"Occupy Oprah"? Gross. Sounds the title of a low quality porn flick with a fat chick.

Please don't give the porn industry more bad ideas -.-

Remember: Successful is what I am. Greedy is what other people are, especially if I don't like them.

What RPM said.

Oprah's a bad example, though. She's known for her altruism. What other talk show host has ever given a car to everyone in the audience?
Interestingly, IIRC, she started her girl's school in Africa instead of America because poor American kids are ingrates who wouldn't appreciate the educational opportunity and would instead demand televisions and playstations.

Oh, here it is:

"Say what you will about the American educational system — it does work. ... If you are a child in the United States, you can get an education. ... I became so frustrated with visiting inner-city schools that I just stopped going. The sense that you need to learn just isn't there. ... If you ask the kids what they want or need, they will say an iPod, sneakers, or some money. In South Africa, they don't ask for money or toys. They ask for uniforms so they can go to school."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oprah_Winfrey_Leadership_Academy_for_Girls

The other ones, though? Yeah, I'll talke their money... And please add the Sheens to the list.

Saw this on Facebook over the weekend: "If I had a dollar for every time someone blamed capitalism for a problem caused by the government, I'd be a fat filmmaker with a baseball cap."

I see Jeff Spiccoli, I mean Sean Penn, had some political point to make, but I gave it the attention it deserved.

Timely piece.

I just had an argument with my anti-Capitalist Pig Dad who just happens to live in a mansion on 5 acres with a view of Puget Sound, which just happens to be paid for with stocks and other investment instruments inherited from my Stepmother's very rich, very Capitalist pig father.

He, who has enough money to buy me a house or condo if he wanted to,(and who has dangled that particular carrot in front of me) had the nerve to ask me whether or not I am eligible for food stamps and if I'd be completely fucked if I injure myself at work. In other words, my dirty hippie Democrat pro-worker, pro union father wants anybody to take care of his only child but him.

I have a letter to him in progress (may cut off contact yet again) and it includes the idea that if he's so anti-Capitalism he might consider divorcing my Stepmother and living on his retirement and SS only, as her money is very very dirty.

Bruce Springsteen does not create crappy art.

So there.

Walter William's latest article discussing this very topic should not to be missed:

http://www.creators.com/opinion/walter-williams/pitting-us-against-each-other.html

Your friend's idea about asking Mr. Cafe Socialist to write a check was good, but you could also have made a very quick point. Tell him you are practicing the very essence of socialism by having him share his wealth with you when it comes time for you to pay your bill, then hand him your check.

Hollywood socialism is not a new phenomenon. Take Hanoi Jane (please):
"I, a Socialist, think we should strive toward a Socialist society, all the way to Communism"

Right after I sell ten million work-out tapes...

Really? Hollywood is forcing us to consume their product?

This is even more of a red herring than that pathetic "Occupy Wall Street Harms Hot Dog Vendors" tripe.

Ugh, I despise Oprah. And FWIW, SHE did not give those cars, Toyota did. All she did was hand them out-like everything else she "gives". The woman really is the greediest slime ever to walk the earth.

Amy wrote: "would make me want to blow my brains out"

That is counterproductive. Consider:

() Think about blowing his brains out.

() "A socialist? I really like talking to everyone, too."

() "Sorry, I must go. Conversations which contradict reality give me a headache."

() "I dated a Socialist once. He wanted to share my paycheck. It didn't work out."

() "It's good that Africans can't vote in US elections, or they would socialize all of our stuff."

() "Money is a bourgeois social construct, irrelevant to intellectual mediation and any significant universal meaning."

() "I have a nice trust fund. I'm a socialist too. And, daddy is a socialist businessman."

() "I'm an Atheist. But, if there were a God, it would support socialism."

() "I gave my older iPod to the poor. How about you?"

() "Unemployment is a shame. I think everyone should just hire everyone."

() "Is that more like being a communist or a hippie?"

