By Debbie Schlussel
I thought for sure it was a sign of the times when I saw a building, which only recently housed a mortgage banker’s office, now transformed into a pawn shop. Even more significant, the building is in the upscale Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills and right on the border of even more upscale West Bloomfield. I never thought in a million years I’d see a pawn shop within miles of this location. It tells you things are bad for everybody, even the “rich.”
But now, here’s another ominous sign of the bad times–which are NOT all in our mind, though a good deal of it is certainly our leaders’ (and some of our own) fault. Some of this is due to the fall of the value of the American dollar, but still troubling:

It’s not just the U.S. dollar that’s losing value: A government agency has decided that a U.S. life isn’t worth what it used to be.

The “value of a statistical life” is $6.9 million in today’s dollars, the Environmental Protection Agency decided in May — a drop of nearly $1 million from five years ago. The Associated Press discovered the change after a review of cost-benefit analyses over more than a dozen years.
Though it may seem like a harmless bureaucratic recalculation, the devaluation has real consequences.
When drawing up regulations, government agencies weigh the costs versus the lifesaving benefits of a proposed rule. The less a life is worth to the government, the less the need for a regulation, such as tighter pollution restrictions.
Consider, for example, a hypothetical regulation that costs $18 billion to enforce but will prevent 2,500 deaths. At $7.8 million per person (the old figure), the lifesaving benefits outweigh the costs. But at $6.9 million per person, the rule costs more than the lives it saves, so it may not be adopted.

The fact is that as Americans earn more, the calculated value of their lives goes up, so this drop sends the alternatively downwardly corellative message.

By Debbie Schlussel
Because of other things going on that captured my attention, I did not comment, late last week, on the “colorful” comments Jesse Jackson made against Barack Obama, while he allegedly thought a microphone was off, prior to a national cable TV news appearance. But I just have to say it:
I don’t believe for a second that that wasn’t a set-up to make Obama look like a moderate/centrist and different from Jackson. Apologies for the double negative. But that’s exactly what it was–a set-up by Jackson to provide an assist to Obama, who is hurting from the radical past that betrays his GQ visage.
Why do I say it was a set-up? Well, as many cable TV news appearances as I’ve made, Jesse Jackson has made a gazillion more. And even I know that anything you say when you are miked up is picked up by someone, so I never say anything about which I care to limit the audience. Jackson knows this. Not only has he made a ton of TV appearances, but he also once hosted his own show on CNN. He knows better.

And so, I think he did it on purpose, as a favor to Barack Obama, so that once Obama’s in the White House, Jackson will be sitting pretty.
Sure, Jackson doesn’t like Obama. He will take away part of the stage for Jackson’s lifelong career of grievance theater and shakedowns. But Jackson isn’t stupid. He made those comments deliberately, wanting them to get picked up.

By Debbie Schlussel
**** SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO & UPDATES ****
A prominent FOX News/NewsCorp Anchor used her network’s Detroit morning show, which she hosted, to promote Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan in a 20-minute infomercial. Sources say then-anchor, Fanchon Stinger (now fired), did this at the behest of her boyfriend, Rayford Jackson a/k/a Rayford Jackson Muhammad, who was identified by the Nation of Islam’s Final Call newspaper as one of the top national leaders of its “Millions More Movement,” the movement Stinger and Farrakhan were promoting on the air. The FOX 2 News Morning Show, which Stinger hosted, was and remains Detroit’s top rated morning news show. It’s a sad lesson in what is happening in all newsrooms around America. You, the viewer, are being pimped.

“Our People”:
FOX Anchor Fanchon Stinger and Married Nation of Islam Boyfriend Rayford Jackson Used Morning News Show for Louis Farrakhan Infomercial
Sources also say boyfriend Jackson directed the FOX anchor’s softball interview, which mentioned not a single iota about Farrakhan’s many racist, anti-Semitic, and bigoted statements against every ethnic group imaginable. Instead, Stinger instructed the FOX 2 News audience that they “misunderstand” the Farrakhan message and thanked Farrakhan “for your commitment to Our People.” The sources also say they believe Stinger may have received payment from the Nation of Islam or the Millions More Movement, through her Stinger Strategies, Inc. company. The interview was so gushing, the Nation of Islam’s Millions More Movement posted it on its website, which it does not do with most other interviews, which frequently ask Farrakhan about his statements calling Judaism “a gutter religion,” Jews “wicked” and “a synagogue of Satan,” and Hitler “a great man.”
Here is the video of Fanchon Stinger’s nauseating “interview” (pander-view) of Louis Farrakhan, broken into two parts. In the first video, she tells us how we “misunderstand” Farrakhan’s “message” and “vision” and in the second part, she says to Farrakhan, “Thank you for your commitment to Our People.” Even Al-Jazeera’s been tougher on Farrakhan. Watch the whole thing (the videos are about 6 minutes each), and you won’t need ipecac:


THANKS to Fred Taub of Boycott Watch for technical help with these videos
Now, here are a couple of brief refreshers on Farrakhan’s message, which Fanchon Stinger thinks you and I “misunderstand”:


Stinger’s interview with Farrakhan was so drooling and pandering, the only thing missing was her asking Farrakhan to unzip his pants so she could Lewinskyize him. And perhaps that happened during the commercial break. Based on the “interview,” I wouldn’t count that out.
Stinger told the FOX 2 News audience that they must “hear Farrakhan for yourself.” Well, I heard Louis Farrakhan for myself at a Detroit-area mosque, the Islamic Center of America, in November 1998. And for the first time in my life, I understood how my grandparents felt as Jews in Nazi Europe. I heard him call Jews “forces of evil” and “forces of Satan,” in addition to calling for Jihad against them, Whites, and Christians–to the fevered, rabid applause and standing ovations of Black and White Muslim men and women. I wrote about this frightening experience in The Detroit News before it became the Detroit Newsistan. That Stinger used her valuable position of influence as host of Detroit’s top news show to promote this vile man is beyond disgusting. That FOX 2 News–owned and operated by FOX News/Newscorp allowed her to is an untenable outrage.
Yes, the issue is not just that Stinger unethically and uncritically pimped FOX News’ Detroit audience for her boyfriend and his man Farrakhan, without her noting that she was sleeping with at least one of ’em. It’s that FOX 2 News management, News Director Dana Hahn and General Manager Jeff Murri, knew of Stinger’s relationship with Jackson at the time and knew of his high stature in the Nation of Islam. But they allowed her to utilize their airwaves to conduct this sickening interview over a large portion of their morning show. Farrakhan was on for several segments, which ran from 7:50 a.m. to 8:10 a.m. Stinger repeatedly urged viewers to go to the Farrakhan event she was promoting. THIS IS NOT JOURNALISM. This is advertising and advocacy. Murri and Hahn sat by while it happened. They need to go.
I cannot imagine Monica Gayle or Ron Savage, who are White anchors on FOX 2 News, being allowed to have David Duke on the show for a single minute, much less what amounted to over 12 minutes of gushing airtime for Farrakhan. I cannot imagine them saying to Duke on the air: “Thank you for your commitment to ‘Our People.'” But FOX 2 management allowed Stinger to do so with his Black counterpart Farrakhan. I thought the station’s slogan was “FOX 2 News, Working For You.” NOT “FOX 2 News, Working for ‘Our People.'” I left messages with both Hahn and Murri over this interview back in 2005, but they never returned my calls. They did not care that it is a blatant conflict of interest that Stinger was sleeping with the man who was a key national figure in Farrakhan’s “Millions More Effort.” As pseudonymmed FOX 2 News reporter “Scott Lewis” noted last week, Stinger’s relationship with Rayford Jackson was “considered her personal business.”
After I started the ball rolling, FOX News/NewsCorp finally fired Stinger, the face of its Detroit operation, on Thursday. But after FOX 2 News announced the departure of Stinger–a Muslim convert who had a multi-year relationship with the Rayford Jackson, the man at the center of an FBI investigation into bribery of the Detroit City Council over a sludge contract–I wondered how long it would take before the many Detroit media figures who overlooked her transgressions would start the sympathy train over her and try to rehabilitate her.
Well, the rehabilitation campaign started swiftly. On Saturday, The Detroit Newsistan ran a sob story article on Stinger–who accepted countless money from both Syanagro (the sludge contractor) and her married boyfriend Jackson (for whom she hid hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets in her name). The article, entitled “Unlikely Stumble” (when what Stinger did wasn’t a stumble and it wasn’t unlikely–it was a pattern of deliberate, dishonest behavior) quoted colleagues and friends lamenting how “hurt” this unethical journalist is, and quoted a Jewish man, Mort Meisner (whom I know), saying Stinger is of “sterling integrity.” Apparently, Meisner has never seen this Farrakhan interview. If Stinger’s buddy Farrakhan had his way, Mort would be in line behind me for the ovens.
Then, on Sunday, Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson praised Stinger for her beauty and for exiting FOX 2 “gracefully.” Um, Brian, I don’t think she had a choice. And it was hardly what anyone–except the beauty-struck Dickerson–would call, “graceful.”
As for the beauty thing, that–in addition to her race, gender, and religion–are part of why she got away with the multiple journalistic transgressions she openly committed, for so long. Everyone who knew better and was in a position to do something looked the other way, dismissing this blatant conflict of interest the way her colleague, pseudonymmed “Scott Lewis” did, as “her personal business.”
FOX 2 News, Working for Farrakhan. Not for you.
***
Stinger is scheduled to address the media today in her first PR move to get back on the air as a reporter. But don’t bet on her addressing why she put Louis Farrakhan, one of the top racists in America, on the air and drooled over him, literally ad nauseam.
Also don’t expect her to address why she set up a company, which she claims was to do media buys for Synagro, the company her Nation of Islam boyfriend was involved with and in connection with which, he is now at the center of an FBI bribery investigation of the Detroit City Council.
More about Fanchon Stinger’s “sterling integrity”: My sources say there is no record of Synagro ever doing any media buys, and that this was only the “cover story” for the real purpose of her then newly-formed company, Stinger Strategies, LLC. My sources say Stinger was going to use the company to launder money and hide assets for Rayford Jackson Muhammad, just like she did with the almost $1,000,000 in cars he registered in her name, with her acquiescence.
Fanchon Stinger should be ashamed, but she isn’t. She will be lucky not to be indicted. But the whole thing is an indictment of FOX 2, its news operation, and its parent company FOX News/NewsCorp.
**** UPDATE: Fanchon Stinger released a carefully crafted (by her lawyers) BS statement about how she’s innocent. Yeah, innocent of putting people with whom she has illicit relationships on the air and gushing over them, and innocent of taking money from a company she covers and laundering assets for others? I don’t think so. She’s definitely got chutzpah, though–having the gall to call those, including me, who exposed her dishonesty, “malicious.” The only thing malicious was her pimping of her Detroit audience. Malicious AND negligent. She’s now claiming she “can’t” talk until the federal investigation is over, which is interesting, since everyone else involved in the Synagro scandal–everyone who is innocent–is, indeed, talking.
**** UPDATE #2: Hey, Fanchon Stinger. I DID hear Farrakhan for myself. Here’s what I wrote about it, in the Detroit News (the grammatical error within it–in the sentence about my grandparents–was inserted by incompetent DNews op-ed page editor Richard Burr, not me) on November 20, 1998:

**** UPDATE #3: They don’t exactly work too quickly at FOX 2 News. The video bio of Fanchon Stinger is still up at the station’s site as of 12:20 p.m. Eastern Time.

By Debbie Schlussel
**** SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE ****
There’s been a lot of hype over the new HBO miniseries, “Generation Kill,” which debuted Sunday Night. It is about the Marines of the First Reconnaissance Battalion that led the drive into Iraq on the road to Baghdad, and features actors playing the parts of allegedly real Marines, in whose unit writer Evan Wright was imbedded. The show is based on his book.
While I did not see the show–and that is not important to the point of this post–the Wall Street Journal’s great Dorothy Rabinowitz reviewed it, and she notes some interesting–no, scary–info that Wright compiled about the real-life troops with whom he traveled:

Say It Ain’t So: U.S. Troops Raised On Them?
(Springer, Left; “Friend” & Manson, Right)

More than half these troops, Mr. Wright has noted in his book, came from broken homes or were raised by absentee parents. The film’s dialogue, we’re assured — it’s not a heartening thought — accurately represents the speech of these Marines, raised on hip-hop, Marilyn Manson and Jerry Springer. Team leader Sgt. Brad Colbert (Alexander Skarsgard), age 28, and called “The Iceman” — a tribute to his calm — likes Barry Manilow and solitude, tastes not widely shared in the platoon.

