Was it all about gender? (Ava and C.I.)

Lindsay Lohan is an actress, a young actress. She is not bullseye, she should not be a target and though bitchy Perez Hilton can't grasp that, we'd like to think that people who actually can form complete sentences and have read something weightier than Teen Beat can understand.

A friend who worked with Lindsay (an actress) called us Saturday and wanted to know if we could write something about Lohan? She'd seen Monday's "Iraq snapshot" -- where C.I. had called out Media Matters for their ridiculing of Lohan -- and she thought we'd be willing to write something.

We are. This isn't an answers piece.

We have no answers.

We do have a series of questions.




Mainly we question Judge Marsha Revel?

Exactly what's going through her mind?

See, we know the bad boys of the entertainment world. We remember, for example, Christian Slater's run-ins with the law. Including his assaulting a police officer.

It's cute how that's forgotten today and really wasn't a big issue in real time. We imagine if Lindsay or Tatum O'Neal or any of the Bad Girls had bit a police officer on the stomach and kicked him, not only would their behavior be described as stereotypically "girlish," they'd never live the incident down. Somehow Christian got a pass.

Why is Lindsay now sentenced to jail and rehab?

The judge would argue that Lindsay failed to attend all of her education classes. Well that would be a reflection on the facility, wouldn't it?


Yeah, it would be and it is. Pass The Blame Cheryl Marshall showed up at the hearing armed with insults aimed at Lindsay while rushing to insist the facility she co-owns -- Right On Programs -- had done nothing wrong.

Really? Because by her own admission, the judge ordered Marshall to have Lindsay attend all classes and, by her own admission, Marshall disregarded that because the judge did not put it in writing.

So explain to us how this Lindsay's fault?

We don't think Judge Revel is a bad person. We do, however, think the judge has overstepped her bounds. She is to be concerned with the law and only the law.

If Lindsay were Robert Downey, Jr., would she now be heading off to prison?

How many ounces of coke did Robert have on him when he was finally sent to jail -- while on probation caught with how much coke?

But Linsday's going off to jail because she didn't attend enough classes?

What we're asking is why the double standard? Why is it that Linsday's a wreck who must be saved? It is because she's a young woman?

The court seems to be suffering from some confusion. Lindsay Lohan is a young adult, but she is an adult. There is no need for in loco parentis. She is an adult.

There seems to be this notion that she's a train wreck that someone else can save.

We'll agree her life has been a train wreck for the last years. But the only one who can save Lindsay is Lindsay. (For all we know, she's already in the process of doing that. It would appear she was taking several smart steps long before this month.) The judge appears to have come down hard on Lindsay not out of hatred for her but out of desire to help her and, in the process, the judge seems confused about the law and her own role.

It's a confusion that's long been present when it comes to Lohan. For example, when Robert Downey Junior was repeatedly in and out of jail and rehab, we don't recall cluck-clucking over his parents. But Dina Lohan is made to be a huge jerk in one press account after another. Strange, we're unaware that Dina introduced Lohan to drugs. But didn't Downey Senior introduce Robert to drugs? Why is it, in the media and in society, a man just decides to do drugs but a woman must be a reflection on low morals and a bad family?

Reality, one answer we do know, drug addiction can strike anyone. Some people are predisposed due to various gentic factors; however, drug addiction is a disease.

What we're wondering is why the treatment Lindsay's receiving currently would be so different, so very different if she were a man?

Sexism can come from all sides -- not just from men. And infantilizing a grown woman to 'protect her' (put her up on a pedestal?) is a form of sexism as well. Wanting to save Lindsay is a wonderful impulse in many ways -- but it's not a valid one because only Lindsay can save herself. The judge's sentence is overly harsh and fails to note that the court obviously erred in the extreme when they elected to send Lohan to Right On Programs.

Hypocrisy, thy name is vanden Heuvel

Mere weeks ago, we published "On whores and karma (Ava and C.I.)." In that article, Ava and C.I. were noting how ludicrous it was for Katrina vanden Heuvel to whine the way she did:



Not only did she lament "policies that will hurt women" and a lack of "pay equity" she went on to whine, ". . . there's much more attention in our mainstream media to the right wing women. Just as in the same way we've seen the tea party inflated and there's too little attention to the women who are running on peace and justice."

