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My roommate sent me a video (select "Red Menace") from The Daily Show on Comedy Central about this group called PABAAH (or Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood). Following the lead of conservative pundits like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, the right has assailed the left with crass claims of anti-Americanism whenever somebody questions the wisdom of the current administration. Not only do they claim that criticizing the president and his cronies is unpatriotic, they also shrink away from an reasonable debate, choosing instead to attack the left while invoking the image of an entity who said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

Alright, I'm off topic now. Let's get back to the video. It's hilarious. How can you not love something that starts with a quote like, "Those in Hollywood who choose to speak out against the war on terror they're taking a stance against America which would be, not only irresponsible, its dangerous." Or the beauty, that is, "Santa Claus would realize that America is on the side of right." Yup. That's right. The movie Elf is anti-American, simply because Ed Asner plays Satna Claus in it. Could this be more stupid? I think not.

One closing thought, "I think when Osama bin Laden pops in his bootleg copy of Elf, he'll smile and say, 'Thank you Mr. Asner for your support.'"

While chatting with Diane Sawyer about her interview of Jessica Lynch, Bill made the startling assertion that folks are exploiting Lynch, and her story. Not the type of reporting that's going to win him any Peabody awards, but it does seem odd that in the same interview where he condems folks who exploit Lynch, he talks about how his own program will be showing bits of the Paris Hilton sex tape the next day. Check this out...

O'Reilly: By the time you talked to her, this topless thing wasn't out yet, right?

Sawyer: No. But we've checked and I don't think she's going to have a comment on it.

O'Reilly: No, I wouldn't either. And isn't it a sad commentary that this is the country we live in now?

Sawyer: Yes, and somebody sold these. I mean this... [bs: as usual, O'Reilly's cutting off the person he's interviewing]

O'Reilly: Of course they did. I mean, you know, we're going to have this Paris Hilton video tomorrow. You know about this thing?

Sawyer: You're going to have it here?

O'Reilly: We have it, yes. We have it right here

Sawyer: Are you going to put it on?

O'Reilly: I'm going to put some of it on, not a lot. I'm going to show the folks tomorrow. But isn't it a sad commentary that everybody now... [bs: Sawyer's turn to cut O'Reilly off, I imagine with a horrified look on her face]

Sawyer: Why are you going to put it on?

from The O'Reilly Factor - Interview - Diane Sawyer on Jessica Lynch

So I ask you, Bill, who's exploiting who now?

David Cross is previewing some of the "hottest and newest" video game titles for the November issue of Wired.

Are you in the market for a hot new videogame? Then preorder Hipster Bash, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game that lets you team up - online, in your apartment - with other lonely hipsters across the country. Armed with a magical sneer and a bottle of absinthe, you journey from Los Angeles' Silverlake district to Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, stopping briefly in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood. Along the way, you battle other hipster clans à la The Warriors and collect as many Hater pills as possible. Special cheats hidden under your longboard include faux hawks that quickly turn into regular mussed-up hair, the ability to secrete noxious oils from your unwashed skin, and the Hipper-Than-Thou Ray, which blasts opponents with obscure musical references and condescension until they're reduced to a quivering mass of egoless flesh. The group that arrives in Brooklyn with the most disaffected mannerisms wins. Extra feature: Trade in your heroin addiction for cash from your parents!

from Wired 11.11: Games Gone Wild!

Sounds like a blast... but you should really go read the article and find out about Ann Coulter Stop the Presses 2004, Dreidel, Extreme Special Olympics, Maximum Gamer, Tom Clancy's Junior Miss, and Shockingly Extreme Thong Volleyball!. The hits just keep coming... thanks video game industry!

Huey Freeman thinks so:

I'm withholding judgement right now, but he does present some compelling evidence.

In the November 2003 issue of Esquire, there is an interview with Britney Spears where she denies that she's a sex symbol for adult men. In fact, she even seems to claim that she doesn't care about adults at all and, apparently, does covers wearing just a sweater, or topless photo shoots, for the "kids." Check this out:

"That's just a weird question," [Britney Spears] says. "I don't even want to think about that. That's strange, and I don't think about things like that, and I don't want to think about things like that. Why should I? I don't have to deal with those people. I'm concerned with the kids out there. I'm concerned with the next generation of people. I'm not worried about some guy who's a perv and wants to meet a freaking virgin."

from Women We Love - Britney Spears

Wow... I don't know about you folks, but I'm sure glad that she cares enough to be mostly naked -- for the children.