Is this accurate? Surely there must be many more soldiers like Sgt. Colbert. I can’t believe that the majority of enlisted Americans are products of Manson (a/k/a Brian Warner), Springer, rap, and single mother households. If that’s truly the case, then Dorothy Rabinowitz is correct: It isn’t heartening. It’s frightening.
We have to keep in mind that it’s written by a liberal journalist, and they generally have negative agendas in what they write. But Rabinowitz, a long-time conservative, says the series (after Sunday’s first episode) is worthy. So maybe it is accurate.
I’d welcome the comments of soldiers serving in Iraq or who have served in Iraq regarding the veracity of Wright’s claims. Accurate?
**** UPDATE, 07/15/08: Reader Louis, a “former” Marine (you’re a Marine ’til you die) writes:

I read your article on “Generation Kill”. I haven’t seen it and don’t care too. I didn’t fight in Iraq but I did serve in the Marines back in the ’90’s. All I can tell you is the guys I served with were great for the most part BUT our troops come from society and they are a reflection of society. From what I gathered in your article it seems the premise is these guys are white trash losers who had nothing else to do but engage in a filthy job in the Marines. Springer’s show is base, smut and Manson is demonic. Do the math. It’s called “Generation Kill” that title tells me everything.
I’ve yet seen a movie where it captures the love, yes I said love, and friendship between Marines. It’s something I haven’t felt since I got out unless I meet up or talk with those I served with. Guys like that reporter and those of his ilk fail to understand the mind of a Marine. There are things worse than death. They are these: losing a battle, abandoning your men in battle, living in safety when they are in danger and taking an action to preserve your life while your fellow Marines die. These are unbearable. Many Americans don’t understand this. I’ve seen the most “squared away” and the biggest “sh#&birds” become one and the same during moments of crisis. You couldn’t tell who was who! They were all “squared away” and ready to fight. Because all the hip hop, smut and crap society gives is drowned out by drumbeats of heroism of past Marines and the desire to not let them and their fellow Marine down. It’ll take a Marine to make a good Marine movie.
Thank you for what you do. I do pray that the Lord will look over you and protect you from the enemy and not one hair from your pretty blonde ( I say this with respect) head gets touched!
Semper Fi,
Louis

Thanks, Louis. Good points.

By Debbie Schlussel
As a conservative who supports law enforcement and fighting Islamic terrorism, I’m all for tracing where terrorist attacks come from and finding the evidence with ease. I’m also for surveilling and listening to phone calls when there is reasonable suspicion that the person is involved or might be involved in terrorist plotting or is talking to someone who might.
But this is going WAAAAY too far:

The affordability and growing popularity of color laser printers is raising concerns among civil liberties advocates that your privacy may not be worth the paper you’re printing on.

More manufacturers are outfitting greater numbers of laser printers with technology that leaves microscopic yellow dots on each printed page to identify the printer’s serial number ‚Äî and ultimately, you, says the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, one of the leading watchdogs of electronic privacy.
The technology has been around for years, but the declining price of laser printers and the increasing number of models with this feature is causing renewed concerns.
The dots, invisible to the naked eye, can be seen using a blue LED light and are used by authorities such as the Secret Service to investigate counterfeit bills made with laser printers, says Lorelei Pagano, director of the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group.
Privacy advocates worry that the little-known technology could ensnare political dissidents, whistle-blowers or anyone who prints materials that authorities want to track.
“There’s nothing about this technology that limits its application to counterfeit investigations,” says Seth Schoen, a computer programmer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “Some people who aren’t doing anything wrong may have their privacy threatened.” Schoen’s tests have found the dots produced by 111 color laser printers made by 13 companies including Xerox, Canon, Hewlett-Packard, Epson and Brother.
The dots are produced only on laser devices and not ink-jet printers, which are most commonly used at home. But laser printers, which produce more durable images, are becoming increasingly popular as their price has dropped to as low as $300, says Angele Boyd, a vice president of IDC Research.
Although laser printers made up only 4% of the 33 million printers sold last year in the USA, their sales have been growing by double digits since 2004, Boyd says.
The technology began as laser printers were first produced in the mid-1980s and governments and banks feared an explosion of counterfeiting, Xerox spokesman Bill McKee says. “In many cases, it is a requirement to do business internationally that the printers are equipped with this technology,” McKee says.
The dots tell authorities the serial number of a printer that made a document. In some cases, it also tells the time and date it was printed, Pagano says. “The Secret Service is the only U.S. body that has the ability to decode the information,” she says.
Printer makers “cooperate with law enforcement” and will tell authorities where a printer was made and sold, McKee says.
The Secret Service uses the dots only to investigate counterfeiting, agency spokesman Ed Donovan says.