Really?

Katrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of The Nation which published 491 men and only 149 women in 2007. And she wants to talk about pay equity? (She certainly doesn't want to talk about how she pays men more for their writing than she does women -- doesn't want to talk about it, but it is true.) And she wants to talk about "policies that will hurt women"? We happen to believe that publishing 491 men in one year but only 149 women is hurting women.

She's upset that the mainstream media is focusing (in her mind) on right wing women and she's whining that it's just like with the tea party. She's editor and publisher of The Nation. Does she want to explain why her publication obsessed over the Tea Party? Does she not understand that those weeks and weeks of five and six pieces at The Nation on the Tea Party didn't go unnoticed by the MSM? Does she not get that the frenzy and moaning and whining by her ilk built the Tea Party?

During all that time, The Nation wasn't covering Donna Edwards or any of the "peace and justice women" Katrina could be barely be bothered with actually naming when she was castigating the MSM for . . . not talking about these women.

"There are so many women who don't get attention," whined Katrina. "Where is the narrative about those women and what they've accomplished?"

Gee, Katrina, where is the attention? You know it's too bad that you don't run a weekly magazine where you could assign stories and bring attention to these women . . .

Oh, wait, she does. She is editor and publisher of The Nation.


We were reminded of that on Friday evening when we checked out The Nation website.

Katrina had castigated the MSM for all their attention on Republican women and the Tea Party and all but beat her chest and pulled her hair out as she lamented, "There are too many women who don't get attention. Where is the narrative about those women and what they've accomplished?"

Good question. But you'll never find the answer at The Nation magazine.


Click on the screen caps below and please find the article on those progressive women that everybody's ignoring.






Uh, you can't, can you? That's because The Nation -- the magazine Katrina controls -- still isn't writing about those women. But we count three features on Sarah Palin and Republican women and another feature on the Tea Party. We also see that Palin is featured on the cover of The Nation.

Sarah Palin is not over the Gulf Disaster, not over the economy, nor in charge of the wars. We would argue that she's become one of the most overexposed people in America. And while some on the left would chuckle, we would then point out that the most intense coverage of Palin continues to come from the left and that it continues to border on a sickness.

Katrina wanted to know why no one reported on the progressive women. Someone pinch her awake and remind her that she's in charge of what The Nation publishes online and in print.

Highlights

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.

"I Hate The War" -- Most requested highlight of the week.


Isaiah's The World today Just Nuts "The Dorks of Summer" -- Isaiah returned with an insta-classic.

"Iraq snapshot," "It's about respect and self-respect," "Dr. Robert Jesse," "House Veterans Affairs suicide hearing," and "Senate Veterans Affairs Committee"-- C.I., Trina, Ann, Marica and Mike report on Congressional hearings.

"Diana Ross" and "Roberta Flack" -- Betty and Stan on two of their favorites.

"Katha Pollitt: Forever Fat Ass" and "ugly katha pollitt spews more stupidity" -- Betty and Rebecca take on Katha.

"Amy Winehouse" and "Joni and Laura" -- Kat does light musical posts.

"Murders' Row" -- Stan's Friday movie blogging.

"The fall of Cockburn" -- Elaine calls out and parodies Cockburn.


"THIS JUST IN! NO LIMELIGHT SHARED!" & "All About Barry" -- There's something so backstabbing and backbiting about Barack he's like Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls. Go, Nomi, go!!!


"Quality Time" -- Isaiah dips into the archives for this one about Bully Boy massaging Bully Mama's corns.


"Soup and Slurp -- not in my Kitchen" -- That's a truly ghastly recipe for soup.

"The Divorce Ranch" -- Our favorite post by Ann of the week.

"Lynne" and "No justice" -- Marica and Ruth on the verdict. And you can also see Ruth's "Lynne Stewart Rally Tom Paine Park Wednesday" and "Lynne Stewart" and Trina's "Silences on Lynne Stewart" for more on Lynne.


"Reality of today" -- Mike breaks it down.

