Brad Pitt is going to build you a house

While I was skimming through CNN.com this afternoon (it's my home page -- how impressed are you with me right now?), I couldn't help but notice this headline standing out from the rest of the "news" like a dashing diamond in the rough: Brad Pitt ponders quitting acting. In spite of myself, I couldn't resist -- to what, I wondered, might the handsomest man alive be devoting himself if not to acting? Producing? Directing? Spending more time with Angelina Jolie and their adopted African children (and that needy little bitch, Shiloh)?

Not exactly. It turns out that Brad -- ever the philanthropist since ditching his wife of five years -- plans to focus on rebuilding New Orleans by putting up "150 eco-friendly homes in the Louisiana city's Lower 9th Ward" with "the ultimate goal [being] to build eco-friendly homes throughout New Orleans and the Gulf Coast." According to CNN's interview -- in which the star of Meet Joe Black also has interesting things to say about the Katrina disaster ("it was a man-made failure"), the lack of a "concept of waste" in nature ("Anything that's discarded becomes fuel or becomes food for something else") and how he "leverages" his celebrity for good causes ("The press uses me, I use it") -- Pitt says that acting is a "younger man's game" and that "there's just other things I'd rather be doing."

Now, I'm torn, because on the one hand I think it's great that Brad Pitt is putting his money and his fame toward a good cause (you can learn more about his organization at www.makeitrightnola.org), but on the other hand, I'm kind of hesitant to give him a big pat on the back because he's doing some community service and installed solar panels on his mansion. What about all the people who don't command $10 million per film who were rebuilding homes in New Orleans while Brad Pitt was busy filming Ocean's 13? Why aren't they mentioned in this article?

I guess my problem isn't really so much with Brad Pitt as it is with the notion that celebrities deserve some special praise for being involved with something other than themselves. Because, frankly, I think that celebrities have an obligation to get involved in good causes. I know that Brad Pitt works hard and all, and that he has to put up with people sticking cameras in his face or whatever, but the guy is clearly kind of blessed to be where he is in life. Really, everyone should try to be involved in their communities, but celebrities like Brad Pitt are in a special position because they have more money than they need -- which they can use to help out and which means they can afford to take time off -- and people listen to them (although, I'm not entirely comfortable with the notion that we should care whom Oprah or Madonna endorses for president, but whatevs). For better or worse, movie stars and musicians are leaders of the world that we live in, and they (should) have a responsibility to use that power to make it a better place.

So cheers, Brad, for doing a genuinely good thing. But you'll forgive me if I don't pin the Medal of Freedom on you just yet.

Sources:
Pitt: Acting becoming 'less a focus' [CNN]

Happy Hanukkah, bitches! [Around the Internet] 12/4/07

-The bra: Celebrating 100 years of male oppression. [USA Today]
-"Once a gynecologist, always a gynecologist": Ron Paul talks about killing babies on The View [Wonkette]
-Katherine Heigl apparently doesn't read the scripts of movies she stars in. Curious. [Cinematical]
-These whackjobs want you to believe that God hates the world, and yet their very presence in it makes me question God's existence. It's a paradox. [QuizLaw]
-The NRA wants a "viable" candidate. So do we all, fellas. So do we all. [The Hotline]
-And, if you ever needed a reason why the NRA shouldn't exist, here it is. [Wonkette]
-Mitt Romney fires his illegals. Why is it that when Republicans fight, it's always the immigrants that suffer? [Reuters]

Michael Savage got served

Apparently, turnabout is not fair play for Michael Savage.

According to the Associated Press, the conservative talk radio host and all-around loudmouth is suing the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) for their use of his one of his broadcasts on their website, which encourages a "letter-writing campaign directed against talk radio advertisers." The 4 minute segment in question includes the following rant, which the lawsuit describes as "provocative and strongly worded," but which might be better described as being outright racist: "What kind of religion is this? What kind of world are you living in when you let them in here with that throwback document in their hand, which is a book of hate...Don't tell me I need reeducation. They need deportation."

Savage claims that the excerpt from the show was taken out of context (he was actually "talking about Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his dangerous and violent brand of Islamic extremism, not about the religion in general," according to an interview with the AP) and that the CAIR's use of it without permission constitutes copyright infringement. CAIR and Savage appear to be in agreement that the campaign has resulted in advertisers pulling their spots from his show, which Savage claims has cost him at least $1 million in revenue.

As you might imagine, I am not a regular listener of Savage's show, although I have heard it before and remember thinking that, even among right-wing blowhards like Bill O'Reilly and Joe Scarborough, Savage was particularly reactionary and obnoxious. Honestly, I would love it if this situation cost Savage $1 million, but I have trouble believing that the kind of advertisers that would support his show would really care what the Council on American-Islamic Relations has to think.

I'm also not a lawyer, so I can't really comment on the legal issues here, but I can say that I find the whole thing kind of ironic. It seems to me that Savage was using his radio show as a platform to denounce an entire religion and the people who follow it (as far as I know, the president of Iran is not subject to deportation since he isn't a resident of the United States), so I don't see why those people shouldn't have the recourse of using his own hate-filled words against him. The suit also alleges that CAIR "is not a civil rights group, but a political organization funded by foreigners with ties to Hamas and other terrorist groups" (which, according to Wikipedia, is a charge that the group has been struggling with ever since its conception though, from what I read, the evidence doesn't really support it), but I'm not sure what bearing that has on his case.

In any event, I personally think it's nice to see one of these talk radio demagogues get what's coming to him because, in my admittedly limited experience of listening to their shows, they tend to toe the line between offensive and downright sickening. One can only hope that, next time, Michael Savage will take a moment and think really hard about what he's going he say before he blasts an entire religion on the air. Sadly, though, I have a feeling that's little more than wishful thinking.

Sources:
Radio Host Sues Group That Quoted Him [Associated Press]
Council on American-Islamic Relations [Wikipedia]
Michael Savage sues Muslim group campaigning for ad boycott [SF Chronicle]

And Iran, Iran so far away... [Around the Internet] 12/3/07

-Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen? Like Tila Tequila with green cards. [Wonkette]
-"Never give a gay general a microphone." Pure redneck genius. [QuizLaw]
-"If we're going to go out to the streets and share the love of Jesus, why not expect something crazy to happen?" With that, I give you the Holy Interstate. [A Special Way of Being Afraid]
-Army throws money at recruits. NCAA investigation pending. [Wonkette]
-Iran is much less of a threat to the United States than the Bush administration. [Think Progress]
-Holy shit, it's a toilet house! [CubeMe]
-The Clinton campaign goes all kindergarten on Obama's ass [Wizbang Politics]

Reese Witherspoon = Higest-paid actress. Ryan Phillippe = Seriously bummed.

On Friday, Reese Witherspoon topped The Hollywood Reporter's annual list of highest-paid actresses with an asking price of $15-$20 million per movie. Despite the box-office failure of her most recent film, Rendition (which I didn't even realize had come out in theaters), the star of Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde beat out the likes of Angelina Jolie (who was 2nd on the list), Nicole Kidman (who was 4th) and Halle Berry (who was 10th). Somewhere, Ryan Phillippe could be heard banging his head against a wall (I know, dude -- we all thought you were going to be the famous one, too).

I like Reese Witherspoon -- I liked Cruel Intentions, I liked Walk the Line, I even liked Legally Blonde and, while I never saw Sweet Home Alabama, I'm sure she was really pretty in it. And I don't mean to pick on her because she's successful, but it seems to me that the ongoing writers' strike, which is currently keeping everyone's favorite shows off of the air, could be resolved very easily if, instead of getting paid $20 million a movie, Reese got paid $10 million. Or if the Desperate Housewives chicks got paid $340,000 an episode instead of $440,000, or if Jay Leno got paid $30 million a year instead of $40 million (actually, you know what? How about Jay Leno doesn't get paid anything until he starts being funny? We get it, people are uninformed and they give stupid answers to simple questions -- it was kind of cute the first 7,000 times but I think the novelty is starting to wear off there, Jay...) Hell, Oprah could single-handedly end the strike tomorrow! Not that they don't deserve all that cash but, you know, the less-attractive people who write all those clever things that come out of your favorite actor's mouth are fighting for an extra 4 cents per DVD sale or something. You do the math.

