Category: Politics

Movie Watch: Argo vs. Zero Dark Thirty

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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There’s been a great deal of speculation as to why Argo should have been awarded the Oscar for Best Picture, while Zero Dark Thirty just about got their grateful hands on the Best Sound Editing gong, only to have one slapped away and to be told they had to share it with the guys who did Skyfall.

The general consensus seemed to be that Zero Dark Thirty failed to engage viewers because it challenged them to confront the reality of American foreign policy. Argo, on the other hand, sought to retell the heroic story of a CIA agent who busted six American citizens out of Iran using a just sci-fi movie script and a great moustache.

Hollywood, eh?

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FEMEN: What Women Want

Posted on by Kelly Welles

'The Grandmaster' Premiere - 63rd Berlinale International Film Festival

Sasha Shevchenko’s red carpet moment at the Berlin Film Festival. Image: Target Presse Agentur Gmbh/WireImage.

Apparently, every woman wants a red carpet moment. Those few seconds when eyes and lenses fall upon her alone, and she willingly sacrifices herself to the media scrutiny that will make or break her. She’ll spend weeks, months, selecting the clothing, jewellery, footwear, make-up, stance and words that will decide her fate, but ultimately she’ll have no control over how she’s interpreted.

It’s no wonder people don’t approve of FEMEN. They will keep reminding us that a few of the most fortunate women in the world looking pretty is infinitely more important to our sense of cultural wellbeing than the exploitation of the rest.

The Argument For Gun Control: In Pictures

Posted on by Kelly Welles

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Mad. Image via manlyweddingblog.

As we know, it’s tremendously convenient to portray supporters of the right to bear arms in the United States as intolerant, irresponsible right wing lunatics who’ll shoot your face off with an AK-47 if you even think about trying to pry it out of their hot, sweaty hand.

Continue reading “The Argument For Gun Control: In Pictures” →

Mormons & Gays: A Step In The Right Direction?

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Mormons Building Bridges

Mormons Building Bridges at Utah Pride parade in June this year. Image via gayldsactor.

With an eternal perspective, a person’s attraction to the same sex can be addressed and borne as a mortal test. It should not be viewed as a permanent condition. Though some people, including those resisting same-sex attraction, may not have the opportunity to marry a person of the opposite sex in this life, a just God will provide them with ample opportunity to do so in the next.

This, gentlepeople, is the Mormon church’s attempt to cope with the reality of gay marriage. Historically, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has bitterly opposed same sex unions, heavily contributing to campaigns against it. But having realised that this stance is affecting individuals already committed to the church, they appear to be softening their approach. Their  new website, mormonsandgays.org, advises that if one simply can’t resist their gay urges, they can make up for it by marrying a member of the opposite sex in the afterlife.

Alright, it’s early days. But at least they’re making an effort, no?

Facebook: Answering Life’s Eternal Questions

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Image via facebook.

Prior to the ceasefire in the latest incarnation of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, this image of two men in New York asking a perfectly reasonable question was published on Facebook and went viral.

Really. Given all we know and regardless of where we come from, why can’t we all just get along?

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Bold Political Statements: We’re Doing It Wrong

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Image via twitter.

The woman on the right in this photograph is Nina Turner, a Democratic State Senator in Ohio. She responded to a Republican Party attempt to de-fund Planned Parenthood by wearing a t-shirt suggesting the acronym ‘GOP’ actually stands for “Get Out of my Panties“, not “Grand Old Party”, as the Republicans would have it.

Bold policy statements from female politicians on such matters are not new. Last year, Oklahoma Senator Judy McIntyre   made her thoughts perfectly clear on the subject of a Fetal Personhood Bill through borrowed & bawdy signage, while Senator Constance Johnson’s handwritten amendment to the same bill caused shock, awe and much knicker wetting among the Republican faithful.

In other news, Nadine Dorries, Tory MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, went on TV gameshow ‘I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here’ to promote her controversial views on abortion. Last night she ate an ostrich’s anus on live TV.

National pride is coursing through my veins as I write.

Feminism Is Dead. Long Live The Feminists!

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Women: developing the freedom to express themselves however they goddamn please.

Feminism is, according to Netmums at least, dying a death again. According to a survey on their site last week, only 1 in 7 users identified themselves as a feminist.

For the sake of convenience, I call myself a feminist, but I wasn’t remotely disappointed with the response. In fact, I was quite surprised that as many as 15% of those surveyed were prepared to associate themselves with a philosophy that has been deconstructed in popular culture to the point where it’s widely believed that if you don’t hate men, like body hair and have a girlfriend, you’re not allowed in.

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Baghdad International Trade Fair: Nothing Dodgy Going On At All

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Image: ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images.

The Baghdad International Trade Fair kicks off today. In case you’re not fully up to speed, Hussain Qaragholi, President of the U.S. Business Council in Iraq, explained after last year’s event that the fair offers ‘distinguished’ companies like ExxonMobil, GE, Citi,  Honeywell & presumably Dodge, the opportunity to:

develop mutually beneficial economic partnerships with Iraq.

Having read this, I suddenly found myself wondering  just exactly how mutually beneficial a big fat contract to supply law enforcement vehicles might be to a population whose displacement due to conflict is estimated to be about 2.5m people.

I don’t know how my mind comes up with these hypothetical flights of fancy. I really don’t.

Donald Trump: I’m Alright, Barack

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Image: Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images North America.

Sometimes, shit just happens and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

That will be of little comfort to Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who according to some reports, was ahead of Barack Obama in the opinion polls until Hurricane Sandy hit. Post Sandy, just by virtue of doing his job smartly and effectively, Obama is tipped to take the election. Romney just has to keep his mouth shut and look busy. Criticising a leader during a crisis is rarely a smart move.

Unless of course, you are impervious to rational thought and sensitivity, like Donald Trump.

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Donald Trump & Barack Obama: Brothers From Another Borough?

Posted on by Kelly Welles

Trumpbama: Because science has proved that anyone with this hair must be a fool or an idiot. Or both. (Photoshop by KW)

Donald Trump’s offer to donate $5m to the charity of Barack Obama’s choice if the President released his college records and passport application has been widely derided, but most were not as witty as Obama’s own riposte, issued on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night.

Obama confided to Leno that Trump was holding a grudge against him, dating back “to when we were growing up in Kenya. We had constant run-ins on the soccer field, he wasn’t very good and resented it. When we finally moved to America, I thought it would be over.”

It’s not. And since this will have only exacerbated the antipathy between the two, don’t expect Trump to make the one donation to the election campaign that would engage voters, inject some much needed humour and most importantly for the property mogul, embarrass the incumbent to the point where anyone planning to cast a vote for him would think twice.

Which is presumably what Trumples was trying to do in the first place.