The 'War on G.I. Joe' - another fictitious display of outrage from the right-wing

First it was the phony 'War on Christmas' baloney, courtesy of media blowhard Bill O'Reilly.
Then came the Brokeback Mountain controversy from the Christain Right and the right-wing shock jocks.
Last year, there was the Superman Returns saga over how the Man of Steel was now being portrayed as an international figure instead of an American one.
And just last week, O'Reilly was bent out of shape over J.K. Rowing outing Albus Dumbledore of the Harry Potter book series as a homosexual.
And now, the new pseudo outrage the right-wingers are concerning themselves with is Paramount's decision to give the action-figure G.I. Joe a whole new look for the silver screen.

Hollywood now proposes that in a new live-action movie based on the G.I. Joe toy line, Joe's -- well, "G.I." -- identity needs to be replaced by membership in an "international force based in Brussels." The IGN Entertainment news site reports Paramount is considering replacing our "real American hero" with "Action Man," member of an "international operations team."

Paramount will simply turn Joe's name into an acronym.

The show biz newspaper Variety reports: "G.I. Joe is now a Brussels-based outfit that stands for Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity, an international co-ed force of operatives who use hi-tech equipment to battle Cobra, an evil organization headed by a double-crossing Scottish arms dealer."

Well, thank goodness the villain -- no need to offend anyone by making our villains Arabs, Muslims, or foreign dictators of any stripe these days, though apparently Presbyterians who talk like Scottie on "Star Trek" are still OK -- is a double-crossing arms dealer. Otherwise one might be tempted to conclude the geniuses at Paramount believe arms dealing itself is evil.

Yes. The right wingers are outraged about the equivalent of a male Barbie Doll getting a new face lift for the big-screen adaptation. And, as expected, the travesty reached the ears of the rabid, daydreaming Bush fanatics at Blogs for Bush.com, and its crackpot editor, Mark Noonan.

For crying out loud - "GI Joe" is as American as baseball and apple pie...do the people at Paramount really think the kiddies want stories of Euro-weenies rather than real American fighting men and women? With a wealth of new-minted heros in Iraq to be used to educate and inspire a new generation of American youth, Hollywood wants to opt for a version of the UN's blue helmeted international jokes...

Wrong, Noonan. Hollywood wants to make a bucket load of money, both domestically and globally.