PUH-LEEZE. Criminals will find a way to get around this, and only you and I–innocent citizens–will be the ones this will be used against. And not necessarily by law enforcement, but other parties who might sue you, etc.
Sure, you might ask why a person will care if what they printed out is traceable if they never print out threats. Well, I’ll tell you why. People send anonymous letters for various reasons–and it’s not always for the purpose of threats.
I, myself, for example, can now disclose that in 2004, I sent an anonymous letter to a political interest group–a whorish organization that doesn’t really care about what it pretends to stand for–an anonymous letter asking them not to endorse a woman by the name of Lois Shulman, a sleazy woman who claimed to support their interests. I sent them a past newspaper article I’d saved in which she came out against the group and its positions and I reversed their plan to endorse her. As a result she lost her race for the Michigan House of Representatives. I sent the letter anonymously for a reason. I didn’t want anyone to know I was behind it. It might have changed their response.
I don’t believe for a second that this new development with printers will help solve a single crime. But what it will do is create a black market on old printers. And it will create subpoenas in a lot o lawsuits, in which lawyers demand companies identify these invisible identifiers for them.
It’s an incredible invasion of privacy and not a good development at all in America. V. I. Lenin and other Communist leaders dreamed of this day in Big Brother’s growing set of encroachments.
Well, now you have another reason not to register your printer with the manufacturer to take advantage of the warranty.
Big Brother is now Morbidly Obese Brother.

By Debbie Schlussel
This is a big movie screening day, thus my absence from the site, but I’ll be posting stuff on and off for the rest of the day, with a lot of new stuff tonight and tomorrow, too (including new, VERY disturbing information about now-fired FOX News/NewsCorp Muslim anchor Fanchon Stinger–really disturbing stuff).
I just got back from a special screening, “The Dark Knight,” the second installment of the Christian Bale (as Batman) series on the comic book superhero. It was a great movie, and on top of that–the screening was held at an IMAX theater at one of my three favorite museums on the planet, “Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village,” which Detroiters know as the giant museum and grounds featuring homes and buildings from great historical American figures. If it’s old fashioned Americana, it’s at Henry Ford. It’s America’s greatest history museum, in my view–one of the good things the anti-Semitic Henry Ford left.

(My other fave museums are the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC, and the little-known but very important and interesting National Museum of American Jewish Military History–also in DC–which documents the service and sacrifice Jewish Americans proudly gave in every war, including the Revolutionary War.) If you are ever in the Detroit area, a visit to Henry Ford and Greenfield Village is a must.
I’ve never before seen a movie in an IMAX theater before, and it is “WOW!” Like they say, “Once you go IMAX, you never go BAX.” I know–not funny. Don Rickles, I’ll never be. But I try.
Anyway, while I really liked “The Dark Knight,” I was struck by the massive amount of violence and killing throughout the movie (committed by the bad guys), which I found disturbing for a movie that is being heavily marketed to kids in promotions and toys. And there are also the multiple graphic descriptions of facial disfigurement with a knife, as told by the Joker.
In that respect, it’s significantly different from “Batman Begins,” the first one with Christian Bale as the “Caped Crusader.” the movie is extremely violent and probably almost 100 people are stabbed or shot to death at close range during the movie. Yes, the message of good triumphing over evil is there, but there are so many scenes that really aren’t suitable to kids. I’m disappointed that so many parents will take their kids to this 2.5 hours of desensitization to violence.
Christian Bale is one of my favorite living actors, and he’s good as usual here, though he’s not onscreen a lot. The late Heath Ledger as the Joker is the real star of the movie and gets most of the screen time, as do other characters. Another drawback is the starring role of Maggie Gyllenhaal in the top female billing as Rachel Dawes, Bruce Wayne’s true love. As readers will recall, I lambasted the universally homely–both inside and out–Gyllenhaal, who said American deserved and is to blame for the 9/11 attacks. Her close relatives are well-known left-wing activists. I had to laugh when the Joker repeatedly tells Gyllenhaal how beautiful she is.
Clearly, the Joker needs to get his eyes checked.
Stay tuned for my complete review, coming very soon.

