Missed TributesPitifully dishonest? Really? So anyone who suggested that we work for peace, instead of gearing up for war, was pitifully dishonest. How the fuck would Ben Fucking Stein know what was in anyone's heart when it comes to honesty? Shit, the man worked for Dicky Nixon, one of the most dishonest people on earth ever.
By Ben Stein
Published 3/6/2006 2:08:21 AM
Now for a few humble thoughts about the Oscars.
I did not see every second of it, but my wife did, and she joins me in noting that there was not one word of tribute, not one breath, to our fighting men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan or to their families or their widows or orphans. There were pitifully dishonest calls for peace -- as if the people we are fighting were interested in any peace for us but the peace of the grave. But not one word for the hundreds of thousands who have served and are serving, not one prayer or moment of silence for the dead and maimed
Basically, the sad truth is that Hollywood does not think of itself as part of America, and so, to Hollywood, the war to save freedom from Islamic terrorists is happening to someone else. It does not concern them except insofar as it offers occasion to mock or criticize George Bush. They live in dreamland and cannot be gracious enough to thank the men and women who pay with their lives for the stars' ability to live in dreamland. This is shameful.
Shameful? Where are the WMD? Over 1000 days past "Mission Accomplished," they still don't have enough body armor or armored Humvees. Vet health care is being cut by Republicans, a bunch of draft dodging chicken hawks, and Ben FUCKING Stein has the balls to call an Award show shameful? It's a GODDAMN AWARDS SHOW for Christ's sake. The people who should be gracious enough to thank the men and women who pay with their lives for George Bush's lies are in the White House. How many soldiers funerals has GW Bush been to? NONE. I wonder how many Ben Fucking Stein has been to. I know he's just another Republican Chicken Hawk who didn't serve.
The idea that it is brave to stand up for gays in Hollywood, to stand up against Joe McCarthy in Hollywood (fifty years after his death), to say that rich white people are bad, that oil companies are evil -- this is nonsense. All of these are mainstream ideas in Hollywood, always have been, always will be. For the people who made movies denouncing Big Oil, worshiping gays, mocking the rich to think of themselves as brave -- this is pathetic, childish narcissism.I wonder if Ben saw "Good night and good luck." Sure, it's 50 years since the rabid right wing McCarthy (no doubt a hero of Stein's) died, but the movie draws parallels to today's culture of "anti-terrorism," which, in the run-amok state it's in under George W. McCarthy, is damn near as hysterical as 50 years ago. If Stein had his way, we'd be infiltrating anti-war groups and eves-dropping on Democrats like John Murtha who dare to speak the truth about Bush's war. And who said all rich white people are bad? Huh? Is Ben making up something to be upset about here? Is Ben saying that oil companies aren't evil? Huh? And who said they were? George Clooney again? Syrianna isn't about Oil companies being evil. It's about the fact that we deal with some very evil people in order to get oil out of that very fucked up place it's in. To do so, our government, and world-wide oil companies have to do some evil things.
The brave guy in Hollywood will be the one who says that this is a fabulously great country where we treat gays, blacks, and everyone else as equal. The courageous writer in Hollywood will be the one who says the oil companies do their best in a very hostile world to bring us energy cheaply and efficiently and with a minimum of corruption. The producer who really has guts will be the one who says that Wall Street, despite its flaws, has done the best job of democratizing wealth ever in the history of mankind.Wow. Wouldn't it be great if we did, in fact, treat gays, blacks, and everyone else as equals? Is Ben Fucking Stein suggesting that by not allowing gay people to marry, we are treating them as equally as we treat blacks (who weren't allowed to marry whites until the 60's)? Is Ben Fucking Stein telling me there aren't people like CLASSY FUCKING NOVA who like to point out that the Bible says we should stone gay people to death? Are you, Tommy, suggesting that every thing is hunky fucking dory because Ben Stein says it is? Democratizing wealth? PULEEEASE! We have the most inequitable distribution of wealth right now that we have ever had in modern times. CEOs make 1000 times what the average worker makes. And we're cutting taxes for the uber rich as fast as we can. A minimum of corruption in the oil companies? Good god, man, what color is the sky on Ben Stein's planet? Blood red?
No doubt the men and women who came to the Oscars in gowns that cost more than an Army Sergeant makes in a year, in limousines with champagne in the back seat, think they are working class heroes to attack America -- which has made it all possible for them. They are not. They would be heroes if they said that Moslem extremists are the worst threat to human decency since Hitler and Stalin. But someone might yell at them or even attack them with a knife if they sad that, so they never will.Attack them with a knife? What kind of threat is that? Damn, I wish Ben Stein would say that to my face, the little chicken shit. How about we pay Army sergeants more? How about the gowns at Republican fund raisers? Doesn't seem to bother Ben when Laura Bush shows up in a 10 G dress. And how about the Americans who showed up to the Oscars in hybrids? Gee, I wonder what Ben Fucking Stein drives? Furthermore, there is no way in hell that some Muslims with box cutters and IEDs are as big a threat to decency since Stalin or Hitler. Let's see, who's the superpower that's been torturing people, spying on it's own citizens, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, and lying it's way into war?
Hollywood is above all about self: self-congratulation, self-promotion, and above all, self-protection. This is human and basic, but let's not kid ourselves. There is no greatness there in the Kodak theater. The greatness is on patrol in Kirkuk. The greatness lies unable to sleep worrying about her man in Mosul. The greatness sleeps at Arlington National Cemetery and lies waiting for death in VA Hospitals. God help us that we have sunk so low as to confuse foolish and petty boasting with the real courage that keeps this nation and the many fools in it alive and flourishing on national TV.
Holy fucking shit, Tommy. I can't believe you would forward this drivel. This Bush loving slobbery kiss of a waste of words. As if Hollywood had decided to send these kids to die. As if Hollywood had lied about WMD and non-existent ties to Al Qaeda. As if Hollywood, and not Ben Fucking Stein and his right wing freaks at FAUX NEWS, had convinced 90% of the Bush voters that Saddam was responsible for 9-11. The idea that these men and women are dying for some great cause is a LIE. They are dying for LIES. They are fighting petty thugs in Iraq. Meanwhile, the real terrorists are still free. I didn't hear one mention out of Ben Stein's fat mouth about Osama Bin forgotten. Not one word about the Musharaf Junta in Pakistan that we call our friends (an unelected, non-democratic Islamic regime that is barely hanging in on in a country that not only has, but has distributed, nuclear weapons). Not one word about the fact that REPUBLICANS have voted against every increase in port security, or chemical plant security, or railroad security the Democrats have put forth. Not one word about how Bush has cut Veterans health care. Not one word about how the Republican party has been selling out the American people for a fucking golf trip or a cruise.
The greatness in this country is in the people who know, repeat, publish, and pursue the truth. Hollywood has been making movies about truth and greatness for a century now. There have been many different takes on greatness in the movies. There is no ONE SINGLE Hollywood that is any one way or another. There are, however, many brave people who made movies about civil rights BEFORE the civil rights movement. There are many brave Hollywood people who have made great films about the threats, problems, prejudices, and shitheads in America. Hopefully, one of them will make a movie about what an ass Ben Stein is. As for greatness in the Kodak Theater, well, there were some damn good stagehands, ushers, janitors, camera people, dancers, singers, and actors who are a hell of a lot better people than Ben Stein will ever be.
