BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by Karen Northon In Hollywood, it all comes down to how well you can deliver a line, which is perhaps why so many in the land of make-believe adore the dictatorial drama queen Hugo Chavez. The whole world truly is a stage. The man is a compelling orator to those whose ideological cataracts prevent them from seeing through Chavez’s persuasive rhetoric to the underlying persecution complex that directs his every move. Hollywood is flooded with such visually-impaired, self-proclaimed foreign policy experts who believe Chavez just wants to hold hands with everyone and sing We Are the World. Socialist-dictator groupie Sean Penn spent some quality time with Chavez in 2007 and again in 2008, calling him “a fascinating guy.” In Penn’s defense, I will admit I find documentaries about serial killers fascinating – though I don’t think I’d care to spend time cozying up with one and waxing intellectual about the politics of their brutality. Then we have everyone’s favorite conspiracy-theory movie d...

"I'LL NEVER HIRE ANOTHER WOMAN..." Sometimes misogyny and breath-taking stupidity leave me SPEECHLESS: When Bush chief domestic policy advisor Karl Zinsmeister was editing The American Enterprise, an AEI house organ, here’s what he had to say to business manager, Garth Cadiz: “[ZINSMEISTER] I am never going to hire another woman because they just get pregnant and leave.” Attaboy! Of course, as always with authoritarians, it sounds better in the original German: Kinder, Küche, Kirche…. NOTE It’s actually worth getting a free login to real the sleaze on this guy. He’s no worse than the usual Republican kleptocrat, but the details are so entertaining. I like that Zinsmeister got a $125,000 salary and used his own books as subscription premiums, collecting thousands in royalties and inflating sales. Good preparation for the Bush White House, I’m sure. NOTE Here’s the full quote: But the biggest grievance harbored by the magazine’s staff concerned Zinsmeister...

Authoritarian Behavior of the Religious Right In the summer of 1974 two galvanizing events happened to me... first, I fell in love for the first time. Second, I was glued to Watergate. My mother and Nana would tell me to go outside. I would grab a radio and go dig in the garden I maintained at the side of our house and listen. If I was indoors, the TV was on. This was pre-C-SPAN. I was just 17 and I was riveted. The person who riveted me the most was John Dean. I was fascinated watching this man answer questions about the bad behavior of the President. It was real life Washington hijinks happening right before my eyes. My mother then begged me to go to law school. I took and passed the LSAT in early 1979 but changed my mind about law school when my internal turmoil and need to 'get out of Dodge' overtook me and I moved to New York with $243., one suitcase and a sleeping bag that August. And here I remain. One of the reasons I started blogging was my growing disconte...