By Debbie Schlussel
Are 83% of criminals in America, wealthy White people? Are they 83% of the murderers (the crime “Law and Order” focuses on)? No, not even close in real life, but they are on “Law and Order.”
My late father always hated when my mother would put “Law & Order” or one of its spin-offs on the TV. In addition to being a show that frequently vilifies Jews and conservative causes and people–such as evangelical Christians, pro-lifers, and the Minutemen–it mostly elevated Muslims and left-wingers, portraying them as victims and those wrongfully accused of crimes. My father would always say that the show was “pretentious”–drivel written by lessers who want to think they’re intellectuals. I share his opinion, by the way, and have said so on this site before.

Now, we have more evidence of the slant of the show, from its creator/producer, Dick Wolf. Saturday, the Wall Street Journal ran a long front page piece on the story of our day: How multi-millionaire Wolf is fighting gazillionaires at NBC/Universal for more than the $750 million fortune he is set to earn from the show. I call it, “Death Match of the Selfish and Self-Important.”
But there was this one interesting nugget of info from the story, which backs up what we conservatives, including my Dad, have been saying about this show for years:

The show has remained almost exactly as Mr. Wolf envisioned. A former advertising copywriter, he sees “Law and Order” as a brand. He tells his writers that the series should be like Campbell’s Soup: many different flavors, all of which are of consistent quality and predictable taste. “Episodic television is the triumph of the familiar,” he is known to say. One way Mr. Wolf maintains this consistency is by making most of the victims wealthy white people, which he believes viewers are more interested in watching. He limits the number of shows containing minority victims, including blacks and Muslims, to four or five episodes a season out of 22 to 24.

That means, under Wolf’s mandate, up to 83% of the criminals on L&O in a 24 episode season will be rich Whites. The lowest figure, based on the Wolf formula, can be 77%.
But–since “Law and Order” focuses on murders–here’s a reality check, courtesy of the Manhattan Institute’s Heather McDonald:

In 2005, the black homicide rate was over seven times higher than that of whites and Hispanics combined, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. From 1976 to 2005, blacks committed over 52 percent of all murders in America. In 2006, the black arrest rate for most crimes was two to nearly three times blacks’ representation in the population. Blacks constituted 39.3 percent of all violent-crime arrests, including 56.3 percent of all robbery and 34.5 percent of all aggravated-assault arrests, and 29.4 percent of all property-crime arrests.

“Law & Order”? More like, “Politics of Envy & Racism.”
Sound the “Law & Order” double chime here. Because a crime is taking place, and the villains are show creator/owner Dick Wolf and NBC.

By Debbie Schlussel
I’m very saddened to learn of the passing of my friend, Tony Snow, from cancer, this morning. I’ve known Tony for more than two decades–since I was literally in junior high school, and he was an editorial writer for The Detroit News before it transformed into the Detroit Newsistan. At that time, the newspaper was actually worth reading, and under then-Editorial Page Editor Thomas Bray, Tony was a rising star as his deputy. Tony was not afraid to write very pro-Israel editorials in the face of rising Muslim and Arab whining in town.
My late dad introduced me to Tony’s writing in the paper. And I used to see Tony at Michigan Republican events, when I was a young teen, and, later, at political forums for high school students put on by my Congressman, at which he spoke. In those days, it wasn’t hip to be a young conservative and we conservatives stuck together, especially in the Detroit area. Tony was always kind to me and to everyone around him.