"THIS JUST IN! AGED IN WOOD!" & "Gramps, sit down already damn!" -- Wally and Cedric take on the Hopium sniffer.

Truest statement of the week

During the campaign, many colleagues and friends of mine, assured me that Obama was just saying this hostile crap to "get elected" and once he was elected that he would "do the right thing." Well, first of all, why support such a pandering Jackwagon, and secondly, how has that ever worked? Three days after Obama swore to uphold and defend the Constitution, he drone-bombed a "target" in Pakistan killing 3 dozen civilians -- and since that day he has elevated the art of drone bombings to new heights, while the so-called antiwar movement looks on in silent complacency and while Democratic operatives disguised as antiwar groups are hoping against hope that Obama comes out strong with a new antiwar marketing campaign to assure his "re-election." Even though not one progressive issue has been propagated during his term, these war supporters are looking forward to another four years of the dance of death. Right foot kill -- left foot torture -- spin around for environmental devastation -- allemande left for health care fascism -- and shimmy right for bankster bailouts. Wasn't eight years of this crap during the Bush stain enough for y'all?

-- Cindy Sheehan's "Requiem for the Antiwar Movement by Cindy Sheehan" (Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox). Cindy Sheehan and Peace of the Action have already kicked off "Sizzlin Summer: Independence from oil, Free Palestine, Anti-drone & Counter Recruitment Protests, July 4th through July 17th" in DC. For a breakdown of the activities, click here.

Truest statement of the week II

Many antiwar groups and people who claim they are for peace lose their minds during election season thinking that the razor-thin difference between the Democrat and Republican is enough to go ape-s**t crazy in working for the Democrat. Just take the last two Democratic candidates, for example. Kerry and Obama both supported more war. An "antiwar" movement de-legitimizes itself when it works hard for a candidate who does not promise total and rapid withdrawal of troops from wherever they happen to be at the time AND does not promise to end war as an imperial tool of corporate conquest.

-- Cindy Sheehan's "Requiem for .he Antiwar Movement by Cindy Sheehan" (Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox). Cindy Sheehan and Peace of the Action have already kicked off "Sizzlin Summer: Independence from oil, Free Palestine, Anti-drone & Counter Recruitment Protests, July 4th through July 17th" in DC. For a breakdown of the activities, click here.

A note to our readers

Hey --
Sunday, Sunday.

Another week. Along with Dallas, the following helped on this edition:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

and Betty's kids who did the illustration of Cindy Sheehan. We thank all of them.

What did we come up with?

• Truest statement of the week

Cindy Sheehan had this week's truest.

• Truest statement of the week II

And Cindy Sheehan had this week's truest. Seriously, we almost had a third truest from Cindy but decided two in one week was enough to get her the record. (She's the only person to ever get both truests in the same week.)

• Editorial: End Operation Happy Talk

I (Jim) really wanted this to be more. (C.I. just started singing Joni Mitchell, "It could have been more, than the name on the door . . .") But we did the editorial last and we were exhausted. Although, honestly, most of us didn't work that hard except for Ava and C.I. They worked like crazy, as you'll see. But we are all together and that's rare so we snacked, we joked, we had fun.

• TV: They didn't name it Lucky Town

My only real accomplishment this edition is coming up with the title to Ava and C.I.'s TV article. "Lucky Town," by the way, is the name of a Bruce Springsteen song that popped into my head when I was trying to think of a title.

• Roundtable

This was a fun roundtable and we pulled the funny part. At the request of the funsters. It's still a strong roundtable covering a number of topics.

• Cindy's in DC, Where are we? (Ava and C.I.)

Ava and C.I. Covering Cindy's protests and much more. This really is a strong piece and they weren't really finished but Dona called time on the edition after the editorial so they said "It is what it is" and forwarded it on to me.

• Barry's Geriatric 'Progs'

We all worked on this piece. I think it's needed.

• Dear Jane - an open letter (Ava and C.I.)

Again, Ava and C.I. They didn't want Jane addressed in the above and promised to address her solo. Thanks to Isaiah for letting us use his drawing of Jane Fonda.

• Bomb threat outside the White House?

