Bill Maher' Faith-Based Phobia

Bill Maher' Faith-Based Phobia

James Hirsen
Tuesday, April 19, 2005

THE LEFT COAST REPORT
A Political Look at Hollywood

1. Bill Maher's Faith-Based Phobia

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans to pursue what the Constitution requires: A vote by the U.S. Senate on the president's judicial nominees.

To this end, Frist has decided to make an appearance on a national telecast and air his views.

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Sound controversial? Well, it wouldn't be, except for the fact that the folks Frist plans to meet with are conservative. And they're Christian to boot.

The libs found out about Frist's plans and summoned their anti-God squad to warn folks about the scary religious people and their scary speaker.

The upcoming "Justice Sunday" telecast is being sponsored by the Family Research Council, an organization that sometimes cavorts with religious types.

The usual suspects -- Senators Harry Reid, Teddy Kennedy and Chuck Schumer, the New York Times, People for the American Way -- and even Bill Maher, of all people, expressed consternation.

Reid said he was disappointed that "in an attempt to hide what the debate is really about, Senator Frist would exploit religion." He surmised that the event was "designed to incite divisiveness and encourage contention."

Kennedy characterized Frist's participation as a "blatant assault on the fundamental principle of separation of church and state."

Schumer advised Frist "to remove himself from an extremist teleconference."

The New York Times got a quote from national director of the Anti-Defamation League Abraham Foxman. The Grey Lady reported that Foxman had indicated that he was "deeply troubled" by Frist's participation. "Whatever one's views may be on this or any other issue," Foxman said, "playing the religious card is as unacceptable as playing the race card."

Maher brought up the subject of the teleconference during an interview he conducted with Senator Barbara Boxer on his HBO show "Real Time." He said, "Today I read that the Senate Majority leader, Bill Frist, is going to be participating in a Christian TV special, where he calls Democrats people against faith. He says Democrats are against people of faith -- did you see this today?" Boxer acknowledged that she "had heard about it."

Maher basically admitted that the Dems can't compete on the values playing field. His subsequent question to Boxer began with a long lead-in. He said, "And then I see Howard Dean, the head of your party, saying that the Democrats have to do more to appeal to voters who they have lost because of their unease with the values issue, and I feel like the Democrats are once again being baited into a fight you can't win. You are never going to win over those values people, are you?"

Norman Lear's People for the American Way sent a letter to Senator Frist, calling the event "religious McCarthyism." Also mentioned by Lear's alarmists was a so-called right-wing group, the Judicial Confirmation Network, which, according to Lear's group, plans to release "a vicious new television ad" that is "inflammatory and wildly misleading."

Truth be told, the Judicial Confirmation Network is a grassroots group. No doubt it has been dubbed right wing because, as its Web site declares, it seeks "to ensure that the confirmation process for all judicial nominees is fair and that every nominee sent to the full Senate receives an up or down vote."

The Left Coast Report asks, Do you get the feeling these folks are shaking in their secular boots?

David Geffen's Private Public Beach

Hollywood billionaire David Geffen recently raised the white flag and surrendered to an activist group that was seeking public access to his private Malibu beach.

For three years the Dem supporter has been battling in court. Apparently, to get to the Pacific Ocean, some riffraff wanted to use a path that cuts across Geffen's multimillion-dollar estate, and Geffen's lawyers were trying to stop them.

Now the mogul has agreed to open up a walkway to the sand. And as part of a settlement he's also agreed to fork over $300,000 in legal fees and costs.

The path will be the first new beach access-way along the 26-mile mansion-riddled Malibu coast in a decade.

The Geffen case was parodied in a Doonesbury comic strip. The bit had former tanning enthusiast Zonker Harris returning to Malibu. It turns out that one of the other public passageways in the area is actually named after the sun-drenched Doonesbury character.

"This conflict is really about privilege," Steve Hoye, co-founder of the nonprofit group Access for All, told Reuters. "It's about having what they think is a private beach, but it's not really. It's a public beach, and the public has an absolute right to be there."

The Left Coast Report wonders if the Minutemen patrolling the Mexico-U.S. border have considered shuttling undocumented surfers over to the Geffen path.

'Webster' Star Has Cop Clout

Remember the child star of the 1980s sitcom who grew into adulthood while pretty much remaining the same height?

It's not former California gubernatorial candidate and "Different Strokes" character Gary Coleman. It's "Webster" star Emmanuel Lewis.

Evidently, Lewis still has plenty of celebrity power to his name and face. He was able to use his cachet recently to get out of a speeding ticket jam.

It all happened in rural southwestern Georgia when officer Ron Kirk clocked a vehicle going 70 miles per hour in a 45-mile-per-hour zone.

Kirk recognized Lewis and instead of giving the actor a ticket he gave him a polite pass.

Kirk said, "Well, I grew up watching him and he was very nice and professional, so I just gave him a courtesy warning."

The officer asked for Lewis's autograph, and the 34-year-old former close friend of Michael Jackson agreed to pose for a pic with Kirk and the town's police chief, Randy Howard Jr.

Kirk says Lewis, who lives in the Atlanta area, was probably unfamiliar with the road and didn't realize there were speed limit changes.

The Left Coast Report has been informed that a car was just seen speeding toward southwestern Georgia containing Adam Rich, Willie Ames, Billy Mumy and Danny Bonaduce.

Ted Nugent Fires Up the NRA

When it comes to gun rights, Ted Nugent doesn't take anything for granted.

At a recent National Rifle Association annual meeting, the rocker gave a speech that would give Michael Moore the cold sweats.

In each of Nugent's hands was a so-called assault rifle. He urged each NRA member to recruit 10 new members within the next 12 months.

"Let's next year sit here and say, 'Holy smokes, the NRA has 40 million members now,'" he said.

Nugent went on to suggest that NRA members associate only with other members. "No one is allowed at our barbecues unless they are an NRA member. Do that in your life," he encouraged.

He also asked members to write letters to newspaper editors and to teach gun safety at schools.

On our global condition, Nugent opined, "The whole world sucks but America sucks less," and called for NRA members to be radical.

"We can eliminate that sucking sound altogether if we all would actually be hardcore, radical extremists, hardcore radical extremists, demanding the right to self-defense," he stated.

Nugent's view of the use of guns to thwart crime was unequivocal. "Remember the Alamo! Shoot 'em!" he yelled to the cheering crowd. "To show you how radical I am, I want carjackers dead. I want rapists dead. I want burglars dead. I want child molesters dead. I want the bad guys dead. No court case. No parole. No early release. I want 'em dead. Get a gun and when they attack you, shoot 'em."

The Left Coast Report notes that Nugent and his family recently moved to a place where the neighbors just may appreciate the rocker's politics: Crawford, Texas.

A 'Sin City' Shame

It could have been a great film.

"Sin City" is Robert Rodriguez's latest cinematic venture. He directed the movie along with comic novelist Frank Miller.

It has a bevy of well-known stars including Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke and Jessica Alba. It also has some interesting computer- generated imagery. Unfortunately, these things aren't enough to make the flick worth watching.

Three brutal tales are told and they all have one thing in common: Manic, sadistic violence.

In an effort to reproduce the Miller comics on the big screen, Rodriguez creates a predominately black-and-white world and adds a smattering of red, blue, green and a disgusting mustard color for one of the many demonic psychopaths that populate the movie.

There's a videogame feel to the film. Cyber-synthetic blood gushes as warped heroes rush to the rescue of prostitutes, strippers and other anti-damsels in distress, and the darkest side of human nature is displayed.

Characters fail to experience the pain that should accompany the severing of their limbs and unmentionable body parts. They are riddled with bullets, bound and brutally beaten and cut to ribbons with blades of every kind. It's not new, but the level that Rodriguez takes it to is.

Most of the movie components are designed to appeal to hormone-overloaded teenage males. Females are featured as decadently clad cocktail waitresses, strippers or prostitutes. Much of the clothing worn by the women has sadomasochistic overtones.

Amazingly, "Sin City" has only an R rating. NC-17 would have been more appropriate. As of this writing, the production has grossed $56 million, which doesn't include all of the underage viewers who are buying tickets for "Miss Congeniality 2" and sneaking across the corridors.

The Left Coast Report thinks that, wanton decapitation, cannibalism and sadomasochism aside, "Sin City" could serve a purpose. It might remind us of the terrible pummeling our culture is taking and jolt us into seeing how far we've fallen.

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