-fixing aid to the little guy. Jeez, will the little guy ever learn?

On the overall significance of Tuesday's victories for conservatives, GOP Chairman Michael Steele said, "America, through the voices of those folks in New Jersey and Virginia, had something to say." Really? And what exactly did they have to say up in NY's 23rd, where a Democrat hasn't won in over a century? Does the good chairman heed that voice, and what it says about how voters on a national level view his party and its candidates? Apparently, voters still want change, and man, did the GOP get change in NY's 23rd. Let that be a foreshadowing of things to come for the myopic, narrow-minded, small-tented, shrinking fringe-right base of the Republican Party next year.

By the way, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was re-elected after spending a reported $100-million+ to defeat Comptroller Bill Thompson by just 5%. A very painful reminder of how and why the rich often dominate politics. Interesting to think who'd be sitting in City Hall right now had Thompson's war-chest been fatter, or Bloomberg's smaller...

One Year After Election Day: The Verdict on Obama

As America struggles to recover from an economic meltdown and is engulfed in two long-standing wars, the burning question now is, has President Barack Obama done a good job in office since his historic election one year ago or is he destined to suffer the same fate of Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush as unmemorable, ineffective, unpopular one-term chief-executives?

I'm not going to get into Iraq and Afghanistan, wars which Obama's inherited and which have raged on for for eight and six years respectively. There's no quick fix, and it's going to take him some time to sort out strategy and future direction. It's simply too early to judge him here.

But let's take a look at the economy. When Obama's predecessor George W. Bush took office in 2001, unemployment was at a respectable 4.2%. When he left office, it had nearly doubled to 7.6%. It stands now at 9.8%. Former president Bill Clinton left Bush with a $281-billion budget surplus, yet Bush left Obama with a $1.2-trillion deficit. The deficit is now $1.4-trillion. The national debt handed to Bush in 2001 was $5.7-trillion, and grew to $10.6-trillion by the time he left in 2008. It's currently $11.9-trillion. What does this all mean? A couple of things: first it says that Obama's economy has not materially worsened since he took office, especially as compared to the bashing it got under Bush. Next, and more importantly, it proves that Obama's $787-billion stimulus plan worked.

What's critical in the analysis of Obama's performance is perspective. Let's not forget where we were last year at this time. The proverbial sky was falling. America's financial system was on the verge of collapse, a crisis not seen since the Great Depression. There was an unprecedented global economic meltdown, and for the first time in 75 years Americans contemplated withdrawing their money from banks for fear of widespread default. Credit froze, borrowing ceased, and all economic activity stopped. One year later there's appreciable GDP growth, businesses are optimistic, earnings are up, inventories are down, orders are rising, credit is flowing, borrowing has resumed and stock markets have rallied. And, monthly job losses have gone down from an average 750,000 when Bush left office to the low-mid 200's. On the economy, it's pretty safe to say that Obama and his policies have been highly effective.

On another domestic front, health care, Obama has not been so successful, largely due to his own indecisiveness and unwillingness to wage a bloody fight to push through his plan. Also, timing is everything, and with the struggling economy, war and terrorism to contend with, Obama's made a huge miscalculation and error in judgement in taking on the health-care issue so early in his presidency. It's served as a major distraction, and has handed Republicans something they can sink their venomous teeth into; something that, unlike the problems he's inherited, is all his. He has no one to blame here but himself. Exacerbating the struggle is his misguided quest to be bi-partisan despite a Republican minority that has zero desire and intent to help him pass reform on any level. A party that's hell-bent on bringing down his administration at every turn. He's been straddling the fence, trying to make everyone happy, including his enemies across the aisle. Consequently, he's lost control of the issue.

Nine months after taking the oath of office, while it's still way too early to label his presidency a success or failure, it is fair to conclude that he's definitely on the right track, and as far as the economy is concerned, he's brought America back from the dead. For that he deserves credit. On the foreign stage, given all that Bush left him, he also deserves a little more time to intelligently assess strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan. We've already had eight years of catastrophic military ineptitude. It's actually quite refreshing to have a president who's carefully weighing all options before committing troops to battle. But these are definitely now his wars to wage and/or end, and time is running out on his honeymoon. He needs to formulate a plan, and soon.