A repost.

• Highlights

We thank the usual suspects for doing this.

And that's what we've got. Hope you found something to make you laugh, think or piss you off. That's it. Dona says it's time to eat and go to bed.



Peace.

-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

Editorial: End Operation Happy Talk

Doug Henwood: Meanwhile we had Joe Biden visiting -- in a fly-by visit to Iraq the other day. And he's saying, 'You'd be surprised by how well things are going there' -- or something to that effect. What in God's name is he talking about?

Bill Hartung: Well, you know, I don't think -- There's still religious and ethnic divides, there's still suicide bombings, there's difficulty in forming a, you know, consensus government. I think this is kind of under the category "Maybe We Can Get Out And Nobody Will Notice Because Of All The Build Up In Afghanistan." So after all the money and all the lives that have been lost, you know, they certainly haven't built the, you know, new, democratic, accountable government in Afghanistan that the Bush administration kept promising.

That's from last week's Doug Henwood's Behind The News program.

What the hell was Joe Biden doing?



Above he's shaking hands with a new US citizen. That we can understand. But the rest of that trip?

From Saturday through last Monday, the vice president of the United States was in Iraq.

Ever since Beau Biden got back from Iraq, Joe's been trying to sell it as a success. Originally, he tried selling it as Barack's success and that pissed off a number of right-wingers. So now he tries to pimp it as a success for Barack and Bush.

It's War Crimes. It's no success.

But there was Biden trying so hard to sell it to reporters.

And they were happy to swallow.

He talked about the 'little violence.' And got away with it through Wednesday. That's the day the attack on the pilgrims resulted in at least 68 of them dead.

In the Bush administration, they never learned. They'd spin and spin and be surprised when reality struck them in the face. It appears this is one more thing Barack's carried over to the new administration.

Not only did the violence last week reject Biden's assertion, so did the United Nations Assistance Mission's [PDF format warning] "Human Rights Report."

But we're supposed to buy another wave of Operation Happy Talk. It was stupid enough when the Bush administration thought they could get away with it. It's downright insulting when Barak and Biden continue it.

TV: They didn't name it Lucky Town

"Don't let the name fool you," ABC bored in their tease last April for Happy Town. Happy Town, like Eastwick and assorted other ABC shows of the last ten or so months, existed mainly to allow a few ABC execs to delude themselves into thinking they were all-powerful and all-knowing. While canceling shows made them feel all-powerful, an actual all-knowing exec would have realized they had way too many holes in their schedule.



Happy Town could have filled one of those holes this fall. The show had a lot going for it, chiefly its two stars: Lauren German and Geoff Stults. Both gave amazing, full-bodied performances that could hook you in and, given the chance, created a loyal following. It never got that chance. It was canceled and, despite ABC promising to run all eight episodes, they dumped the last two episodes online.

Which is not to say there were no problems with the show. It suffered, for example, from similar problems that the creative team's last show suffered from. That show was October Road. Set aside Stults and there was no man who was involving and sexually appealing. Possibly had a woman been a part of the team (Scott Rosenberg, Andre Nemec and Josh Appelbaum), Dean Winters would never have been dropped from the show to be replaced with the hideous Steven Weber.

Steven Weber, to put it into lingo the producers can understand, is an erection shriveler.

There are no moist moments when Weber is on air. First of all, he's never been that attractive to begin with but, when he almost passed for attractive, his hair was blond (Wings). Twenty years after he started playing that role, his hair is dark and worn as if it were colonial times. The hair, like the body, is revolting. Add in that he comes across onscreen as a lightweight and there was never any reason to cast him of John Haplin. Unattractive, unappealing and unable to deliver any line without a whine reading, Steven Weber may have been the very thing that ran viewers off.

Certainly, his post Wings career demonstrates that he is both an audience and show killer. But he was supposed to be the most important man in the twon of Haplin and, in fact, the most important man in the Haplin family. While Peggy Haplin (his mother, played by Frances Conroy) ran things, her power would have appeared all the more frightening if her son hadn't been such a simpering fool.

