Month: November 2010

To all those inclined to have one.

PAD

Every so often, America surprises me. Bristol Palin came in third. And considering she said tonight that she wanted to win–not because she felt she was the best–but because she wanted to upset all the people who “hate me and hate my mother”–I think that said it all.

Still waiting to see if my original post on this topic weeks ago predicting Grey would be the one to beat (before all the “Operation Bristol” nonsense came to light) was right.

PAD

UPDATED: YES! (And Jennifer, I can totally sympathize with the whole ruptured disc problem.)

So…here’s the pitch: Dirty Dancing 2 (Yes, I know there was one set in Cuba; forget that.) Baby returns to Kellerman’s twenty years later when the place is getting ready to close (as many of them did in the 80s. ) Baby is there with her son by Johnny (who has since passed away) who is a total loser and finds his inner dancer, not to mention romance (of course.) Meanwhile Baby, who has never remarried even though Johnny passed away years ago, finds romance with a handsome guy (Hugh Jackman) who turns out to be the developer planning to level Kellerman’s.

I find myself wondering whether the grope-tastic actions of the TSA constitutes an illegal search in violation of the 4th and 14th Amendment and leaves them open to be sued on that basis by passengers who feel that the current procedures are too intrusive.

The simple act of wanting to take an airplane does not make one a suspect, any more than just getting behind the wheel of a car means that police can automatically pull you over and make you take a sobriety test. I don’t see how just wanting to fly from NYC to LAX constitutes just cause for an intrusive device that effectively strips you naked on television for prying eyes. What happens the very first time that a TSA employee whose job it is to watch subjects passing through the denudeonator gets arrested for having–oh, I dunno–child pørņ on his home computer. How’s that going to go over with the public, I wonder?

And if you feel that a video strip-search is demeaning, your alternative is to receive the same kind of pat down that someone gets just before they’re handcuffed and told to lower their head so they don’t bang it on the cop car?

Millions of innocent air passengers are being treated like criminals every day. How is this not actionable?

PAD

Ages ago, when this season of my guilty pleasure, “Dancing With the Stars,” started up, I expressed irritation that all the media push was ignoring Jennifer Grey. “Nobody puts Baby in a corner,” I declared, and thus far since then I’ve been proven right. She has been the top score-getter practically every week. This evening she was declared to be in the top three for next week’s finals.

Unfortunately I’m starting to think that that’s as far as she’s going to make it. Why? Because the results of a recent poll published in “Hollywood Reporter” indicates that “Dancing” is the ninth most popular TV series on air with Republicans. And who else is still in the show despite dancing performances that are, at best, adequate, and paled in comparison to the magnificent Brandy, who was voted off this evening? Yup: Bristol Palin. There were looks of shock on everyone, particularly Grey’s dance partner, Derek Hough, who was literally slack-jawed, when Brandy was dumped while Bristol was still standing there.

DwtS has always been a popularity contest, but it’s particularly evident this year. It’s becoming abundantly clear that the GOP is lining up behind the daughter of professional candidate Sarah, perhaps in hopes that she’ll show up on the final episode. Mother has wisely kept as clear from daughter as possible, presumably so that if her daughter succeeds, it will be perceived as Bristol’s triumph alone. Should she indeed come out on top, and the odds seem for it (although I’d dearly love to be wrong) trust me: It won’t be perceived that way.

PAD