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited (only 40 left!). To purchase, please call Jessica at 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

Cheryl Hines Tells Letterman About Directing Her First Film, the Adrienne Shelly-Penned, Meg Ryan Dark Comedy "Serious Moonlight"

Cheryl Hines is a real sweetheart. One of the truly nicest people you'll ever meet. She's also wickedly funny, and a talented first-time director who stepped into a very challenging role two years ago in helming a deliciously dark comedy penned by my late wife Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed and co-starred in 2007's hit film Waitress. Adrienne wrote Serious Moonlight as her follow-up to Waitress, and was in development with it at the time of her tragic death November 1, 2006. I teamed with Waitress producer Michael Roiff to get the film made.

Serious Moonlight is about a troubled marriage on the precipice, centering on a high-powered female attorney who learns that her husband is about to leave her for a much younger woman, and holds him captive until he promises to stay with her and love her forever.

Taking on the role of director for this project would've been a daunting task for a seasoned director, let alone someone helming for the first time. But having worked with Adrienne in the past, Cheryl had a keen understanding of her humor and overall comedic sensibilities, and saw a unique opportunity to both honor Adrienne's work and make a truly entertaining film she would've been proud of. Having the chance to direct such a stellar cast was very appealing to her as well.

"Adrienne had an incredible talent for writing great comedy alongside heart-wrenching drama, which is not easy to pull off," said Cheryl. "So I felt very fortunate to have this amazing material to work with, and to have it brought to life by such great actors as Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Justin Long and Kristen Bell. It's a story that I think many people will identify with in some very personal way."

Serious Moonlight will be released in theatres December 4th, and will be available on Video On Demand November 6th. Watch the trailer below:

On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited. To purchase, please email ASFoundationOrg@aol.com or call 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.

The Bombings in Iraq: Mission Definitely Not Accomplished

Two massive explosions, the deadliest in over a year, erupted in Baghdad Sunday, killing over 130 people and wounding 520 more. The suicide bombings, just under a minute apart, decimated two critical government buildings, underscoring the fragile state of Iraq's nascent democracy, and serving as a powerful reminder of the extremist militant forces which seek to undermine it as it prepares for its January election.

But, isn't the war over? Haven't we won? Hasn't the United States tasted the sweet nectar of victory? Haven't we successfully liberated the Iraqi people? Try telling that to the families of those whose bloodied body parts have been strewn about the streets of Baghdad these past two months, or to the millions who still feel like they're living in an unsecure, violent war zone. As George W. Bush exited office last January, his administration unilaterally declared "Mission Accomplished" yet again, apparently failing to learn its embarrassing lesson from 2003. Republicans to this day still talk of the Iraq war as if it's a successful footnote in America's military history.

Just as they started this war on smoke and mirrors, Republicans have been trying to end it. But make no mistake: Sunday's bombings, and those in August at the Foreign and Finance Ministries which killed 122, prove that there is no victory in Iraq any more than there were WMD and ties to al Qaeda. We're simply not there. America will be victorious when its troops can come home, and when the Iraqi government and security forces have demonstrated that it can protect its citizens and preserve its Democracy without being propped up by 130,000 U.S. forces. Yet as the continuing and escalating violence there demonstrates, the Iraqi's clearly have a long way to go. If U.S. troops were pulled tomorrow, Iraq's Democracy would crumble.

To be sure, to say President Obama is in an unenviable position would be a colossal understatement. He inherited two difficult wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is faced with critical strategic decisions about the future direction of both as well as what to do with the growing terrorist threat from Pakistan. There's no simple fixes. But it's time for Republicans to stop the "victory" propaganda. No one's buying it anymore, and it's an insult to every American and Iraqi who wants a true and lasting peace.


On another note, the film I produced, SERIOUS MOONLIGHT, which was written by my late wife Adrienne Shelly (WAITRESS), will have its U.S. premiere and afterparty December 3rd in NYC. This event will also serve as the 2009 Adrienne Shelly Foundation fundraising gala, and proceeds will go towards helping ASF achieve its mission of supporting women filmmakers. Tickets are $150. Please join me, our stars Meg Ryan and Timothy Hutton, our director Cheryl Hines and others at this red-carpet event. Tickets are extremely limited. To purchase, please email ASFoundationOrg@aol.com or call 212-381-1716.

ASF is a 501 c 3 tax-exempt, non-profit organization which provides scholarships, grants, finishing funds, screenwriting fellowships and living stipends at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts/Kanbar Institute of Film; Columbia University; American Film Institute; Women in Film; IFP; the Nantucket Film Festival; the Tribeca Film Institute; and the Sundance Institute. Your generous contribution will go a long way towards helping us achieve this very important mission. Please click here to make a donation. Thank you.