The Flickering Mirror

Superheroes AWOL in the War against Islamofascism

2006-03-21T20:42:00.000-08:00

If you want to find support for America in the war against Islamofascists don't look for it in comic books.

There was a day when comic books supported America in its war against evil doers. When Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan were trying to remake the East and the West into totalitarian nightmares, comic books were, as a history of comics put it, "pounding the hell" out of the bad guys. Now radical Islamfascists want remake the world into one ruled by Shariah. Comic books have barely noticed. Of if they do look at the Middle East it is one where America is exerting its own form of imperialism.

The History Channel produced a history of comic books, titled "Comic Book Superheroes: Unmasked. It is an interesting glimpse into the world of comic books from the days of Superman's appearance in Action Comics #1 to today's creations of Frank Miller and Dennis O'Neil.

Here is how the documentary begins a discussion of comics during WWII: "With war declared, the men in tights cast all restraints to the winds." Michael Chabon, author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, states, "Superheroes went off to war with... great gusto." Stan Lee then states, "The stories has so much pro-American propaganda that you'd almost think that they were subsidized by the government." Would he have preferred that the comics ignored the Nazis and Imperial Japan? I don't think so. Lee continues, "It was just ... we felt we had to do that." In fact, comic book writers and artists, during WWII, did much the same thing that Hollywood actors and other artists did. They went off to war to fight the enemy that threatened everyone.

So having Captain America, the Human Torch, Wonder Woman et al pounding the hell out of Nazis is a good thing. In fact, it was one's duty to join them in this fight.

However, "when the war was over, the enemy was beaten. We didn't need superheroes anymore." says Jim Steranko, author of History of Comic. So as with other "artistic" communities, Communism was not an enemy in the comic book's world. During this documentary which covers the period from Superman's appearance in the 30's to the present day, there is not one mention of the millions murdered under Communism.

But what about having those same folks start pounding the hell out of Islamofascists? Well, that, it seems, is just a bit more complicated.

The documentary shows how comic books dealt with 9/11. Pages from a Spiderman book is flashed across the screen: In a two page spread the Twin Towers are a smoldering pile of rubble and Spiderman stare and mumbles, "God." Then he is staring up at Ground Zero and says, "Only madmen could contain the thought, execute the act, fly the planes." Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image comics all put out commemorative books to raise money of the victims of the Islamofascist attack on American soil. Bravo.

Jim Steranko created a poster that reflected the patriotic feelings of a nation united as it was during WWII. However, the documentary reports, "21st century comic books had none of that." With those words the image of a sad woman in Islamic veils is flashed across the screen with an "I love NY" button holding food and water in her arms. If only that was the majority reaction in the Islamic world.

Stan Lee, expressing the typical reaction to evil we expect in among our "cultural creatives" today, says about having superheroes fighting Islamofascist terrorists today, "I think it would be too corny... It would be in bad taste to have a cartoon figure punching ... a muscle man saying, 'We'll get you.' ... No. That wouldn't work today."

Captain America is shown in a small poster that states "Fight Terrorism" But then, the documentary goes on to tell us, that Captain America "suspects that his own government is funneling weapons to terrorists." Then he sees parallels between the Dresden fire bombing and 9/11. What parallel is that I wonder? Does that mean that America is now Nazi Germany and the terrorists are the Allied forces? Is that where Marvel has taken Captain America today?

So there you have. As in Hollywood so it goes in comic books. Fighting Nazis was good (once the Nazis violated the Hitler-Stalin Pact). Fighting Terrorism, on the other hand, is "corny" and "wouldn't work today." And besides, in all likelihood, America is behind it all anyway.

That is truly the stuff of comic book fantasy.

Comic Books - More Left Wing then Hollywood?

2006-03-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

I wonder if this could be the case, as I ponder the creation of the Right Wing Comics Geek. Just a few images from some books that lead me to this conclusion:

In Superman 226, an Infinite Crisis Crossover title, Superman is reliving his life as a Superman from an alternate earth smacks him around. During these flashbacks Superman tries to stop Hitler but cannot. Something about Dr. Fate and Hitler possessing the Spear of Destiny.

Flash forward a few years and Superman is fighting no greater a foe then ... Wait for it ... The United States of America. Why, you ask? Because, a thought bubble tells us, "The witch hunts have begun." In this rendition of Congress's investigation into Communist spying on American soil, the Justice Society of America has been hauled before the Congress and ordered to remove their masks. Never mind that half that folks standing there aren't wearing any masks. Superman makes his grand entrance to call a halt to this outrage.

In case you failed to get the analogy between the America during the 50s and Nazi Germany, the writers spell it out for you. In a full page panel Superman stands before an empty concentration camp and cries out, "NEVER AGAIN." As Superman flies into Congress during hearings on Communist Spies in America, his thoughts are "NEVER AGAIN." Being asked to testify before Congress on Communists in America is no different than being in a Nazi Concentration Camp.

Sigh.

The Left Wing fever swamps infect the pages of comic books as badly as they do the films produced in La La Land.

Right Wing Comics Geek?

2006-03-07T22:16:00.000-08:00

Could that become my alter ego in the blogging realm?

