James Hirsen
Tuesday, July 20, 2004

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  Instead of chewing the industry fat, media folks were more interested in swapping opinions on Michael Moore’s fraudulent film “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

George Stephanopoulos noted that he had spoken with individuals who had gone to see Moore's flick and had asked them why. The answer he received was “because we wanted to get the facts.”

A few of Stephanopoulos’ high-profile peers had intriguing takes on the “facts.”

Ted Koppel evidently enjoyed the movie but had problems with Moore’s accuracy, or lack thereof. He described the film as “a terrific piece of entertainment” that had some “interesting facts in it.” But: “It is to the documentary what the [Oliver Stone] 'JFK' film was to history.” The soon-to-be-retiring Tom Brokaw, hitting Moore’s film even harder, commented that it “took a lot of liberties, not just with the facts but with how you arrange the facts.”

The Left Coast Report says using the term “facts” in the same sentence as Moore is like using the word “bubbly” to describe Koppel.

Steve Earle's Condi Crooning

Country music singer-songwriter Steve Earle has written a tune about National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. It’s called “Condi, Condi.” The song is on Earle’s new CD. Here’s a sampling of the lyrics:

“You be the flower and I'll be the bumblebee
Oh she loves me
Oops, she loves me not

People say you're cold but I think you're hot
They say you're too uptight
I say you're not

Dance around me
Spinnin' like a top
Oh, Condi, Condi, don't ever stop.”

Using language of this kind with regard to someone who holds such a serious office at this most serious time in history seems inappropriate and odd to me.

You might recall that I wrote about this guy in a column a while back. Earle is the same fellow who wrote “John Walker's Blues,” in which he praised traitor John Walker Lindh who, thankfully, is now locked away.

In between lyrics that talked about Lindh's interest in music videos, boy bands, Islam and Arabic prayers, Earle assigned the highest moral standing to the turncoat.

The Left Coast Report thinks Earle had better watch it or the next tune he’ll be singing is “She Dropped a Bomb on Me.”

The Fox and the Hounds

Fox News Channel has become a favorite target of the left.

Robert Greenwald launched a “documentary”-sized attack on FNC with his movie “Outfoxed.”

Now MoveOn.org and Common Cause are reportedly planning two legal maneuvers against the news channel.

Rumors are swirling that one of the actions has to do with FNC’s trademark slogan “Fair and Balanced” and the other will involve FNC’s influence on the elections.

In the meantime, Meryl Streep has responded to reports that her portrayal in the film “The Manchurian Candidate” of a cold, calculating, manipulative senator was too Hillary-like for studio execs.

Streep told Newsweek that she did have models for the part but refused to divulge their identities.

“Never mind,” Streep said. “Fox News would love it if I were doing Hillary, but that's so off the mark.”

The actress complained about the many people who don’t vote. “If you told those people what clothes they had to put on, they'd be mad. If you told them what kind of car they had to drive - or what they had to eat for dinner - they wouldn't stand for it. But somebody is deciding what they eat and what they breathe and all that stuff ...”

The Left Coast Report believes that Streep has just given an accurate description of the Hollywood Left.

Tinseltown Tubbies?

Not only has the federal government declared that obesity is a “disease,” it has made itself the official adjudicator of who is overweight and who is obese.

It’s doing so with typical federal fanfare and, unfortunately, a lot of bureaucratic baloney.

Leave it to the federal government to use the most convoluted and complicated method to figure out who is mildly plump and who falls into corpulence. It is using something called the Body Mass Index (BMI) to separate the fat from the fatter.

A statement released by the Center for Consumer Freedom called “Tinseltown Hunks Are Actually Hollywood Chunks” includes a surprising list of federally designated Hollywood heavyweights.

Actor Will Smith of “I Robot,” who is a muscular 6’2” and 210 pounds, has a BMI of 27, which puts him in the “overweight” category. Other stars who fit the feds’ “overweight” bill are “Bourne Identity” star Matt Damon (5’11”, 187 pounds and a BMI of 26), “Van Helsing” vampire killer Hugh Jackman (6’2”, 210 pounds and a BMI of 27), and Denzel Washington (6’0”, 199 pounds and a BMI of 27).

Moving into the heavier Hollywood arena, we find the names of Sylvester Stallone (5’9”, 228 pounds and a BMI of 34), Arnold Schwarzenegger (6’2”, 257 pounds and a very un-girlie-man BMI of 33), The Rock (6’5”, 275 pounds and a BMI of 33) and Tom Cruise (5’7”, 201 pounds and a BMI of 31). These celebrities have been determined by the government to be obese with Bruce Willis riding on the obesity cusp at 6’0”, 200 pounds and a BMI of 29.

The Left Coast Report has a lot of things to say to the federal flab finders but for now will keep it to a simple two-word message: Butt out!

Conventional Jerry Springer

Jerry Springer has been tapped by Cleveland’s WOIO-TV to be a special correspondent at the Democratic National Convention.

The former Cincinnati newscaster, mayor, failed gubernatorial candidate, one-time senator wannabe and tempestuous TV talk show host is will have access to the Dem fest because the Ohio Democratic Party has named him an at-large delegate in Boston.

“He's well-connected and as plugged-in as any anchor or reporter we could send,” said Steve Doerr, the news director at Cleveland’s WOIO-TV. He indicated that Springer would report and comment on aspects of the convention that other reporters might not cover.

Doerr told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, “We were looking for an unusual way to cover it, with an unusual person who could give it an unusual bent.”

The Left Coast Report notes that for years Springer has been dealing with transsexual bikers, hustling housewives and people who marry their pets. Looks as if he’s perfectly suited to cover the Democrat convention.

The Left Coast Report is put together by James L. Hirsen and the staff of NewsMax.

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