Always handsome with movie star good looks, Tony was equally handsome on the inside. He told me that he began his career, not as a journalist, but as a Christian missionary doing humanitarian work in Africa and helping poor people. And like that time in his life, no matter how famous he became, Tony Snow never took on airs or became snooty. Though he had many reasons to be, he was never conceited. Just the opposite. Tony Snow always remained a nice, down to earth, mensch of a guy. I know I was not the only one who can say that he always returned my phone calls and spent a lot of time talking with me about politics, whether he was still at The Detroit News or atop the world at FOX News Channel and the White House (he worked for both Dan Quayle and the Bushes).
Among our frequent topics of discussion was the downward spiral and utter decline of his former home, The Detroit News and its editorial page under then-editor Mark Silverman and editorial page editor and Islamopandering phony, Nolan Finley. Finley engineered the public firing of brilliant editorial page editor Thomas Bray (who hired Tony and gave him his first major newspaper job), because Finley wanted the job and wasn’t deserving of it.
So, it’s kind of ironic–not to mention, funny–to see Finley’s column in today’s Detroit paper bragging about how he visited Tony in Washington at the White House. That’s the way Tony was. He was nice to insufferables like Nolan Finley, even though, privately, Finley’s behavior disgusted him, as it did many others.
Unlike most of the on-air personalities at FOX News, Tony never became an egomaniac, not even a hint of it. And FOX News was not always kind to him. Even though he was a great host of “FOX News Sunday” and joined the network when no-one watched, helping to build the Sunday show into what it became, FOX News dumped him for liberal Chris Wallace for no apparent valid reason. And, for a good while, they restricted Tony in his ability to write a syndicated column, something they did not do with faux-conservative Bill O’Reilly and others at the network.
Sure, FOX News gave him a nationally syndicated radio show, but the show ran on many obscure stations in smaller markets, tape-delayed in most markets, late at night, so he got few live callers into his show. That frustrated him. At the end, despite the money, I don’t think it was a hard choice for him to leave the network for the Bush White House. Yes, there was a reason that toward the end of his life, when he returned to private life, he signed on with CNN and did not return to FOX News.
Tony was smart, a nice guy, and a pleasure to talk to. His style as a conservative commentator and columnist was effective, but softspoken, very civil, and understated. That’s why, in addition to his very congenial nature, Tony was respected by many of his liberal colleagues, who miss him as well. He was the epitome of a “hail fellow well met” and also a gentleman. He was a class act, and I feel for his young family.
I was glad to call Tony Snow, my friend. He will be missed greatly.
Tony Snow, Rest In Peace.

By Debbie Schlussel
This week doesn’t bring a lot of exciting fare, but it does bring a couple of good movies to take your kids to see. Because of a screening conflict, I did not review “Hellboy II: The Golden Army,” but will try to see and review it before sundown (and will post here if I do). By far, the best new offering is “Roman De Gare,” one of the best thrillers I’ve seen in a long time.
* “Hellboy II: The Golden Army“: I’m not a huge fan of Hellboy–either the first movie or the comic books. It’s just not my kinda superhero. I find Hellboy dull and the guy who plays him–Ron Perlman–even more so. He’s just not interesting or cool. Simply boring. Ditto on all of that for his girlfriend, the firestarter played by Selma Blair, who is just not a good actress.

(For the record, I went to Hillel Day School–a swanky private Jewish Conservative day school in the Detroit area (I was the poorest kid in the school)–with her and her sister. She is now such a self-hater that she denies she was ever Jewish, and according to Jewish law, she may not have been. Her real name is Selma Beitner (Blair is her middle name).)
I didn’t think this sequel was bad. It was just the same as the original: just okay, and kind of dull. Not much to write home about. In this installment, Hellboy and his fellow cast of friendly monsters must stop an evil Prince from a non-human race from re-awakening the Golden Army into battle against earth’s humans. Ho-hum. Not exciting, or even suspenseful, and it’s like you really don’t care much what happens. And you know a superhero movie is weak when two of the superheroes sing Barry Manilow’s “Can’t Smile Without You” at length. Pure filler, and not very funny. Just cutesy and corny.
I also noted that, while a number of the monsters were interesting, a lot of them looked similar to the unusual monsters with eyes on their hands and wings that I saw in “Pan’s Labyrinth.” And that’s no surprise, given that Guillermo Del Toro directed that and this.
There was at least one joke, about the F-word, that I was surprised they put in this movie aimed at kids. I also thought the movie was pretty violent and bloody for a kids movie. At almost two hours, though, this slow-moving movie might either make them restless or–as it did with me–put ’em to sleep.
ONE-AND-A-HALF-REAGANS

