Brickbats

Russ Meyer, the king of cleavage cinema, and his traveling companion Melissa Mounds (58-21-32) were the highlight of this summer's Moscow Film Festival. Meyer drew cheers from Soviet filmmakers when he said, "My films out-and-out appeal to the prurient interest. I'm in the film business for lust and profit.…The success of any film is how many asses you can get to cover the seats in the theater." And Muscovites packed the theaters showing Meyer's films Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, Mudhoney, and Supervixens. How're you gonna keep 'em down on the collective after they've seen big American breasts?

When George Bush went to a fundraising dinner for Sen. Jesse Helms (R–N.C.) he had an unusual request: He wanted his favorite wrestler, Charlotte native and then-world champion Ric Flair, seated at his table. Flair, who is considered the greatest wrestler of all time, and Bush, who may be the greatest U.S. president of the early 1990s, got along famously.

Speaking of Bush, the president was criticized for going easy on Chinese leaders after the Beijing massacre. But Bush's strategy of appeasement appears to have paid off. China recently enacted a reform similar to one that Bush wanted for the United States. It is now illegal to burn the Chinese flag.

Time-out for a Brickbats quiz. On a report on the "Today" show, NBC's Carl Stern summed up the judicial record of Supreme Court nominee David Souter: "As a bachelor, he showed spare concern for women's rights, taking a sometimes dim view of rape complaints." (Souter once voted to overturn a law prohibiting defense attorneys in rape trials from bringing up the sexual history of the alleged victim.) Does Stern's statement reflect his: a) antibachelor prejudice, b) law-and-order leanings, or c) left-wing desperation?

Lest anyone doubt the antiscience nature of the environmental movement, observe the commercial for "Big Green," a 39-page catchall environmental initiative on the November ballot in California. Without ever trying to disprove the scientific claims that the air is cleaner, that most cancer rates are falling, or that pesticides on our food aren't much of a problem, actor Michael Landon proclaims, "We've listened to the experts. Now it's time to tell the experts what we believe." Yeah! Who knows more about toxins and stuff, a bunch of pointy-eggheads or Little Joe?

And California isn't the only state infested with these eco-pests. Mark Herndon, drummer for the country-music group Alabama, showed up at a public hearing to oppose a new landfill in Chattoogaville, Georgia. To demonstrate the depth of his knowledge of toxicity, aquifers, and other important-sounding things, Herndon forced those at the hearing to watch the video for Alabama's song "Pass It on Down."

Meanwhile, eco-activists in Australia have targeted the birth-control pill as an enemy of the earth or, at least, of fish. Supposedly, estrogen from the pills somehow winds up in Australia's coastal waters. The hormone renders fish swimming in the water sterile. How long will it be before Messrs. Landon and Herndon show up in Sydney to demand a ban on estrogen?

And the city parents of Santa Monica, California, showed their lack of concern for the environment by threatening to fine Edwin Ek for using a sidewalk trash can. Ek didn't know that city ordinances forbid putting private waste into public trash cans, so he tossed some junk mail into a can one day on his way to the bus stop. The letters were later spotted by the crack investigative unit of the sanitation department who sent photocopies of the evidence and a letter warning of future fines to Ek. Now what happens if he throws the letter from the city into the trash?