Borat elicits more cultural analysis

David Brooks is the latest commentator to attribute our fascination with the Borat movie to wanting to be on the side of the condescending "snobs" who are in on the joke, and not be among the unsophisticated "goobers" who fall victim to Borat's "rube baiting."

Part of the argument being that no one can possibly believe a character with Borat's bizarre customs and archaic attitudes exists anywhere in the world of 2006.

I tend to think the scenarios Sacha Cohen presents as Borat are so ridiculous and clever the "victim" doesn't need to completely accept Borat's authenticity to create a funny result. I also believe a lot of the "rubes" aren't really buying Borat 100 percent, but they put their suspicions aside because they are polite and, no matter what, they'll have a funny story about a strange foreigner to tell their friends and family. Still I do think Brooks may be onto something about Borat's widespread appeal.

Is the behavior of Borat, who supposedly hails from Kazakhstan, so far-fetched it disqualifies him from reality? Yesterday, the parliament of Pakistan passed legislation that will allow rape victims to seek justice without the need of four male witnesses.

Previously, if a woman pursued a rape charge without these witnesses (to the actual crime) she would expose herself to a charge of adultery. In certain parts of Pakistan the punishment for adultery is death by stoning.

While these harsh sentences are rare, they are not without recent precedent.

Lest anyone think these laws are relics from an era long-bygone, Pakistan, the sixth largest country in the world, created this rape racket in 1979.

Borat would be sad to see this law go. But the fact it only just went is proof a character with Borat's cavalier attitude towards rape, among other things, isn't so far-fetched.

Being tricked by Borat is different than the alien abductions scenarios Brooks refers to his column. In the hit movie Borat convinces a driving instructor that, in his country, you don't need consent from a woman to have sex with her.

The driving instructor might have his 'stans mixed up, but was he really a "rube" when he took Borat at his word?

T-Warrior reporting for duty

Over last couple months the liberal blogsphere has been gleeful in their reporting that Bill O'Reilly is losing viewers. That may be, but after checking the latest ratings it is deceitful-- and all too common -- to write anything about O'Reilly and viewers without mentioning the extent he continues to dominate the small pond that is cable news.

Unfortunately for the shout-show king I'm not the only one who has taken note of his predominance. According to O'Reilly, O'Reilly has been targeted for extermination by the Al Qaeda terror syndicate. He admits the threat is unnerving. To feel safer he has bestowed upon himself an intimidating nickname.

The enemy of all things spin is now the T-Warrior. Who in their right mind would come after the T-Warrior?

Seeing as Al Qaeda hasn't been able to strike a single inch of the United States in over five years, I'm not sure if they pose a plausible threat to an individual citizen -- even a very tall, loud one.

But, then again, no one has ever threatened to kill me. So I can't be sure, if I found myself marked for death, I wouldn't adopt a scary-sounding moniker to make them think twice.

What I do know is O'Reilly's new nickname sounds gansta. The T-Warrior Crew or T-Warrior Millionaires would be right at home flashing their ice on Rap City. This is odd because in the past O'Reilly has had nothing nice to say about hip-hop culture.

The "T" happens to stand for traditional. As in the values Bill O'Reilly fights for five nights a week.

I guarantee O'Reilly's cable news-nemesis Keith Olbermann will have his own take on what the "T" stands for. And the 38 people who watch Olbermann's show will find it hilarious.

Update: The personal Al-Qaeda threat is likely a figment of T-Warrior's imagination. Will this mean he has to drop his new, ferocious tag? Let's hope not.

Week 2 wrap

After the Eagles stunning collapse against the Giants, Eagles coach Andy Reid took full responsibility for his team's loss. This wasn't a case of a veteran coach covering for his players -- Reid's decision to shrink the playbook and slow down the Eagles' highly effective West Coast offense in the middle of the third quarter was what cost the birds the game.

Yesterday, still reeling from the loss, I foolishly subjected myself to a bunch of the Monday Morning Quarterback shows. The Eagles-Giants game was the first topic of discussion and a few analysts trotted out the old you-can't-be-a-Super-Bowl-contender-without-an-effective-power-running-game bugaboo in reference to the Eagles' inability to run out the clock.

Let's forget two of the Eagles' late game possessions ended on badly dropped passes and a third on a fumble by a running back who had put the ball on the carpet exactly once in the previous three years and acknowledge, generally, the Eagles ability to run between the tackles is average at best. Does that really prevent them from being contenders?

Or is it one of those sports axioms-- like the team with the superior starting pitching wins the playoff series -- that is always true until it's false.

I'm not sure if it even reaches that standard. Of course it's nice to have a power running game. Just like it helps to have very good quarterback and an upper echelon defense-- two other attributes a Super Bowl contender "needs."