* “Journey to the Center of the Earth“: This movie, based on the Jules Verne sci-fi novel of the same name, is remade almost every decade. In my view, none of them topped the charming, if hokey, original 1959 version, starring James Mason and Pat Boone. And this one is no exception to that view.
That said, this Brendan Fraser remake is a not-bad update though it’s very dumbed down. It does, however, have a few very cool tricks because it’s 3-D (though I’ve seen better 3D, as in “Beowulf“). Characters twice spot in what seems your face because of the 3D, and we see a tape measure sprung in our eye, among other cool 3-D tricks.
It’s not nearly as exciting, scary, or cliff-hanger-esque as the 1959 version, but it’ll do. The story is basically the same–a professor travels to Iceland to explore the inside of mountains and volcanoes and finds amidst the earth’s center, a whole panoply of wonders–dinosaurs and other giant beings, jewel-impacted walls and caverns, giant plants and mushrooms, and a number of other cool, unusual life. And as in the original, the professor tries to escape and come back to earth.
If your child is interest in science, this is a great movie. But if your child is not interested in science, perhaps this will trigger that interest. Recommended, though kinda cheesy and sappy for my taste.
TWO-AND-A-HALF-REAGANS


* “Meet Dave“: This latest Eddie Murphy vehicle is being heavily marketed to urban audiences. The movie isn’t inane or terrible. It’s just okay–very dull, ho hum, with bathroom humor mixed in to entertain the less sophisticated kiddies.
A group of advanced aliens–who like like tiny humans–populate a space ship that looks like Eddie Murphy, who is also the ship’s captain. They’ve come to earth because their planet will die in less than a generation, and they have a rock-like sphere that will magically suck the salt out of the oceans and re-energize their planet. But earth will die in the process, which doesn’t bother them because they see us as despicable, lower life forms.
But the sphere has disappeared, and while they are searching for it, they meet Gina and her son, and eventually come to like them. In the meantime, two cops are on the trail of the alien.
If the story doesn’t sound too exciting, that’s ‘cuz it isn’t. It’s not very funny, and the juvenile bathroom humor and stupid gay jokes don’t make it more so. “Coming to America” it ain’t. And why Murphy, alone among the aliens, has a bad foreign accent is not explained. The rest of the aliens look and sound like Americans.
Not objectionable, just not great or worth ten bucks. It’s fine to take your kids to see, though. It’s just that “Journey to the Center of the Earth” is a far better choice.
ONE-AND-A-HALF-REAGANS

* “Roman De Gare“: I hate subtitles as much as the next guy. (In this case, I didn’t really need them because I understand most French.) But don’t let the subtitles and the work you have to do reading them quickly, dissuade you from seeing this. Roman De Gare” is one of the best thrillers I’ve seen, as much as I hate to recommend anything French. The movie is mostly at arthouse theaters.
It’s hard to explain the plot much without giving it away, but it’s a very clever set of twists and turns you can’t predict and which keep you guessing (though I thought the ending was a slight robbery). A woman is dumped by her fiance at a gas station, when he drives off in her car. She’s stranded there all night, when she finally decides to accept a ride from a strange looking stranger. At the same time, a serial killer of women is on the loose, a woman’s husband is missing, and a famed mystery writer employs a ghostwriter. Which is the strange looking man? Is he more than one of those, or is he none of them at all? I can’t say more, or it will ruin the movie.
So fun and enjoyable, you want it to keep on going after it ends and you forget you’re reading subtitles. A terrific mystery. Definitely see it, if you like a good thriller. But not for kids because of suggestive situations and four-letter words.
FOUR REAGANS

By Debbie Schlussel
Today is the 81st birthday of my favorite formerly American retailer, 7-Eleven. And in honor, they are giving out free Slurpees. The store always celebrates its birthday on July 11th or 7/11.
Slurp it.
Read more cool stuff from me about 7-Eleven from its 80th birthday, the 40th anniversary of the Slurpee, and the occasion of 7-Eleven dumping communist Chavez CITGO.
Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven.