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Thursday, September 4. 2008

News flash: I like comedy — good comedy — and often that “good comedy” is real events not meant to be comedy. Often the best real life comedy comes from politics.

Not always of course. One of the funniest bits of news I’ve read recently is about actor David Duchovny, Fox Mulder from The X Files and currently as Hank Moody on Showtime’s Californication. He’s not only the show’s star, he is the executive producer. It’s his baby.

So, the irony here — the comedy — is that Duchovny just recently left rehab. Not for drugs, alcohol or even gambling; but for sex addiction. Really. But why is it funny? His current show, the one he stars in and produces, is about a New York writer who moved to L.A., goes into a long term writer’s block and massages that block with alcohol and sex. Sex with as many women as humanly possible.

Plus he has daughter by a former, long-term partner, played by Natascha McElhone. The show is really all about Hank Moody having sex with every young woman he can bump into in the course of an episode. It’s a pretty fun program with usually awkward references to life’s little lessons. Really, as the program title implies, it involves fornication. Lots of it.

Then we have the producer-star entering rehab for a sex addiction. So, after la good laugh, I then wonder, “Is this a ploy to attract viewers? Or, is Duchovny looking for a way to change the premise of the show without changing the intent of the show?” Sorta like when the producers of M*A*S*H changed that program from a comedy to a drama.

Funnier still was the play of it on CBS News, only the focus of the piece wasn’t about David Duchovny or how he is addicted to sex, but the evils of Internet porn. Some bait and switch. The had a sex therapist, Ian Kerner, who explained everything there is to know about addiction to internet porn, without any reference to those who oppose the view that addiction to sex or internet porn is real, let alone someone with an opposing view point. And there are plenty of opposing viewpoints.

Believe it or not, not everyone in the field of obsessive behavior and addiction believes addiction is a disease. A disorder maybe, but not a disease. Here’s what gives me pause when a noted “expert” talks about “sex addiction.”
 “The Internet, I think, has been the #1 enabler of the increase in sexually compulsive behavior. Whereas, in previous years, you might have thought of a sex addict as somebody who’s compulsively cheating, hooking up, having affairs, I think today, millions more men are vulnerable — especially men — are vulnerable to sexually compulsive behavior because of the proliferation of Internet porn and the easy access of internet porn. So, I think that’s definitely the #1 problem for people who are suffering from sexually compulsive behavior.”

 Well Doctor Kerner, how many people suffer from Sex/internet addiction?
 “There are no real, hard numbers on sex addiction. I mean, we know that Internet porn addiction is affecting millions of people.”

Actually, it doesn’t give me pause, I just flat out say, “Bullshit!” How do we “know” Internet porn addiction is affecting millions if there are no real, hard numbers on sex addiction? More troubling, the Early Show co-host Julie Chen didn’t challenge that contradiction.

Reality check: the American Psychiatric Association doesn’t recognize a real disease called sex or Internet porn addiction. No credible medical association does — but it makes for great ratings if a celebrity goes into rehab for “sex addiction!” And, to be fair and balanced, Dr. Kerner did disclose that the APA doesn’t recognize “sex addiction” as real.

So, that was funny; David Duchovny in a role about a guy living the number one male sexual fantasy going into rehab for “sex addiction.”

My answer to that claim: “Playboy models do it best!”

Now, what got me started Wednesday morning wasn’t David Duchovny and his trouble with sex. Nope. It was the spin about the presumptive Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. For some reason, the Republican spin masters are going on and on about Palin having more experience than Barack Obama.
 First off, the race isn’t between Obama and Palin, its between McCain and Obama, but the Republicans are spinning this into a race between the Democratic Presidential Candidate and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. That’s odd.

But, no less than Cindy McCain herself, in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, suggested Palin had more foreign policy experience than Obama because, in Cindy’s words, “… remember that Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia.” Stephanopoulos, ever the gentleman, cut her off and saved McCain from making more of an ass of herself.
 That George, such a nice man!

You know, that’s just too damn funny. But, in deference to Cindy McCain, she wasn’t the first person to float that bit of … humor. Fox News co-anchor Steve Doocy said it first. Now, it’s making the Internet rounds as if it’s actually a valid point.

Republican strategist Vin Weber just used it in an interview with Chuck Todd on MSNBC.

And of course the “real experts” in the Republican Party like to point out she’s the only one of the four candidates to have any executive experience, going back to her time in her local PTA. Think of that: the only presidential or vice presidential candidate that is using involvement in the PTA as part of their main experience in their political resume.

 Twenty years ago, when President Reagan was about to leave office, my thought was “it can’t get any worse than this.” Then, in 2000, it got worse. Now, in 2008 it appears it can sink even deeper into the abyss. A candidate’s domestic and foreign policy decisions based partly on her time in the PTA?

One of the most egregious lies of the Republicans is the “the media” going after Palin’s personal life to attack her.

First of all, it was the McCain campaign that sent out the press release with the details of Palin’s personal life so it could be examined! And then they turn around and accuse “the media” of digging into her personal life? What a hypocritical lie! And that’s become one of the main talking points of the Republican faithful.

Actor Fred Thompson got big applause lines during his speech before the Republican National Convention using that ploy; “Some Washington pundits and media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit.” And, “Let’s be clear, the selection of Governor Palin has the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic.”

It’s the media; they’re the ones attacking Sarah Palin in a sexist way! No man would be subjected to questions about his family, how many kids they have and what their children are doing, according to First Lady Laura Bush.

Umm, ma’am, either you lied or you’re ignorant. We know about the families of the other three candidates in the race and I can still remember the media attention surrounding President Ford’s children and especially Betty Ford who admitted to being an alcoholic and started the most famous rehab in the world, the Betty Ford Clinic.

Then of course there was scrutiny about President’s Carter’s brother Billy and his son James “Chip” Carter, a couple of Good Ole Southern boys. Then there were the Reagan kids; Patti Davis wrote books criticizing her parents and she posed nude for Playboy (Playboy models do it best!). Not to mention Democratic advocate Ron Reagan who was in the spotlight while studying to be a ballet dancer.

Bill Clinton’s half brother Roger had drug issues and the current president’s two daughters have been “detained” for alcohol-related offenses. Guess the first lady forgot about those little indiscretions.

The attack on “the media” is the Republican Party pulling out that straw man one more time hoping it will win them some votes come November. Surprisingly, members of the media are pushing back with the facts without attacking Governor Palin’s personal life. Expose the inconsistencies and lies, especially the lies Palin has told about her record. That’s all we really need to know.

Posted by Tim Forkes in NEWS and POLITICS at 00:01 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

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