Haplin was a "Happy Town" largely because the series of kidnappings had ceased. Henley (really Chloe to those outside Haplin, played by German) came into the mysterious town just as things began to shift -- including the sheriff's freak out which puts Deputy Tommy Conroy (Stults) into the sherrif's seat.

Henley moves into a local boarding house with a bizarre landlady who thinks she can steer all conversations and keep people off of the house's third floor. The boarding house has one male resident, Merrit Grieves (Sam Neil). He runs a film curio shop in town and has all the older ladies enraptured. He and Henley bond over their natures (both are highly secretive). Henley is not 'new' to Haplin as everyone thinks and, through numerous phone calls, she's guided by another Haplin native.

As the episodes progress, Henley makes it to the third floor, grabs what she knew was hidden there (a hammer) and is almost caught but a distraction by Merrit allows her to continue her own secretive plot. Driving out of town with Carly Simon's "You're So Vain" playing on the stereo, her car is basically attacked by a bird causing her to run off the road and into several trees. At which point a tall, dark stranger appears. He 'rescues' her and they end up bedding down in a motel. When he's gone, she quickly learns, so is the hammer.

TDS is just out of prison, Tommy's old high school buddy/nemises and part of the town's low-life Stiviletto family. When she turns her hammer over to Peggy Haplin, Henley is paid off with millions; however, there is a catch. She can't leave town. Henley takes Peggy's words to mean that she must stay, as in order. She doesn't really believe Peggy can prevent her from leaving. She soon finds out otherwise as the roads close down, the train stops running and much more. After several cat and mouse games, a confrontation takes place in which Peggy pretends to know what Henley must be thinking: Did Greggy Stiviletto really love her or just seduce her because Peggy paid him to? Peggy went on and on and on. Then ordered her henchman to take Henley to a guest house and keep her there. On the way, Merritt knocked him out. The same Merritt who was aiding Henley by pretending to . . . be in love with . . . Peggy Haplin.

Frances Conroy's finest moments on the show came when she was forced to relive the taunts she hurled at Henley and realize that they applied to her own life.

Henley's was the plot that move steadily forward. There were many other plots and the bulk of them circled around each other.

But it was a show that could involve you and, provided Weber wasn't onscreen, could keep you longing for more.

It had a teen love story, it had a class (economic class) storyline, it had a little bit of everything.

The kidnapper was known as the Magic Man (and Heart's "Magic Man" was often played on the show). At one point, the end of episode three, the Magic Man has kidnapped Tommy's wife Rachel (Amy Aker). Which made the revelation of who the Magic Man was in episode eight all the more shocking.

The hammer. Henley stole it back from Peggy. She took it to Tommy and explained that his mother did not die of natural causes, as he was told, but was instead killed with this hammer by Peggy Haplin. Tommy confronted his father. As Henley (and whomever was guiding her from outside the town) expected, his father then rushed off to see the Magic Man.

Who was . . . Alice Conroy (Dee Wallace). Obviously not dead. And that she was the Magic Man and that she was alive (and that she'd kidnapped her own daughter-in-law Rachel) raised a series of questions. Ones that Henley would have, no doubt, pursued.

But ABC, as we noted at the start, instead has way too many holes in their schedule.

"They'll just fill them up with new shows," you say.

Well, yes, they will; however, will anyone watch.

FlashForward wasn't our favorite show of the year by any means; however, it did have some dedicated fans. It was far from alone and ABC canceled a lot of shows from fall 2009 through spring 2010. That's really not how you encourage viewing. Especially when it comes to new shows. If, for example, you enjoyed Eastwick or FlashForward, you might intentionally avoid ABC's new shows this fall feeling that anything you enjoy will end up canceled by the network anyway.

In the end, thanks to ABC, all that Happy Town really accomplished was demonstrating that Geoff Stults and Lauren German are two of the most interesting talents to emerge. Stults was known for playing the boy (we use that term intentionally) on 7th Heaven. Here he played a very complex man and gave an always surprising performance. German had to both make her character come alive and act as the show's tour guide. She carried both tasks off with plenty of talent and charm to spare. The suits may have canceled the show before it could find an audience, but not before Stults and German had a chance to strut their stuff.