A Little of the Old In and Out



(image via arthouse.ru)

In: Bono. The electoral victory of Kaine in Virginia, and former President Jimmy Carter's new book atop the NYTimes bestseller list on his Evangelical roots despite his left-of-center politics and the dyadic "Christian/secular Children's movie" pitch by Disney of The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe all presently suggest that we are in the middle of a Progressive-Christian zeitgeist moment. Sunday's 60 Minutes on Bono and the Right-Wing Christians clinches it:

"When he�s not piquing their ire by using profanities on the air, U2 front-man Bono is enlisting the help of America�s Christian Right to get drugs to African AIDS victims.

"The activist rocker tells 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley that getting conservative Christians on his side was the best way to push the Bush administration to send more aid to Africa. Bradley profiles the Irish super group this Sunday, Nov. 20, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.

"This was one mission that Bono decided wasn�t going to get done by 'taking the usual bleeding heart liberal line,' he tells Bradley. So the guy on the left approached the right, 'particularly conservative Christians,' he says.

�'I was very angry that they were not involved more in the AIDS emergency. I was saying, �This is the leprosy that we read about in the New Testament�Christ hung out with the lepers,� Bono recalls saying, �But you�re ignoring the AIDS emergency.�

"It worked. 'And you know, they said, �Well, you�re right, actually�and we�re sorry. We�ll get involved.� And they did,' Bono recalls. 'People openly laughed in my face when I said this administration would distribute antiretroviral drugs to Africa�. There�s 200,000 Africans now who owe their lives to America.'"

Bravo.



(image via washingtonpost)

Out: Michael Scanlon. The haunted eyes of Jack Abramoff now fall squarely on Michael Scanlon. According to Jospehine Hearn of TheHill:

"Michael Scanlon, a close associate of embattled lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), was indicted yesterday on one count of conspiracy to bribe government officials and defraud Indian tribes.

"Scanlon is expected to enter a guilty plea at a hearing Monday as a part of a plea deal, agreeing to testify against Abramoff in any upcoming court proceedings.

"The indictment describes Scanlon's dealings with an unnamed lobbyist, 'Lobbyist A,' and an unnamed member of Congress,'Representative #1,' that closely match Scanlon's involvement with Abramoff and Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio).

"... The indictment charges that Scanlon and Abramoff provided numerous gifts to Representative #1 over the course of four years, including a lavish trip to Scotland to play golf on world-famous courses, tickets to sporting events and other entertainment, regular meals at Lobbyist A's upscale restaurant and campaign contributions.

"The lawmaker in turn agreed to perform official acts in support of Scanlon and Abramoff and their clients, the indictment continued."

The full article here.



(image via azcentralpost-gazette.com)

In: Isaac Mizrahi. For some time, around the blogosphere, we have been hearing intermittent reports of Issac Mizrahi's new show on 36th street and the free-floating atmosphere of fabulosity thereabouts. Mizrahi, you'll remember, pioneered the "Classes for the Masses" phenomenon, subsequently copied with specific modifications by Karl Lagerfeld, that connoisseur of horsemeat (AKA, "le cheval") and -- most recently -- Stella McCartney.

What's Issac up to? According to Faran Krentcil at Fashionweekdaily:

"Everybody knows Isaac Mizrahi is a ham, but who would have guessed that Hollywould PR director Elisabeth Gutowski was also craving the spotlight?

"The young publicist, whose tight friendship with boss Holly Dunlap landed her on several of this season�s junior committees, arranged a 'field trip' this week for her entire staff to the new Isaac Mizrahi show. When the gaggle of well-heeled girls arrived on-set, they were given front-row seats and allowed to appear with the zany designer on-camera. "

So when does The Corsair get an invite, Issac?