I just finished watching a History Channel dvd titled, Comic Book Superheroes: Unmasked. It looks like the left wing thinking that has so infected Hollywood and its productions has infected the comics book industry.

It is interesting to note that there are some parallels between Hollywood and Comic Books history.

During WWII Comic Books were pro-American, and assisted in the war effort, as was Hollywood (Of course, Hitler first had to attack the Soviet Union for Hollywood to become pro-war. During the Hitler-Stalin non-aggression pact, Hollywood was as isolationist as the next guy. The communists in Hollywood didn't want to upset Uncle Joe by supporting war against an ally, even if the ally was Adolf Hitler.)

During the 50s goverment held hearings on the effects of comic books on youth in America. This led to the comic book industry to establish the Comics Code, a comic book content self regulating mechanism. During the 50s the House Committee in Un-American Activities were being held, which looked into, among much more important things the role of communism in Hollywood. This led to some Hollywood production companies to weed out communists and suspected communists from their own ranks (or at least give the appearance that that was what they were doing. Some of those tagged as Communists continued working under pseudonyms.)

During the 60s Comic Books embraced the "counterculture" and super heroes became anguished anti-hereos. During the 60s Hollywood embraced the "counterculture" and movie heroes gave way to anti-heroes. Comic Books continued the adversarial relationship toward American government (Third World and Communist governments were ignored or seen as noble resisters "speaking truth to power"), as did Hollywood, because of what happened in the 50s.

This adversarial relationship continues despite a breif few months when Comic Books briefly became pro-American following 9/11. That changed and once again Comic Books seem to embrace a "complex" worldview where there is more often than not shades of grey, instead of a battle of good vs. evil.

One thing I found very fascinating in the History Channel show was the near universal hatred for Ronald Reagan in comic books during the 80s. I will have to look more into that and how it has shaped how the comic book industry has dealt with, or failed to deal with, the war against Islamofascism we currently face. God forbid, Captain America should see a clear deliniation between those who would saw the heads off of humanitarian aid workers and the Airmen, Soldiers, Sailers and Marines that liberated some 50 million people in two different totalitarian Islamic regimes.

These are my first thoughts on this. I expect to get more into this as I get back into comic books, what stories they choose to tell and what they choose to ignore.

'nuff said.

Class Action Lawsuits - Payday for Lawyers

2006-03-01T20:54:00.000-08:00

In the mail today I received notification that I am eligible to partake in a the settlement of a class action lawsuit against EZ Lube, Inc. My first thought was great, my truck was about due for an oil change. Then I started to dig through the microscopic type that makes up the 4 pages of legaleze I received. When I finally found the relevant paragraph, i.e., what my part of the settlement was going to be, I discovered that the oil change would have to wait.

It seems that a woman named A vital Albeg (I know it's a woman because in parenthesis next to her name the letter reads, "...On Behalf of Herself and All Others Similarly Situated" Without that "Herself" I would never have known this person's gender) got upset one day because EZ Lube charged her either an "environmental disposal fee" or a "hazardous waste fee" or both. I think I'll peruse my old oil change receipts to see if I was charged these fees. I'll let you know in another post.

Well, Ms. Albeg didn't like that very much so, instead of taking it up with management, she did what anyone looking to win the lottery through America's civil justice system; she called a lawyer. The lawyers, I'm willing to guess, decided that the damages over a fee that was likely only a couple of dollars was only going to be ... Well, a couple of dollars. But wait... Isn't this fee being charged of everyone who got an oil change at EZ Lube? Why, of course. This case isn't about poor Ms. Albeg. It is about every single driver that ever pulled into an EZ Lube garage. We got us a class action on our hands. It's PAYDAY!!!

When all was said and done EZ Lube decided to settle the case. Exactly what the lawyers expected, no doubt.

I quickly browsed to the relevant paragraph, "The Proposed Settlement". Just how much am I, being a party to this class action, entitled to?

The final tally for all us poor, unwitting suckers who paid the couple of bucks so EZ Lube could do with used oil what the state of California required it to do? I, and all "Other Similarly Situated", get exactly ... Wait for it ... One Coupon worth $2.00 for every service I got from EZ Lube. I am further entitled to exactly one coupon every time I go back to EZ Lube to service my truck. In other words I get $2.00 off an oil change.

And what do the the lawyers for tying the courts up with this asinine action? Like I said above, for them this is Payday.

"As part of the Settlement, EZ Lube has agreed to pay the attorneys' fees and expenses related to the Litigation for Representatives Plaintiff's Counsel in an amount up to $175,000 and attorneys' fees and expenses to Mehrban in an amount up to $45,000." The genius attorneys that discovered this "travesty of Justice" (that being Yourman Alexander & Parekh LLP and the Law Offices of Aaron Dolgin) will get up to $210,000 from EZ Lube.

And were is EZ Lube going to get the money to pay this settlement? That would be in higher charges for oil changes from you, me and anyone else who stops by a corner shop one day after work to get our cars serviced.

Once again, a foolish woman is persuaded by a bunch of ambulance chasing lawyers to make it even harder to do business in California. If Ms. All-go-begging didn't like the fact that EZ Lube wanted to charge what it wanted to charge, then she should have just taken her business to Jiffy Lube, or Jiffy Oil, or EZ Oil or anyone of the dozens of garages that are just waiting to change her car's oil.

I hope Ms. All-go-begging enjoys her $2.00 coupons. I'm going to lay this letter below my truck's drip pan while I change change my own oil. Then perhaps I'll have the Law Offices of Aaron Dolgin or Yourman Alexander & Parekh LLP advise me on how I'm supposed to dispose of said oil, since they seem to have such an interest in "environmental disposal" of "hazardous waste".

Ecclasiasticus on the UAE & Pres. Bush?

2006-02-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

I let my copy of the Revised English Bible fall open and my eyes followed my finger to the following passage:

Ecclesiasticus 27:1-3

Many have cheated for gain; a money-grubber will always turn a blind eye. As a peg is fixed in the joint between stones, so dishonesty squeezes in between selling and buying. Unless a person holds resolutely to the fear of the Lord, his house will soon collapse in ruins.

That is a rather interesting passage to reflect on given current news about American ports, British companies, the United Arab Emirates and President Bush.

Ecclesiasticus continues:

27:4 Shake a sieve, and the rubbish remains; start an argument, and a man's faults show up.

In some of the arguments I've heard about this Dubai debacle one can see a lot of folk's faults.

A Tale of Two Deaths

2006-02-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

When doctors determine that one is no longer a functioning member of society, they willing withhold basic nutrition. The young, old all folks in between, can be determined a life no longer worthy of life by medical ethicists and physicians and have their life will be ended, despite family wishes.

Torture, rape and murder your fellow citizen and doctors will adamently refuse to carry out the execution so ordered by the jury of your peers. Why? because it is unethical for doctors to participate in actions that deliberately end the life of another person.

Wesley J. Smith writes on this subject, "If doctors should not execute, they should not euthanize."

There is a big furor in California over whether doctors should participate in executions. Many in bioethics and the media claim that it is unethical for doctors to cooperate in executions, since killing is not a medical act.
I have great sympathy for that view. But if that is true, it should go
without saying that doctors should not participate in the intentional killing of
patients because they are seriously ill or disabled (or as in the Netherlands,
deeply depressed).

I would be very interested to know where the two anathesiologists, who refused to participate in the execution of rapist, torturer and murder Michael Morales, stand on the issue of dehydrating to death the elderly and disabled.

Gilligan's Island & The Seven Deadly Sins

2006-01-29T17:56:00.000-08:00

If you cannot find theology in some classic sitcoms then you are not looking hard enough.

Case in Point: Gilligan's Island. This series was nothing less then a meditation on the Seven Deadly Sins. Each character a stand-in for a particular sin.

The Skipper = Gluttony
Mr. Howell = Anger
Mrs. Howell = Greed
Ginger = Lust
Mary Anne = Envy
The Professor = Pride

and last, but certainly not least,

Gilligan = Sloth

Makes you wonder if the producers of that show were trying to get a message out about the wages of sin, given that the seven castaways never got off the island during the series initial run from '64 - '67.

King Kong - Two views

2006-01-04T16:32:00.000-08:00

Raymond J. Keating provides a religious perspective on the violence in, of all places, King Kong. He writes,

"By bowing to the original film, Jackson understands that beauty is what the tragedy of King Kong is about in the end. Much of the violence presented in the film is undertaken in service to love and beauty. "King Kong" is at least in part about the filmmaker and the audience appreciating beauty, as in a woman, a beast, and that beast's willingness to protect his beauty.

Jason Appuzo, Co-Director of the Liberty Film Festival and Editor of Libertas does a great job (no great surprise given Jason's deep knowledge of film and film history) breaking down the film and relating Jackson's Kong to adventure classics of yesteryear.

Jason's overall perspective on Kong?

"If you haven’t seen Kong, you really should. Minor quibbles aside, the film is substantially better than the normal ‘blockbuster’ material Hollywood’s been putting out of late. Watching the trailers that ran before Kong for things like X-Men 3 or Superman Returns (or Superman Begins or whatever it is), it was such a pleasure to be dropped by Peter Jackson back into the romantic light of the past, of the old New York skyline, of teeming, dangerous jungles, and of wonderful creatures that emerge as if out of a dream. This is great moviemaking.

The Bible is NOT Political Philosophy

2006-01-04T15:57:00.000-08:00

Joseph Loconte provides a bromide to anyone who thinks that Holy Scripture includes direction on how America should establish domestic or foriegn policy. You would be absolutely wrong, however, if you think he is arguing for a completely secular public square.

Loconte writes:

"Christians are right to argue that the Bible is a priceless source of moral and spiritual insight. But they're wrong to treat it as a substitute for a coherent political philosophy."
...
"A completely secular public square is neither possible nor desirable; democracy needs the moral ballast of religion. But a partisan campaign to enlist the sacred is equally wrongheaded. When people of faith join political debates, they must welcome those democratic virtues that promote the common good: prudence, reason, compromise - and a realization that politics can't usher in the kingdom of heaven."

