I was not aware that Nicole Richie got two novels and one to the Times’ top 40 best-seller list, based on her connection to Paris Hilton. I shudder to guess what they are about.

The scary thing is realizing that Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton would get better seats in a restaurant than Charlotte Bronte, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Emmanuel Kant.

Although i have to say that when i actually tried watching the Glenn Beck Show expecting to see a train wreck based upon all of the crazy, i was dismayed to discover that not only was he crazy, he also managed to be boring. i really had no idea that total insanity could be transformed into such utter banality. Although, one somewhat funny thing is that it was one of those episodes with David Barton talking about “history” of the founding fathers something about the women of the revolution (i do not believe that Abigail Adams would approve of them) so it looked like they brought in every female intern at Fox News (or News Corp) to have a sufficient number of young women to be his audience (and come to think of it, they all even when asking the no doubt canned questions managed to seem totally bored and uninterested).

So maybe i did observe a train wreck – just an extremely boring one. So i kind of have a feeling that the movies they produce will make “Santa Claus Conquers the Martians” seem well thought out and interesting by comparison.

And you have to marvel at the top one percent’s thinking – if an entire news network (admittedly about the most amateurish and inept news network imaginable) and billions of dollars worth of negative ads couldn’t lead them to victory, how will bad direct to video movies (does that Right Network that Kelsey Grammar was trying to set up still exist?) which i fully expect to rival Mike Huckabee’s painfully bad (in every possible way) American “history” propaganda cartoons for children for ineptness.

I don’t understand exactly why Vince Vaughn is involved (for those who don’t follow the many incomprehensible doings of hollywoodland, Vaughn now runs Wild West Productions), except that he’s involved in production now, and I also don’t quite get how Billingsly (of Christmas Story fame) is involved.

Apparently they plan to do something in a reality show or documentary format but you never know how these things are going to pan out.

Only in America could the shrinking elite go to such elaborate means to protect the plutocracy as to fund and fluff an enterprise such as this.

Given the history of the LDS cult as being an excuse for temple leaders (i prefer the term “icky pervs” but what is known in the rest of the world as “dirty old men”) to have sex with as many teenaged girls (“wives”) as possible it is pretty clear who would have control over the key.

The whole Mormon underwear thing was news to me, so I also checked out the Wikipedia entry. You might have mentioned that Wikipedia provides photos of said underwear, which looks more or less like a 1950s gym suit or possibly a 1904 Olympic track suit and presumably is sold by Queen Victoria’s Secret.

I had a little trouble with this line: “Wearing the garment is also ‘an outward expression of an inward commitment’ to follow Jesus Christ.” Undergarments aren’t usually “an outward expression” of anything, unless you’re Madonna.

Zoroastrians wear a red cord around their waists for somewhat similar purposes of reminding them of their religious commitments. Zoroastrian priests were the original “magoi” and likely the three “wise men” who came from the East to witness the birth of Christ; in other words, magicians. So a lot depends on how one defines “magic.”

Kiwiwriter,

I’m not convinced that “Vanna Speaks” is the ultimate celebrity book. Paris Hilton’s little friend Nicole Ritchie got two novels published simply because she was Paris Hilton’s little friend. One of them made it into the top 40 on the NYT bestseller list.

Well, I’m not surprised…Snooki’s autobiography will fetch her $2 million. She can tell us about the bars she has been kicked out of. Britney Spears earned a like sum for not one but two semi-autobiographical novels about a young singer who gains fame under the leadership of her mother. And Debbie Gibson “penned” a memoir at age 19, giving tips to young women on how to be a famous singer.

And the ultimate celebrity book: “Vanna Speaks” by Vanna White. It has such vital information as telling us how to knit an afghan, that she eats a light lunch before a heavy dinner, and that her faith in Jesus enabled her to cope with success.

I’ve seen “Vanna Speak” on sale on the $1 tray…right next to books about how to survive the “coming” Y2K disaster. They were pretty popular in 1999,too.

Right, Gina. Symbolic.

As to Mel Brooks, I wasn’t even aware he was sick but am glad to learn he is once again in fine fettle.