And if your team has all three and isn't led by Peyton Manning you will have a great chance of winning it all.

But recent history shows two out of three ain't bad. One just has to look at the Patriot dynasty. They won 2001 with a rookie quarterback who certainly came into his own in the Super Bowl, but was far from dominant before that. They took the title in 2003 without a 650 -- let alone 1000 -- yard rusher. In 2004 they were firing on all cylinders and still barely beat an Eagles team that ranked close to last in the league in rushing.

Maybe the lesson of the Patriot's success is that having a great coach is key to winning a Super Bowl. I can only hope Andy Reid -- generally one of the better coaches in the NFL -- hasn't decided this is the year to try to prove that one wrong.


Picks -- I finished 10 - 6 against the spread last week. Not bad for my first time out. Although there were a lot of clear mismatches and all those favorites covered, so it was probably a profitable week for gamblers and a bad one for Vegas. I'm sure they'll make up for it.

It is a little more likely Nancy Grace will go to hell

Nancy Grace, who hosts a prosecutorial crime show on a station that used to just give us the news, is in the headlines this morning after a woman committed suicide following the taping of a segment for Grace's show.

The woman, Melinda Duckett, was interviewed by Grace about the disappearance of her 2-year old son and, although police say Duckett is not a suspect, Grace accused her of complicity, did a lot of desk pounding and demanded Duckett take a polygraph test.

Duckett's family cited the stress and humiliation created by Grace's accusations as one of the reasons for the suicide.

Of course that is impossible to know. And it might well be that Grace, a successful former prosecutor, was on to something with her line of questioning and Duckett killed herself out of unrelated guilt.

That being said, every time I see a clip of Grace's "aggressive" interviewing style, I not-so-secretly wish the person she is grilling would reach over and smack Grace on the nose.

But it's not all bad with Nancy and me: A clip of Grace demanding "the rape stats" ranks among the funniest 30 seconds of my life. OK, rape stats might not sound funny, but just watch this.

I do, whenever I'm feeling blue.

Our mere existence is a triumph of the human spirit

Not only is Newt Gingrich a former Speaker of the House, 1995's Time Magazine Man of The Year, a likely presidential candidate and a notorious glutton, he is a bona fide historian.

Gingrich has a PhD in Modern European History and made his living as a history professor before being elected to congress from Georgia's Sixth District in 1978. Gingrich has also published four novels in the historical fiction genre.

Newt's background makes his latest statement, that we are currently involved in Word War Three, that much more bewildering.

World War Three? What about the Korean War, The Cold War and The First Gulf War? What about whenever England plays Germany in soccer and some of your larger WrestleManias? What about that '85 incident in Tom's River, New Jersey when a snub at a Prom after-party spiraled out of control?

I've spent the morning researching the topic and have come to conclusion that we are, in fact, in World War 272. That's a lot more than three.

Brooks on the liberalism as religion bandwagon

Which is a theory popularized by Ann Coulter, of all transvestites. Maybe I misunderestimated her. Or maybe she lifted it from the Portland Press Herald.

Here is what New York Times columnist David Brooks, who used to be the "liberals' favorite conservative," wrote yesterday:

Next has come the effort to expel Lieberman from modern liberalism. In a dark parody of the old struggle between Eugene McCarthy and Hubert Humphrey, the highly educated, highly affluent, highly Caucasian wing of the Democratic Party has turned liberalism from a philosophy into a secular religion, and then sought to purge a battle-scarred warhorse on the grounds of insufficient moral purity.

A big thumbs up for the promotion of the infuriating "liberalism as a religion" argument. It is both warranted and unfair -- and oh-so loaded.

A neat trick.

I predict this line of attack will be utilized liberally by the blogging and newspaper writing conservatives. I doubt it will win their side any votes, but if repeated enough it is sure to make the already hair-triggered bunch they are aiming at lose their cool.

(Speaking of losing cool, what in the world could have that Italian said to make Zidane* go all raging ram?)

*Zizou's Wikipedia entry has just been locked. Coulter's has been for some time. It is the new badge of notoriety. Here is a list of all Wikipedia's locked topics. Right now the world is getting all hot and bothered by Jews, Muslims, Dubya and French Footballers.

Return of the Validation

That didn't take very long. If you check out his website he makes personal appearances.

The Huffington Post Strikes Back

Well-written, logical, comedic stuff from Mo Rocca on ... the Huffington Post blog!

Where am I going to go for validation now?

Suggestions?

I am in crisis. I might need to shut it down for the rest of the day.

*little suspicious Mo is reading jsb.

Profiles In Courage: Punditry Edition

Gingrich says Hillary is beatable-- if she decides to run for president and gets the democratic nomination.

Gingrich also declares she would be the front runner for the nomination.

Careful on that limb Newt. We need you in one piece.