This column comes on the heels of comments by Rep. Nancy Pelosi when she decried the Republican budget for 2006 as an act of "injustice and immorality" and went on to describe the casting of no votes against this budget "as an act of worship." If comments like this came from a Republican then the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State would have jumped out of his skin to condemn them. Since AU is an merely an arm the DNC he is silent. Some of the things that just make you scratch your head.

HT to Orthodoxy Today.

Munich is not Schindler's List

2006-01-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

Steven Speilberg's 2005 Acadamy Award nominee to be film Munich cannot hold a candle to his 1993 Acadamy Award winning film Schindler's List.

An average of reviews at RottenTomatoes.com tells us that many critics think Munich is "fresh" with a 77% positive rating. A few quotes show that many film critics sit as far Left as the filmmakers they review. A film that draws moral equivalency between terrorists and those who bring the terrorists to justice "asks hard questions", "wrestle[s] with the impossible" and is "perfectly in keeping with the politically turbulent times" according to a few of the reviews linked at Rotten Tomatoes.

If you want to learn the truth about this film you will have to go to reviews not linked at Rotten Tomatoes.

Debbie Schlussel has a great review that lists the numerous inaccuracies and outright lies included in Munich. Ms. Schlussel also notes something that no other reviewer has mentioned. That is "the scenes in which [the innocent Israeli athletes] are murdered by Palestinian terrorists are interspersed with the self-doubting Mossad agent having sex." One is left wondering why Mr. Speilberg didn't interperse the deaths of Jews in Schindler's List with self-doubting Nazi guards having sex with their paramours?

James Bowman's review notes that "when [Spielberg] tries to think — and especially when he reaches after profundity, as in Munich — he can only think in clichés." The numerous cliches included in this film lead to the idea that "One should put loyalty to one’s family and friends ahead of loyalty to one’s country."

Mr. Bowman, in closing his review, points out a truth of filmmaking. "There’s no right and wrong to the camera, just undifferentiated human emotion. It’s not the movies’ fault. That’s just what they do. But it is a reason why a movie about the most serious and important moral and political matters should only be made by someone who is much more than a movie-maker."

When Spielberg made Schindler's List his worldview properly allowed for moral distinctions between Nazis and the Jews they killed. Unfortunately, it has absolutely no room for a moral distinction between Palestinian terrorists and the innocent Israelis they killed. What can one expect from a guy who thinks the hours he spent with the Communist tyrant Fidel Castro were "the most important" of his life.

Hollywood Bad Guys

2005-12-30T16:03:00.000-08:00

Syriana, in which George Clooney stared and was executive producer, informs viewers that the bad guys in our current war against Islamofascism is, of course, Big Oil and the CIA.

Why is it, in a world filled with real villians that strap bombs to themselves and blow up buses, hotels and pizza parlors filled with innocent men, women and children, Hollywood can only find villians in America's government and in corporate boardrooms? Because, as James Bowman writes in his review of this film,

"... movies occupy their own little world, one in which the only allowable villainy comes from Nazis, racists and other "prejudiced" people, the sexually repressed, sinister forces within the U.S. government and big corporations or some combination" of these groups.

As long as Hollywood continues to produce films that attract only the readers of the Nation, then it will continue to reap the "little world" profits it has so recently attracted.

Schwarzenegger - Republican?

2005-12-30T15:36:00.000-08:00

There were predictions that Arnold Schwwarzenegger would move left after every one of his Propositions lost this past November. It looks like these predictions are coming true.

First he selected the liberal activist and former Gray Davis aide Susan Kennedy.

Now he is going to propose a $1.00 hike in California's minimum wage.

Arnold's treatment of the murder Stanley Williams looked like the actions of a conservative, or at least someone who is tough on crime. On the other hand, that decision was a complete no brainer for anyone outside of the Leftist Hollywood gliterati that turned a multiple murderer and co-founder of the Crips, a horribly violent street gang, into the equivalent of Rosa Parks.

Look forward to more liberal policy from Schwarzenegger's office in 2006, taking California futher down the road toward the socialist utopia, which the Democrats in Sacramento so strongly desire.

Repeat after me,

2005-12-06T22:39:00.000-08:00

Diversity of thought is a bad thing. At least, that is what Russel Jacoby thinks. This is from a history professor at UCLA who, along with Fredric Jameson, think we find great lessons on creating utopia in science fiction novels. These to "noted academics" have "lamented the wholesale abandonment of such utopian ideas of the left as the abolition of property, the triumph of solidarity, and the end of racism and sexism."

In his dismissal of diversity of thought, Jacoby does what any Leftist does, mocks that which he doesn't understand. He writes that Students for Academic Freedom want nothing more than "lots of choices for students." Interesting turn of phrase for an organization that is trying to ensure some minimal level of political diversity on American campuses today.

In SAF's Academic Bill of Rights there are 8 principles. Typical of Leftist argumentation, Jacoby rips one sentence out of one principle and thinks he is fairly describing the entire document. He cites this line out of Principle 4, "While teachers are and should be free to pursue their own findings and perspectives in presenting their views they should consider and make their students aware of other viewpoints." The first sentence in this principle reads:

"Curricula and reading lists in the humanities and social sciences should
reflect the uncertainty and unsettled character of all human knowledge in these
areas by providing students with dissenting sources and viewpoints where
appropriate."

The Left, of course, as epitomized in the utopian thinking of Jacoby, does not want students to think that human knowledge might actually be "uncertain and unsettled". It wants the young to swallow whatever it is shoveling, even if it's warmed over totalitarian Marxism and social utopianism.

Jameson, walking down the utopian path Jacoby wants us to blindly stumble down, wants to reimagine . But, he warns, don't look at those societies that actually tried to create Leftist dominated socialistic dream worlds, like the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, North Korea, or most of the African continent. Instead dive into the fantasies of science fiction writers. Nothing like trying to create a political reform and lasting culture out of outer space fantasies.

Jacoby teaches at UCLA and Jameson teaches at Duke. Both these men have tenure and face absolutely no consequences for the lunacy they promote. According to Jameson and Jacoby political reform can be found in the drug addled stories of Philip K. Dick and questioning whatever the instructor says infringes on professor's academic freedom (to be an idiot, I guess).

Sundance Film Festival - Independent?

2005-11-28T20:13:00.000-08:00

If you consider Left Wing and really Left Wing films independent then sure, the 2006 Sundance Film Festival lineup is a celebration of "Independent" film making. Only in the wacked out world of Hollywood is a celebration of radical Left wing politics considered "independent".

In the real world, however, we know just what this is: A confab for those who think they live in, as James Lileks describes it so well, Chimpsuit McHallihitler’s America.

Here's a sample of the films the festival will have on tap, as reported at IndieWire.com. This list proves why events like the Liberty Film Festival are so important.

First up: American documentaries

American Blackout "A stylish hard hitting documentary that
recounts the fascinating career of Representative Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and
the suppression of the black vote historically and during the recent
Presidential elections in Florida and Ohio."

They just can't get over the last two elections. Bush won. Get over it already. Cynthia McKinney, one of three Democrats who actually had the courage of her convictions and voted for immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and for the abondonment of the Iraqi citizens to the Islamofascists. BTW, the historical suppression of the Black vote was by Democrats - that would be the party of Ms. McKinney. It was Republicans that gave black Americans the right to vote. And that was in way back in the 19th Century. Subsequent Democratic Administrations took that right away. The first black Americans elected to U.S. Congress after the Civil War were all Republicans. All of this is detailed in a documentary that would never be screened at Sundance, titled "Emancipation, Revelation, Revolution"

An Unreasonable Man "Using rarely seen archival
footage and over forty recently conducted on-camera interviews, this documentary
traces the career of Ralph Nader from quixotic consumer advocate to upstart
presidential candidate to public pariah."

At least they got the pariah part right.

God Grew Tired Of Us "Four boys from Sudan embark on a
journey to America after years of wandering Sub-Saharan Africa in search of
safety."

It is unfortunate that they couldn't see "American Blackout" before they decided to come to McKinney's Amerika.

Ground Truth: After The Killing Ends "Reveals how the military
trains our soldiers for war, the reality of combat in Iraw and the effects of
this war on our soldiers coming home."

I didn't know we had soldiers in Iraw. Where is Iraw, anyway?

Iraq In Fragments "Contemporary Iraq is illuminated in
three chapters that follow the diverse stories of Iraqis against a backdrop of
war, occupation and ethnic tension."

I'm sure this will be a very diverse look at the war in Iraq. No doubt it will be diverse the way Bowling for Columbine was a diverse look at guns in America.

Small Town Gay Bar "A voyage to the deep South to tell a tale
of the struggle for community and expression in the face of ignorance, hypocrisy
and oppression. "

Southern boys making fun of homosexuals always plays well in Hollywood. They will be knocking themselves silly to get the distribution rights to this one.

And now the dramatic releases that will be on display (as if Cynthia McKinney isn't dramatic enough).

Somebodies "Surrounded by eccentric relatives, prankster
classmates, and more-or-less rehabilitated ex-cons, a Black college student
stumbles along the path to responsible adulthood."

It's no wonder that one would stumble while surrounded by more or less rehabilitated ex-cons. What does "more or less" mean anyway? Do they only to a little bit of crime now that they are "rehabilitated"?

Stay "A youthful, impulsive sexual encounter opens the door to
a dark comedy about the complexities of honesty."

I, for one, have never found honesty that complex. Hard at times, but complex? Never. And there's a couple more Hollywood favorites: Youth and Sex. ... Actually, that just about defines Hollywood.

The World Cinema category has a few choice selections.

Songbirds "(U.K.)Downview Prison in England is host to 250
women who have committed crimes ranging from drug trafficking to manslaughter,
but these women are also mothers and caretakers. In a musical set in the prison,
the women sing about their lives and the crimes that led to their imprisonment.

Nothing like muderous mothers breaking into song to get the juices flowing.

The Short Life of Jose Antonio Gutierrez "(Germany)Behind the
heroic tale of the first U.S. soldier to die in the war in Iraq, there unfolds
the story of a Guatemalan street child drawn into war by the promise of a green
card in a foreign country."

"Drawn into war by the promise of a green card." What more is there to say about that?

The Giant Buddhas "(Switzerland)A film about the destruction of
the famous Buddha statues in Afghanistan. An essay on fanaticism and faith,
terror and tolerance, ignorance and identity."

Why do I get the sense that this will have as much to say about Christians as it will the Islamofascists who destroyed those statues? Could it be because the description leaves out the rather important fact that it was the Taliban regime, which the American led Coalition of the Willing ousted from Afghanistan.

Little Red Flowers "(China) A parable about the nature and
complexities of being compelled to "fit in" to a regimented society set in a
post-revolutionary Chinese orphanage."

Regimented society? I think the word they were looking for was ... was ... what's the word? I can't think of it. Oh, yeah that's right: COMMUNIST society.

The Peter Pan Formula "(South Korea) An adolescent boy
confronts premature independence as his mother lies in a coma and he experiences
the first tugs of sexual desires with an older woman."

Hollywood, Youth and Sex - what a combo. Maybe they can get the rights to the Smiths song, "Girlfriend in a Coma" for the American release. Sing with me now: Mama's in a coma, I know, I know, it's serious.

Out of all these films, I most anticipate ... drum role, please ...

Dear Pyongyang "(Japan) A Korean-Japanese daughter explores her
father's fierce political loyalty to North Korea - costly to the point of
breaking up his family."

When will the Left ever acknowledge the horrors of Communism. That "fierce political loyalty" is to a regime that will torture and murder an entire family should one person wear the wrong socks when standing in a room with a picture of North Korea's "Beloved Leader".

Dear Pyongyang, Please don't murder my entire family. We only wanted to eat.

Schwarzenegger: Tending Left?

2005-11-27T21:08:00.000-08:00

A great many voices warned Arnold not to force the special election. He did it anyway, against the advice to avoid it. One of the sources of this political advice was his wife, Maria Shriver (member of the Kennedy Clan).

Arnold Steinberg, California political analyst and strategist, also thought that the special election was not politically smart. He also thought that loss may mean big changes for one of the few conservatives in Sacramento. In the 1st hour of Dennis Prager's November 9th radio show, Mr. Steinberg stated that the November 8th loss may very well mean that Arnold will veer toward the political Left on future issues.

One of those future issues is now at hand. It is the execution of convicted murderer and founder of the Crips street gang, Stanley 'Tookie' Williams. According to the AP Arnold is contemplating granting clemency to this unrepentant murderer of four people.

Why would the Republican governor choose to do such a thing? Is he convinced that 'Tookie' has changed; despite the fact that the duly convicted murderer still claims he's innocent? Is it the children's books 'Tookie' has written that are working on Arnold's heart? Maybe it was the attempts to give 'Tookie' the Nobel Peace Prize. This would have been an award that ranked up there with the Peace Prize given to Yassar Arafat, founder of modern terrorism.

Maybe, on the other hand, this is the first sign that Mr. Steinberg was correct when he stated that Arnold's overwhelming loss would mean a turn toward the Left for California's Republican governor.

On two other occasions, when Arnold could have granted a death row inmate clemency, he declined to do so. Now he is contemplating just such a thing. Why? Could it be that he has now decided to listen to what the Kennedy's have to say?

Why Hollywood doesn't care what you want

2005-11-25T12:51:00.000-08:00

Michael Medved made a brief point during the 3rd hour of his radio show recently. He stated that 70% of Hollywood's revenues come from overseas. The American Thinker had an essay that included the following:

"In a survey conducted across Western European countries last year, Israel and the US were ranked one and two as the greatest threats to world peace. A separate survey several months ago found that almost 40% of Germans believed that the US itself was behind the 9/11 attacks, so as to provide an excuse for war against Muslim nations."

This goes a long way in explaining why Hollywood continues to produce movies like Syriana and Jarhead that portray American oil companies as the enemy and the American military as pathetic, brutal sexual deviants. Why should executives at Fox, Universal, Warner Bros., etc. want to produce pro-American movies when 70% of their money comes from people that believe this is the true state of affairs in the world?

Go See 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe"

2005-11-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

Especially if you are sick and tired of what mainstream Hollywood produces. Conservatives, especially Christian conservatives, have spent far too much time trying to shut Hollywood down. Conservative protests of what Hollywood produces have simply driven film production further from the American heartland from which it sprang. Now we have companies like Walden Media putting the stories on screen that typical Hollywood avoids like the plague.

Cal Thomas has an excellent commentary on why it is important for people who want to see good films to get off their good intentions, open their wallets and patronize good family friendly films when they are made.

Cal writes:
"As with "The Passion of the Christ" (an openly religious film) and "Chariots of Fire," the public must buy tickets to "TLTWTW" and make this and its sequels big moneymakers for Disney and Walden. Large profits are the key to ensuring more good films. If all of the energy put into the failed boycott of Disney for "gay day" at Walt Disney World now goes into praising Disney and Walden for creating a magnificent work, this "light" will overcome that other "darkness."

"C.S. Lewis got it. So will you after seeing this movie and cheering the ultimate triumph of good over evil."

HT: Libertas

Josiah Gilbert Holland

2005-11-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

While wandering internet backroads I discovered links to a poet named Josiah Gilbert Holland.

I'll confess, I just don't understand a lot of poetry. Every once in a while, however, a few stanzas strike me as profound. This was the case with several of Hollands poems: God, Give Us Men, A Song of Doubt and A Song of Faith.

All the rage in politics (pun somewhat intended) today is to argue that Pres. Bush "lied" us into Iraq and now we need to withdraw American troops immediately. (On both these points I ardently disagree, but that's not the purpose of this post.)

I would love to see Republicans meditate on the first poem in my short list, from which these lines are drawn:
"God give is men..."
"Men who can stand before a demagogue
And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking!"

The format of argumentation in government disgusts me. Why do these men and women always have to qualify the most adament disagreements with, "I greatly respect my good friend across the aisle, but ..."

Give me a break! Who can respect Senator Kennedy after he stood in the Well of the Senate and cried, "Before the war, week after week after week after week, we were told lie after lie after lie after lie." This man deserves absolute and utter contempt not "respect".

The Future is Now

2005-11-20T12:06:00.000-08:00

Imagine under an arch as you work your way toward your war toward the plane about to whisk you off for you long awaited vacation. You are asked to pause a moment under this arch while a Security Official asks a few questions. After giving the Guard polite, honest answers you are thanked and ushered forward.

Then the swarthy looking male behind you goes through the same exercise. Instead of boarding the plane, however, he is escorted by two armed guards to a room for further questioning and his ticket it confiscated. He is going nowhere.

But, you think, he gave the same kind of answers you gave. Why was he taken out of the line, while you were not. Is this just a case of unjust racial profiling?

In a word, No.

It is the result of not passing a lie detector test.

An Israeli company has successfully created a walk-through lie detector to be used at airport boarding gates.

According to The Media Line,
"A new walk-through lie detector system designed to identify travelers with evil intent has been successfully tested at RussiaÂs Domodedevo Airport. The GK-1 voice analyzer, created by the Israeli firm Nemesysco, looks for uncontrollable tremors in the voice of passengers answering ÂyesÂ or ÂnoÂ to questions. In a test of 500 people, the machine successfully identified the Âone person planning to do something illegal.Â "

This is just the thing, of course, conspiracysiracty theorists' overactive imaginations bubbling with all kinds of abuse and malfeasance on part of the government.

Maybe we could have the folks at the New York Times pass through this machine the next time they start claiming their liberal tendencies has absolutely no effect on how they report the news.

From the Bookshelf II

2005-11-19T13:12:00.000-08:00

I just finished Richard Matheson’s Bid Time Return and thought I would add a few of my reflections on this work. The film Somewhere in Time was adapted from this book.

This is nothing less then the story of a stalker traveling through time to reach his victim. A writer falls in love with a woman based solely on an 1896 photograph. He then travels back in time and is so adamant in being with her every moment that he fantasizes about being handcuffed to her and, toward the end, he falls down weeping when he thinks she is gone forever. This is not the behavior of an intelligent, rational man. This is the behavior of a stalker.

To be sure, there is passage after passage about how the Robert Collier, suffering writer, passionately loves Elise McKenna, the actress to whom Robert travels back in time to court. These incessant declarations of love become rather tiresome and make it possible to skip whole sections of the book without missing anything.

How the book deals with time travel is interesting, but it reflects the narcissistic attitude that marked the 60s and 70s. All one need do, to travel back in time, is imagine it and … whammo … you’re in 1896. No fancy devises or specialized technology required. Time travel is simply a process of mind over matter. If you don’t mind that it creates all kinds of paradoxes that cannot be resolved, then it won’t matter that this plot device makes no sense.

Matheson, to his credit, does have Robert Collier reflect on some of the paradoxes involved with time travel, like how one can exist before one has been born. Matheson must have realized that he was writing himself into a box if he continued exploring these ideas, so he has Robert declare that it makes him ill and all foggy in the brain thinking about that stuff. Therefore, he just stops doing so.

That is exactly what you need to do to makes this book believable - just stop thinking, which, upon reflection, is what makes this story so very unsatisfying. Women who love romances might like it, but anyone looking for a good time travel yarn would do much better looking up H. G. Wells.

Congress not busy with anything else ...

2005-11-16T19:10:00.000-08:00

so they've decided to go after professional athletes.

Just days after Major League Baseball implements the toughest anti-drug and anti-steroid policy in sports a couple of Congressmen threaten the NFL, NBA and NHL. Clean up your act or we're coming after you.

I'm sure the likes of Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Tom Davis (R-VA) have guys like Darcy Hordichuk and Jesse Boulerice just shaking in their skates.

It is truly insane that these paid public employees think it is their business to determine a private industry's drug policy. I'm with NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw on this butting in of the government's nose where it doesn't belong. Upshaw said. "[The NFL Owners and Players Association] have put a responsible model in place. We didn't need Congress to tell us to put it in, so why would we need them to modify it?"

What serious people want answers to

2005-11-16T18:55:00.000-08:00

Dennis Prager has the best talk show on the AM dial because he is the smartest man on the radio. In a recent commentary, at the LA Times, he clearly and succincty writes what non-Muslims want to know from their Muslim neighbors.

The five questions Dennis wants anwers to are these:
1. "Why are you so quiet" about Islamofascist terror?
2. "Why are none of the Palestinian terrorists Christian?"
3. "Why is only one of the 47 Muslim-majority countries a free country?"
4. "Why are so many atrocities committed and threatened by Muslims in the name of Islam?"
5. "Why do countries governed by religious Muslims persecute other religions?"

I strongly urge you to read Dennis's elaboration on these questions. If we non-Muslims were to get some serious answers to these questions, we might actually get somewhere in the war against Islamofascism.

From the Bookshelf

2005-11-13T17:09:00.000-08:00

I just finished Richard Matheson's What Dreams May Come and found it to be as moving as the movie. It is a wonderful love story and fascinating contemplation on life after death. Matheson writes great dialog. What else would you expect from one so prolific in novels, teleplays and screenplays.

My only issue with the book is the knee-jerk antipathy to Western religion, specifically Christianity. On several occasions the characters discuss how religion, in general, and Christianity specifically represent restricted spiritual life.

One example from the book's closing chapters has Chris Nielsen, the protagonist in a 'place of rest', a sort of spiritual hospital. Nearby is a man going out of his wits.

"I looked across the hall in startlement as a man began to shout, 'I'm a Christian and a follower of my Saviour! I demand to be taken to my Lord! You have no right to keep me here! No right!'

"I saw a man in blue gesture toward several of his associates and they gathered around the furious mind to touch him. In seconds, he was heavily asleep."

It seems that when someone professes the Christian faith the healers in the afterlife, or Summerland as it's called in this book, provide the required psychic medication.

Despite the fact that this book embodies the typical prejudice against religion that comes with many New Age spiritualities, I found it a generally enjoyable and moving read.

For a more orthodox treatment of heaven, hell and life after death the nod obviously goes to C. S. Lewis's The Great Divorce.

Film Critics hate McCarthy too

2005-11-13T16:36:00.000-08:00

If you want to score big with the critics, reflect back to them every prejudice they hold. Case in point: Good Night and Good Luck, George "I never finished college" Clooney's hagiographic film about Edward R. Murrow fighting the Joe "Dr. Evil" McCarthy.

Rotten Tomatoes informs us that this period piece is pulling in a whopping 95% positive reivews.

Here's a few choice quotes from some of these glowing reviews:

"A largely terrific picture: a scathing (and, yeah, exceedingly timely) social document submerged within a deeply pleasurable entertainment." Exceedingly timely?

"George Clooney's film about the CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow is a passionate, thoughtful essay on power, truth-telling and responsibility."

"This fact-based drama has much to say about the current state of journalism -- especially television journalism -- and the obligation of news media to challenge and criticize governmental actions."

"Masterfully crafted, wonderfully acted, and an undeniably cutting commentary on fear in the 50s that resonates even louder today."

And on and on and on.

All this about a movie that ignores the fact that there actually were Communist spies working in various branches of the federal government, handing information over to Joseph Stalin.

Feed the critics' hatred of "Amerika", put the worst distortions of history on the big screen and those critics will love you for it.

When French Police react to riots ...

2005-11-13T02:01:00.000-08:00

they are actually provoking the very riots they are reacting to. At least according to "left-wing political groups and Communist-backed unions".

"Several hundred people demonstrated against the state of emergency in Paris' Latin Quarter ... the protesters called the new security measures a "provocation" that would not resolve the social and economic problems underlying the unrest."

The solution to these riots is not declaring a state of emergency and doing whatever is necessary to establish law and order, according to the Left in France. It is to give the rioters more money and ease their social concerns.

And some wonder why the Left is in decline today.

Who's behind the Flickering Mirror?

2005-11-12T23:54:00.000-08:00

The guy behind this blog is just one man struggling to make something of himself.

He has two degrees, a BA and an MA, the former in Psychology and the latter in a field called Transpersonal Psychology (if you know who Ken Wilber is then you know what Transpersonal Psychology is). Between those degrees, he spent 5 years on the United States Navy. His only shipboard assignment was as a Machinist Mate and Engineering Laboratory Technician aboard the USS Virginia, CGN 38.

All of that training and education now sits idle as he scrambles for work, taking any temp job he could find. These jobs mostly involve mindless administrative duties, filing, faxing, data entry, etc. One finds these jobs through temporary staffing agencies like Office Team or Corestaff.

He likes to think of himself as a writer, away from the everyday struggle of trying to keep food on the table and a roof over his and his wife's head.

He struggles to find a religious home, from which will spring his spiritual life. Connection with God begins with connection to community (not with endless navel gazing). He is drawn closer and closer to the Catholic Church as each day passes. The fact that he's drawn to the Catholic Church will no doubt dismay those who chrismated him into the Greek Orthodox church.

These are just a few tidbits of information about the guy behind this blog. More will come out with each new post.