So my updated A-team for the film project includes: Will Ferrel as male lead, Mel Brooks directing and Roger Corman as producer (i.e. of “Sharktopus” fame, a film I am sure everybody got a chance to see and enjoyed for the high quality work it is).

As for me having bought the one mysterious Arizona powerball ticket, I plan to go into hiding and become a Republican. With or without peach velour.

Regardless of what you call it Mormon underwear is just another money making scam by a money making cult that views women as being second class members.

Symbolic underwear would be a more accurate term. And less of a straw man representation of the practice.

The “late” Mel Brooks? That had me in a panic for a moment. Happily, it appears he’s alive and well and still making live appearances on Conan (and elsewhere).

The original version of this blog did include a reference to Ed Wood, who sadly, is “late”.

What is interesting though in that in many eastern cultures, it is considered much worse to keep a man (or a woman) in prison than to kill them – it is only the U.S. which has the odd notion that its less severe to keep a person in a cage where they have no rights and are subject to horrific abuse by the guards and other inmates for life is not as bad as being killed.

That is when you think about it an odd notion especially when most of the people who tend to spout it are also the ones who most loudly proclaim this to be a “Christian nation.” However, if you are really a Christian and really have faith, you should not fear death. You should also not kill another person – Jersus’s teachings are quite clear about that (naturally, promoters of that theory will point to the bloodbaths documented in the Old Testament never mind that they claim to be followers of Jesus). It also seems odd because a Christian should believe that even the worst sinner can be redeemed and turn their life around.

The only conclusion i can draw from the Christian support for execution is that the people who want to proclaim their Christianity the loudest lack faith in God. They simply do not believe the teachings of Jesus and simply do not believe in the religion they so loudly proclaim.

It is also notable that many of these same people also seek to regulate everyone else’s sexual morality – they are the ones who seek to ban homosexuality and claim it is a choice. They also seek to regulate what people can do in the bedrooms and really seem to want to ban all sex outside of a forcible arranged marriage.

They also are the ones who most loudly beat the war drums and want to show their manhood through killing defenseless animals. They parade around with guns – again claiming their faith is in Jesus and trying to enforce Christianity at gun point (apparently they missed the part where Jesus was referred to as the Prince of Peace and they obliviously have never heard the Beauitudes).

All of these things are likely connected since they all of their roots in inseucurity – since the people claiming this are primarily male one can discern what the source of their insecurity ultimately is (which is why while they oppose distribution of birth control even for medical purposes by private insurance companies they are totally in favor of Viagra and Cialis being distributed).

That is the ultimate root of the support of the death penalty and many other things – insecurity primarily by men (and women married to nsecurie men). The loudness of the proclaimations of Christianity (as well as the desire to force their particular brand of Christianity on everyone else) is no difference from them wanting to have a fully automatic AK-47 for “personal protection” or to have total male domination of society where women have no rights and are essentially property of men. Rush Limbaugh even advocated forcing women to get married yesterday. Talk about the poster child for male insecurity.

It all is part and parcel of the same thing.

On another note, i’m fully in supportive of the peach velour becoming the official uniform especially if during the hot months women are allowed to choose to wear peach bikinis instead of a jump suit and for equality sense, if men like Sam choose to they can substitute a peach Speedo. That might also help the cause of reproduction ;)

Legalized and forced prostitution has been frequently used as a means of social control (especially of women) by totalitarian countries throughout history. In fact, if you look as a historic matter, it is really only once you get to the Protestant Reformation and especially the Puritans where you really see heavy religious objections to prostitution (in Biblical times as documented by the Bible itself, prostitution of women generally from other cultures other than Hebrew was common – much of that prostitution appears to be forced prostitution).

That you ignore that says to me that you simply do not care about the treatment of women and in many cases children because if you did, you’d know that totalitarian regiemes do not tend to be highly moral in their views and enforcement – quite simply loosened morality (such as by tolerating or encouraging prostitution) can also be a strong means of social control (again, especially of women).

In any case, even in totalitarian regiemes as history (and the present) shows morality has always been only for little people. The wealthy elites have always been able to do whatever they want to.

Beck is a thinker? It seems to me he’s a con man.