Ben-Peter Terpstra takes on Paglia, Coulter and Andy Rooney.

Young Camille Paglia's Protest Letter

Fox's Bill O'Reilly isn't the first person of interest to slam The Bennington Banner.

Friday, January 26, 1973: "Why don't you list the year a movie was made, along with the stars?" asks 806 Main Street's pop guru, to the editor of The Bennington Banner, Vermont.  The self-identified "film addict" maintains that this is "essential information."

She goes on: "I would definitely watch a Joan Crawford movie if it was made in the '40s or '50s, but not if it's one of the lousy ones she made in the '60s."

Like fries with that miss?

There are more demands from Camp Paglia — yes, that Camille Paglia, the gladiator. "Also I would like to watch all pre-1950 movies, for reasons of nostalgia, though I am only twenty-five, and it's impossible to tell which are which the way you list them."

Bravo! And, that's why I love Italian-American women. They really know what they want.

The subversive writer openly reveals her pop culture rituals too. "Every week I go through the weekly television program supplement and mark likely movies on my calendar."

And the people's crusader adds: "You would be performing a service to viewers if you would, like TV Guide, list the years." Paglia draws attention to the NYC-centric TV programs because they make the workers of Bennington miss their favorite shows!

Evidently, the subversive agent of change isn't afraid to turn her eyes away from the bra-burning feminists of the seventies, or draw strength from Old Hollywood's well. Thus, in this letter, I see early evidence of Paglia, the rebel.

(Uh-oh. And one more thing: Can a reader please help me out? I'm just wondering if the award-winning newspaper lists dates today.)

Coulter's Invitations

Townhall Magazine's exclusive chat with the "Conservative Rock Star" Ann Coulter is a must-read. And, there's a great photo of the nice-looking pundit at Reagan's Rancho del Cielo in Santa Barbara, California.

Townhall's Lisa De Pasquale informs readers: "Coulter has become the most successful conservative writer working today, with more than 3 million books sold. No 21^st century conservative writer – male or female – comes even close." And, in 2009, her website is an international success story. Moreover, she's very funny. Just imagine Ann eating stale potato chips and talking politics, while mosquitoes are eating her at 5 a.m.

Coulter's advice to Reagan admirers? "Note that Reagan did not go to Washington after college to work on Capitol Hill or a conservative think tank. That's fine for a few years, but you should go out in life and do whatever you have a talent for or interest in, make a smashing success of yourself and then turn to politics full time."

And here's my advice to NBC: Please take your meds. As a friend of free political speech, tell me, what's the point of giving Ann Coulter an invitation to chat, and then publicly burning up your invitation? Is this Berlin 1933?

Snowmen

In 1999, it was all about the "kids" and vomit-inducing "global warming" sermons.

Andy "No snow is no fun for kids" Rooney, from Tribune Media Services played these cards:

– The National Geographic card: "Large parts of the Earth never get any snow at all." (Revelation.)

– The compassion card: "I feel sorry for all the kids who grow up in a land that gets no snow. For the sake of the kids of the future, I hope ours doesn't become one of them." (Please.)

– The danger card: "Without really thinking about it, you would think the Earth was more apt to get too cold to sustain life in the future, but the danger is heat." 

– The snowman card: "What I worry about is, if we don't have cold winters, kids will never know the fun of playing in the snow."

– The sled/mommy card: "When I was very young, my mother bundled me up on a sled and pulled me the three blocks to Evans' grocery store, then towed me home as I held the bag of food on my lap."

–  The preteen card: "Before I was a teen, all the kids on our block went to the hill on the other side of Western Avenue and rode our sleighs down it all."

– The clothing card: "It is paradoxical that while we're getting less snow, the clothes for playing in it are better."

– The teen card: "When we were a few years older, we gave up the snowmen and made forts of snow from which we waged snowball wars."

– The family vacation card: "When our kids were young, I took them to a remote spot in the Adirondacks where we built a big igloo-shaped house."  

In 2009, the world is freezing.