I know that I've said this before, but the astronomical amount of money that celebrities make is symptomatic of a culture that worships any kind of fame, for better or worse (usually worse). It's the reason why Britney Spears' shitty parenting is consistently a bigger story than the genocide in Darfur, and why so many people in this country can't point to Iraq on a map but can recite 50 Cent's "In Da Club" by heart. I don't want to make any value judgments here, but it seems like our priorities (and I'm certainly as guilty as anyone else) are out of whack.

There isn't an easy fix to all of this, but I do have a few suggestions: Next time you're on CNN.com and you see a story about Christina Aguilera pregnancy rumors, don't click on it. Next time you're watching the "news" and a story comes on about Paris Hilton's vagina, change the channel. And next time that really sexy actress you like makes yet another romantic comedy about finding yourself when your husband dies (and they had been together since high school!), take that $10 and go buy a book -- and not a novelization of Tranformers but a real, genuine book. Not only will you feel better about yourself, but you'll be a more attractive person.

Of course, if that movie happens to be Legally Blonde 3: Guantanamo Blonde, you can find me in line. After all, there's only so much you can ask...

Sources:
Sliding scale: Salaries of Hollywood's leading ladies [Hollywood Reporter]

Larry Craig might be gay

And the hits just keep on coming.

The Idaho Statesman, in the dirtiest newspaper article that I have ever read, has brought forward five men who are alleging homosexual encounters with embattled Sen. Larry Craig (R-Id.). The men, all of whom are homosexuals themselves, are apparently dismayed by what they see as Craig's "hypocritical" anti-gay attitude and voting record, and especially the emphatic denial he made on national television in August (shortly after the discovery that he had plead guilty in June to soliciting sex from an undercover police officer) that "I am not gay, I never have been gay."

The accounts are spread out over a roughly 25 year period, and range from being whisked away to a Capitol Hill house after meeting Craig in a gay strip club (and then being given $20 after sex and told "I can buy and sell your ass a thousand times over") to being propositioned in an airport bathroom in a manner similar to the one described by Craig's arresting officer. Perhaps the most damning allegation comes from Mike Jones, the former Colorado-based gay male escort most famous for destroying evangelical minister Ted Haggard's career, who claims that Craig paid him $200 for sex sometime between November 2004 and March 2005.

Now, Mike Jones must be the worst gay male escort ever because I'm pretty sure the first rule of prostitution is that you don't go around outing your clients (that being said, the dude is like gay-Republican kryptonite...) In all seriousness, though, this story is a lot of things (the word "disturbing" comes to mind quite often) but mostly it is sad, because even if some of these guys are lying, I think it's still pretty clear that Larry Craig is not a straight man. And there's nothing wrong with that, except for the deep-seated self-loathing that has caused him to be such an outspoken opponent of homosexuality and gay rights.

In fact, if he wasn't such a dick, I would feel bad for the guy. Like I said when a similar story came out earlier this week about Trent Lott (with whom Craig incidentally started a barbershop quartet called "The Singing Senators"), it's really unfortunate -- and we are all responsible for this -- that we live in a society so homophobic that some gay men still feel like they have to seek each other out in the anonymity of airport bathrooms. But, as far as I'm concerned, anyone who gets a 0 rating from the Human Rights Campaign and suggests -- as Craig did in 2005 -- that the flooded areas of New Orleans should be abandoned because "fraud...is in the culture of the state of Louisiana" deserves whatever he gets. And, if the last four months have been any indication, that's going to be a lot of negative press until he finally finishes out his term in shame.

I guess $20 doesn't buy what it used to.

Sources:
More gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig [Idaho Statesman]
Larry Craig [Wikipedia]

I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so...scared! [Weekend Links] 12/2/07

-Free South Park online next year! In other news, Scientology still nonsense. [Agent Bedhead]
-Thai politicians bribe voters with Viagra. Insert erection joke here. [Wizbang Politics]
-Obama and Huckabee lead in Iowa. Clinton and Romney pissed. [Politico]
-Despite best efforts, Evel Knievel dies of natural causes [Los Angeles Times]
-Jesse Spano to host new Bravo dance-off show. Let's hope it's not like Showgirls without all the naked parts...because Showgirls is fucking terrible without all the naked parts. [Defamer]
-It must be Christmas-time if my Jewish roommates are making peppermint bark. Mmm...Jesus-y. [Two Fat Als]