Funny Women 

Funny Women

Ana Marie Cox (Wonkette): 60 Minutes has issued a news release to both announce and explain that they are going to cover evangelical Christians in the U.S.

"Apparently, evangelicals believe in something called 'the Rapture' and have a lot of faith in 'Jesus Christ.' According to the release, evangelicals are 'major factor in American politics and culture' and 'have several prominent American leaders among their ranks.' Now, this is ridiculous. Everyone knows that evangelicals are just a crazy made-up story invented to scare the children of Upper West Siders when they've been naughty. Why, they're no more real than NASCAR or Wal-Mart!

"Next week on 60 minutes. . . Kansas: More than just the name of some shitty band?"

Ann Coulter(Feb. 4):

"Former front-runner Howard Dean sat out this week's primaries, but still managed to make news by ridiculing the FCC's plan to investigate MTV's halftime show at the Super Bowl. Dean pronounced the proposed investigation 'silly.' He explained that, as a doctor, a naked breast is 'not exactly an unusual phenomenon for me.'

"That's an interesting standard. Presumably a primetime exhibition of Janet Jackson having a full pelvic exam and pap smear would not be 'exactly an unusual phenomenon' for Dean either. Let's just be grateful Dean's not a proctologist."

This is Coulter at her best. Hard-hitting, funny, not really unfair to Dean (who blurted out something stupid), and it raises a big question (which I tried to raise in my Con Law class): should we allow broadcasters (sending out free, easily accessible signals) to broadcast whatever they want, subject only to commercial considerations (what will lose audience) and the criminal law? Coulter may not have an answer, but she clearly sympathizes with the social conservatives who are concerned about the question.