The functional difference between highly paid celebrities and banks is that tax money didn't save the entertainment industry from wholesale collapse.

As far as I know, Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Barbara Streisand, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Maher, Michael Moore and Matt Damon have never had to be bailed out with taxpayer money because their movies, TV shows, books, albums and concert tours were too big to fail.

And if the OWS people feel that feel that wealthier people should pay more in taxes, I'm sure they feel that if Matt Damon and Jamie Dimon both earn the same amount of money, then they should be taxed at the same rate.

Also, what Steve said.

Think about blowing his brains out.

Excellent idea Andrew! Don't you think it's a shame that many Tea Party members just pack heat when they really should be using it on people they dislike?

Although Hollywood has a special form of accounting by which they manage to not pay residuals to any non-stars. Which is why they didn't need a bailout.

@Jim - Well, we're talking about socialists, so there aren't really any brains to blow out.

[Ophrah]'s known for her altruism.

Yeah, how'd that work out? the people receiving free cars had to pay the gift tax on them, and her school in Africa has been the subject scandal.

[Long list of A-listers] have never had to be bailed out with taxpayer money because their movies, TV shows, books, albums and concert tours were too big to fail.

True.

Bet they/their production companies didn't turn down tax breaks they were offered, either. And I also suspect that anything that wasn't profitable they wrote off on their taxes as a loss.

Remember that when they cry about the tax loopholes given to the oil & gas industry...the same alleged loopholes they use.

But Brian, Tea Partiers with guns wouldn't have to reserve their bullets only for socialists. They could blow away anyone they didn't like. And mowing down government employees would be a far quicker way to reduce federal and state payrolls than calling for a reduction in spending.

I'm certainly not anti-capitalist, and the Wall Street thing is way too directionless to be of any real use. But I still have to protest this comparison.

What I am against is gross incompetence from people that are paid millions of dollars solely to be competent at their job. And celebrities aren't paid millions of dollars to be competent. They're paid millions of dollars to be entertaining.

Bet they/their production companies didn't turn down tax breaks they were offered, either. And I also suspect that anything that wasn't profitable they wrote off on their taxes as a loss.

Undoubtedly so. Just like any company would do if those options were available.

But the topic that started this thread had to do with why Wall Street is being occupied, not Hollywood.

*

"Why are you not Occupying Hollywood...?"

The functional difference between highly paid celebrities and banks is that tax money didn't save the entertainment industry from wholesale collapse.

James, please! How dare you let reason stand in the way of a silly question.

Tea Partiers with guns wouldn't have to reserve their bullets only for socialists. They could blow away anyone they didn't like. And mowing down government employees would be a far quicker way to reduce federal and state payrolls than calling for a reduction in spending.

Nah. That creates martyrs, which makes leftism look right. Killing them won't do.

I want Obama to live a long healthy life. Long enough to see everything he believes forever proven wrong and discarded on the ash heap of history.

Mostly so I can enjoy the delicious schadenfreude.

"I want Obama to live a long healthy life. Long enough to see everything he believes forever proven wrong and discarded on the ash heap of history."

I doubt that Obama is either well enough educated or open minded enough to ever believe or understand that he has been proven wrong.


The light at the end of the tunnel for people like Obama and Jimmy Carter, is nothing more than an oncoming train.

I doubt that Obama is either well enough educated or open minded enough to ever believe or understand that he has been proven wrong.

I think you're right, Isabel. He's probably spent way too much time studying the Qur'an throughout his life, keeping him from obtaining a more well-rounded education. I'll be relieved when he's out of office. One more term and we'd all be forced to become socialist Muslims.

The thing about the entertainment industry is, all of the things that leftists accuse other industries of are true of the entertainment industry. It's an industry where a small handful are fabulously wealthy, and all the rest are starving. It's an industry where success is primarily determined by genetics, connections, and dumb luck. For every actor or musician who "makes it", there are ten who are at least as good or better who don't. The industry, particularly the movie industry, is massively subsidized and effectively exempt from a lot of the laws other industries have to obey, such as child labor and environmental laws. There is massive collusion between companies. Everyone has heard the phrase "Hollywood accounting" and it's true; their accounting methods would wind up with every Hollywood mogul in jail if the government held them to the same accounting standards that it holds other industries to.

