Filling Seats

From the AP:

""It looks scary!" the 13-year-old from East Windsor, N.J., says of (Mel Gibson's Passion) that has some wondering if it's too graphic and violent for young people.

Still, despite its R-rating, she and many other youth will be among those flocking this week to see the film _ with their parents' blessing. Emily decided she wants to go because "it's true; it's in a different language; and it's supposed to give you the effect that you're there."

...

Jimmy Lee, a youth pastor at the Chinese Evangelical Church of San Diego, says parents were "definitely" concerned when he suggested teens from the church see the movie. In the end, church leaders and parents decided to let them go, concurring that "the violence has a message and a purpose. And it does not glorify evil," Lee says. "

So, Mel's using gore & violence to draw in kids to see his film about love. Got it.

From Bob Harris

Warning: portions of Janet Jackson's breast may cause gay marriage

What does a particularly irresponsible child do when mom and dad come home, and he has broken every toy in the house? That's right -- find someone else to blame, anyone, even if they can't possibly be at fault.

George W. Bush has to face the voters this year. Playtime might just be over. And looking around, what might mom and dad see? Health care, the economy, the rationales for the Iraq war, even America's very reputation in the world -- all broken. And mom and dad are also finding out that he didn't even do his chores, back when he was playing with airplanes.

And so today, Baby Awol screams the only thing he can think of:

"Look! Over there! People who, um, love each other and are making lifetime commitments! Of a kind you're not particularly comfortable with!"

The great menace to America isn't impending ecological, economic, and/or terrorist disaster -- it's a bunch of happy people on the steps of a courthouse hugging each other.

This is where a grown-up nation would just fall down laughing.

Unfortunately, the news media is gonna have fun for a while, what with shocking pictures of people kissing each other.

So the hundred million of us who have chosen emotional childhood as a lifelong avocation -- those whose magical beliefs are so strong they cannot accept any science which disagrees; those who recoil at the public display of part of a woman's breast (but oddly not at the simulated sexual violence involved in revealing it); those who will faithfully attend a movie depicting wall-to-wall flesh-rending, wrenching, unspeakable torture, fully expecting insight into the nature of love -- are gonna froth and foam for a while, feeling persecuted because they can't persecute the people who are actually persecuted quite as much as they'd like.

Thing is, jobs ain't falling from the sky. And people vote their pocketbooks.

Baby Awol is actually kinda cute when he's scared.

Is This Because I Was Teaching The Kids How To Fire An RPG In Science?

From Atrios:

"WASHINGTON - Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist organization" during a private White House meeting with governors on Monday.
Democratic and Republican governors confirmed Paige's remarks about the National Education Association.
"These were the words, 'The NEA is a terrorist organization,' " said Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin.
...
He was implying that the NEA has not been one of the organizations that has been working with the administration to try to solve 'No Child Left Behind,' " he said.
Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, a Republican, said of Paige's comments: "Somebody asked him about the NEA's role and he offered his perspective on it." "

Are we losing a little perspective these days? I sure hope the that the food at Guantanamo is good...

Is This Because I Was Teaching The Kids How To Fire An RPG In Science?

From Atrios:

"WASHINGTON - Education Secretary Rod Paige called the nation's largest teachers union a "terrorist organization" during a private White House meeting with governors on Monday.
Democratic and Republican governors confirmed Paige's remarks about the National Education Association.
"These were the words, 'The NEA is a terrorist organization,' " said Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle of Wisconsin.
...
He was implying that the NEA has not been one of the organizations that has been working with the administration to try to solve 'No Child Left Behind,' " he said.
Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, a Republican, said of Paige's comments: "Somebody asked him about the NEA's role and he offered his perspective on it." "