Junto Boys

SECRETS AND MORE


Trish uses SECRET deodorant. The ad campaign from my childhood was “strong enough for a man but made for a woman.” I saw a TV ad for Secret today and it said “Secret, strong like a woman.” What? The original meaning was that men smell like oxen and their deodorant has to be strong. The secret behind SECRET is that it’s strong enough for a man, but made for people who shouldn't stink as much, but just might. I can’t help but think that someone must have decided the original wording was offensive because it implied that women weren’t “strong.” But what does it mean to be "strong like a woman?" It’s like saying, “Sensitive like a man.”

Unless something has happened elsewhere in the country where women have taken over chopping wood, mowing the lawn, and bench pressing, I just don’t see the point. Can women be physically strong? yes. Can men be sensitive, yes. But that’s not how you associate those attributes, because each is less so than the other. Other similar examples would include “sweet like cheese”, “angry like a priest”, and “erudite like an uncle.”

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The Left is always down on corporations, but I think we libertarians have been the first to notice that corporations are adhering to political correctness at an alarming rate. Other than making money, there are very few things that corporations do anymore that are overtly right wing. Still, they are evil and greedy and heartless. Years ago when the union guy (I should do an entire entry on him sometime) was trying to recruit me I saw him sitting in our cafeteria with his boss, the VP of the local. I introduced myself and asked why the union gives 98% of their money to Democrats. Because Democrats have traditionally supported the working man etc. and corporations are greedy and we need someone on our side. But what exactly are we getting for our money considering that our CEO is a Democrat? So, ah how long have you worked here . . .

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Back in graduate school, my professor of American politics was a Democrat. I think he worked for Carter at some point or was somehow connected to that circle. He made the case in class one day that it didn’t matter if the United Nations was ineffective, a point I suppose he was ceding, because having a forum to keep the discussion open is valuable. That crosses my mind often when I’ve had it with the U.N. I tend to think that his 1994 analysis was dead-on in a cold war world. But in a world of rogue nations and terrorists I think the United Nations is becoming a barrier to solving problems. The organization is outmoded because it’s chartered on the idea that everyone is reasonable. Sting was right that the Russians loved their children and it turned out they loved them enough to surrender to Reagan. But today’s villains don’t get that channel. There is no Whitehouse hotline to Osama’s mountain cave or Saddam’s palace. The U.N. cannot be effective in bringing them together for meaningful dialogue. What they can do is get a group of nations together to disagree about strong action and since they have somehow become the only arbiter of international law, we become the rogue nation for being sober and decisive. I don’t know how we’d be any worse without them.

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The FAIRNESS DOCTRINE is irksome, but with the rise of the Internet and Satellite Radio, the biggest victim will be AM radio. So many small stations became profitable simply because Rush Limbaugh was worth listening to.

The government once split up the Hollywood Studio System that produced, distributed and shown pictures under one umbrella. What if movie theatres had to balance their product with an equal number of pictures of opposing view? A Clooney movie about McCarthy runs next to a film about Kennedy botching the Bay of Pigs while spooning some mob mol. A Stone movie about the CIA’s assassination of JFK runs next to a film about how the de-funding of the CIA led to 9-11.

Have you ever seen HBO produce a conservative documentary? It would irk them no little to have to start producing them.

What’s really great about the FAIRNESS DOCTRINE debate is how the Left fears actual political speech, but will consider every verbal and even nonverbal vulgarity to be fully protected. We right-leaning individuals have for so long expected movies and TV to be slanted that we laugh it off under most circumstances. We’re so use to having to defend our views we’ve become good at it. They just cover their ears and chant “la la la la la” until they can reach the tuner.

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And what happened over at NBC? Jack Welch’s legacy is not in the news division. Covering the Live Earth concert, NBC said that it didn’t consider climate change a political issue. Wow. That’s what we mean when we say liberal media. There was a time when fighting our country’s enemies wasn’t a political issue. The only thing beyond question these days is misapplied science presented in the form of a church revival.

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David Beckham is Becks. Prince William is called Wills. Is that a common British nickname idiosyncrasy or do they only speak plural about larger than life characters?

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Back to talk radio, Walter Williams guest hosted Rush on Friday and I had to run to my afternoon appointment and I didn’t get to listen to any of it. What a big disappointment. He doesn’t host often and I always look forward to it. He’s brilliant and as a bonus Thomas Sowell nearly always comes on with him for 30-60 minutes to talk issues. You never see Sowell on TV or only hear him on radio when Williams is the host. It’s almost worth breaking down to order Rush 24/7 just to hear Williams do his thing. With my luck, he doesn’t archive the guest hosts.

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I owe this blog movie reviews going back to early May. They are mostly written, but I have 2 or 3 to go. Maybe later this weekend.