Steven White

ON THE SUBJECT OF RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM. Jesus is coming to Wal-Mart, at least in the form of a 12-inch talking doll. CNN reports that Wal-Mart will soon be testing a set of “biblical action figures” in some of their stores “aimed at Christian parents who prefer their children play with Samson, David, or Noah rather […]

LESLIE WAYNE’S EDWARDS PROBLEM. An article in today’s New York Times offers a critical assessment of John Edwards‘ new poverty tour, as well as his relatively low standing in the polls among low income voters. The author of the piece, of course, is Leslie Wayne, who has a history of writing major NYT pieces criticizing […]

MISSING THE POINT SLIGHTLY In response to Ezra‘s assessment that Transformers is “a movie about GIANT ROBOTS some of whom want to DESTROY THE EARTH,” not “a commentary on the righteousness of Operation Iraqi Freedom,” I just want to say that wasn’t my point exactly. I really don’t care about Transformers. Rather, I care about […]

MICHAEL BAY AND THE PENTAGON. Scott Brown at Wired describes Transformers director Michael Bay‘s relationship with the Pentagon: Thanks to the success of Pearl Harbor, Bay has built up so much goodwill with the Pentagon that he can call up and order F-16s the way the rest of us order hot wings. What’s more, this […]

RUDY GIULIANI: UBER NEOCON. Via Dave Weigel comes the news that Norman Podhoretz is joining the Rudy Giuliani campaign as a senior foreign policy advisor. Earlier this year, Podhoretz wrote a cute little article in the Wall Street Journal arguing in favor of bombing Iran. In it, he begs Bush to “take the only action […]

HOLLYWOOD AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT Ann Hornaday reflects on the new film Talk to Me in today’s Washington Post, leading her to wonder why “the story of the most important social and political moment in this country’s history has gone untold in its dominant narrative art form.” Why, in other words, isn’t there a […]

THE PARADOX OF MORAL EQUIVALENCE. Judea Pearl, Daniel Pearl‘s father, wrote a review of A Mighty Heart for TNR Online. The film, which stars Angelina Jolie as his wife Mariane, tells the story of Daniel Pearl’s capture and subsequent beheading in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002. Reading the review is difficult, because it’s a father writing […]

EDWARDS AND THE NYT. A rather provocative article in The New York Times today makes John Edwards seem fairly shady. Because Edwards did not have the benefits of, say, a senate seat to maintain his name recognition, NYTstaff writer Leslie Wayne declares: Mr. Edwards, who reported this year that he had assets of nearly $30 […]