I think some people in Hollywood look at how their own industry operates, and they assume that that's how all industries operate. I think some other people in Hollywood say that crap because they're trying to deflect attention, like the guy who raises cain about the ugly color of his neighbor's house, so nobody will notice all the dead bodies he's got stacked up in his garage.

If you want your collective living wage for your collective Art why are you not Occupying Hollywood demanding Tom Hanks, Alec Baldwin, Barbara Streisand, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Matt Damon, and the thousands of other 'rich GREEDY EVIL Hollywood multi-million-billionaire profiteers who are stealing from you'!!

"Why are you not Occupying Hollywood demanding they pay your $150,000 student loan so that you can be free to produce the same crappy art they create?

I'll look past the fact that the first paragraph quoted is incoherent and doesn't make any sense. The OWS people are demanding that all those people pay extra in taxes! I haven't heard any of them say: 'Millionaires should pay more in taxes, unless you're a millionaire that happens to be a liberal leaning actor'.

"Although Hollywood has a special form of accounting by which they manage to not pay residuals to any non-stars. Which is why they didn't need a bailout.

@Jim - Well, we're talking about socialists, so there aren't really any brains to blow out.

Posted by: brian at October 18, 2011 11:30 AM"

Brian, my brothers and I still get residuals from our acting days in the '50s and '60s. Most of 'em can buy a gallon of gas these days. But my younger brother has been paid for his part in "The Birds" more than thirty times over the years, and each check is about a c-note. SAG helps when it comes to residuals getting to the non-stars.

I want Obama to live a long healthy life. Long enough to see everything he believes forever proven wrong and discarded on the ash heap of history.
Mostly so I can enjoy the delicious schadenfreude.
Posted by: brian

Point of fact, everything he belives in HAS been proven worng, time and time agian. We just seem unable to discard it

I doubt that Obama is either well enough educated or open minded enough to ever believe or understand that he has been proven wrong.
Posted by: Isabel1130

Aint that the truth. Look at how easily he accepted a Nobel Peace Prize for nothing more then winning the election. He wasnt even in office for a full work week before his mane was put up for consideration

The OWS people are demanding that all those people pay extra in taxes! I haven't heard any of them say: 'Millionaires should pay more in taxes, unless you're a millionaire that happens to be a liberal leaning actor'.

That's why all the liberal-leaning actors and film-makers who don't pay extra taxes that have dropped by to make speeches to the OWS crowd have been jeered and booed off the stage.

Oh wait, they were cheered. The OWS crowd doesn't see liberal-leaning millionaires as having brought down the economy ... only the "greedy corporate CEOs" that are causing the problems. And they don't see Oprah, Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Warren Buffett et al as "greedy corporate types."

Because those are the people that the OWS folks aspire to become: artists, performers, entertainers, and "cool" philanthropists.

The "cool" aspect is why Bill Gates won't get a pass from the OWS crowd, despite his philanthropy, but Oprah Winfrey and Warren Buffett will.

If you look at any long running series on TV, you eventually see the main actors names always pop-up as co-producers or a new production company for the series.

Guess when that happens? About the time that the actors have made enough money to need a tax shelter.

I am all for socialism. I demand a Dolce & Gabbana Miss Sicily bag be rationed to me on the account it's unfair that only the wealthy or the incredibly in debt have them.

Oprah must have given out cars more than once...

Someone said Toyota donated them but I remember the Pontiac's, also donated. Odd how she does not make a point to give Pontiac a shout-out for THEIR generosity and pay the taxes herself so the recipients didn't have to.

So much for her generosity, sounds more like a proxy for handouts/advertising to me.