GI Joe: It's just a movie based on a cartoon based on an action figure, right?

Wrong.

Glenn Beck has come under attack in the lefty blogosphere over his comments about the upcoming GI Joe movie, where Hollywood takes an American icon and turns him into an international travesty. The reports started with Media Matters and spread from there (because, rather than actually listening to conservatives, liberals just get on Media Matters' web site & parrot whatever they say).

The most interesting of these attacks that I could find came from The Huffington Post which, ironically enough, has a page dedicated to attacking Glenn Beck (which it calls "Beckwatch").

The liberal argument: it's just a movie.

And once again, the left, in reducing itself to mindless attacks, misses the whole point.

As an avid listener to Glenn Beck's radio program, I heard Beck's argument from his own mouth. He's not just talking about this movie. He's talking about the amount of anti-American propaganda coming out of Hollywood that is marketed to our children. The examples that he points out: Superman Returns, where "Truth, Justice and The American Way" was intentionally changed to "Truth, Justice...all that stuff" because the producers of the film didn't think it would be right to promote "The American Way" (despite the fact that America, despite liberals' aspirations, is still the freest, most honorable nation on the planet). Next example: Happy Feet, which was basically global warming propaganda with a pro-UN message thrown in for good measure. Now, Government Issue Joe, the Real American Hero is being turned into the "Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity." Why? Because movie producers are embarrassed of the nation that gives them the freedom to succeed like they have thus far.

Americans are tired of message movies. This is one of the main reasons that box-office figures have been down lately. Unfortunately, Hollywood just doesn't get it...they keep on churning out message movies. This is why the vast majority of my movie collection consists of films made before 1980.



There is another report out about Glenn Beck today, this one from the New York Times, criticizing Beck for his new multi-million-dollar contract ($50 million over 5 years). Beck presents himself as an average guy, but according to the New York Times, this contract makes that claim null and void.

I've listened to Glenn Beck's program for a long time...I started listening shortly after he went national back in 2001. The truth is, Glenn Beck is an average guy...he's an average guy who dreamed of getting into radio, got into the radio business very young, got successful, had some hard times, and then changed his life and turned it into a massive success. He runs his own company, does a daily radio program and a daily TV show on Headline News, and produces a monthly magazine. Beck has earned his success, and he is a testament to the greatness of America, where a regular schlub can work hard, make a success of himself, and eventually land a $50 million contract.

Banning Smoking At Home?

That's where things are heading. Apparently, there are many cities in California that have banned smoking in apartments. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with this: I am not a smoker, and I don't enjoy breathing cigarette smoke.

But this speaks to a bigger issue.

California has already outlawed smoking in bars & restaurants. Other states have jumped on this bandwagon, and some areas are further looking to ban smoking in cars. If banning smoking in apartments becomes the next big thing, in a natural progression, the next step will either be banning smoking altogether, or just having a collection of laws that amount to the same thing (yes, smoking is still legal...you just can't do it indoors or outside. Anywhere else is fine).


For one thing, banning things has a pretty bad record in America...just take a look at prohibition. For another thing, Americans don't need a "mother" government telling everyone what they can and cannot do (it didn't work for "mother Russia," either).

The people of America need to stop buying into these stupid liberal arguments based on emotion rather than logic. If there is enough of a demand for "smoke-free" housing, then apartment managers should designate certain of their apartment complexes as "smoke-free." The fact that this isn't happening speaks to the fact that the demand just isn't high enough.

The government needs to step back and let the market work...but that isn't going to happen as long as the people keep buying in to liberal lies about how the government can make life better for everyone. Governments never make nations great. People do. Let the people make their own decisions.

One more thing: the government imposes taxes on cigarettes to pay for various social programs (this is especially true here in California). Then, the government continues to ban smoking in certain areas. Sooner or later, smoking will be banned altogether, either in an up-front law banning smoking altogether, or in a large, convoluted collection of laws making it illegal to smoke anywhere. So, if smoking is illegal, how will they pay for their social programs? They'll have to raise money for them somewhere else, which means that each and every person who cheered the tax increases on cigarettes because they don't support smoking will end up having to carry the tax burden that cigarette taxes carried for so long.

Racist "Diversity" Program Defeated in Delaware

Last week, stories began emerging about a program on the campus of the University of Delaware. The program required that all students living on-campus be subjected to indoctrination.

Under the program, students are required to acknowledge that:

1. All white people are racist.
2. It is impossible for any minority to be racist, because they don't have a racially biased system to back up their beliefs.
3. Reverse racism is a term used by racists who are in denial.
4. Non-racist: a non-term.
5. Racism and white supremacy are synonymous.

The actual text of the "Diversity Facilitation Training" goes on and on for 14 pages, and reads like something written by The Black Panthers. This is racism: anti-white racism, and it's been thrust upon students at the University of Delaware. It is an attempt at ideological indoctrination, suppressing freedom of thought.

Thanks to the vigilance of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), the program has been suspended. The fact that the program has been widely reported on in conservative talk radio probably helped as well, but the publicity originated with FIRE, and FIRE is to be thanked for keeping the University of Delaware accountable for this blatant attempt at racist indoctrination.

This program goes to show just how empty the left's cries of tolerance truly are: tolerance only extends to those radical views held by the left. If it's good news for whitey, the left doesn't like it. If it engenders hatred for the United States or Christianity or the white race in general, then the left is okay with it (until they get called on it).

All of this begs the question: why was a program like this started in the first place?

For some reason, liberals cannot get past the 1950s. They seem to be stuck with the idea that the entire nation is divided by race and that, given the chance, white people will rise up and re-institute segregation (or maybe even slavery) because we all hate minorities so much.

The truth is that the US has taken great strides forward when it comes to racism. No, America's not perfect, but race relations in the US are much better off than liberals let on. When it comes down to it, America's main problem with race relations comes from the Left: any time the smallest action may potentially be perceived as racist, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton jump all over it, screaming "RACISM!!!" False allegations of racism are so abundant on the left that
in the end, all they do is cheapen the cries of true racism. People of all races have been trying to fight racism for decades, but throwing 50-year-old sins back in the faces of today's white people will not help anyone.

Unfortunately, this is where leftist politically-correct "tolerance" is taking us: we will be so tolerant a society that there will be no freedom of speech, no freedom of action, and no freedom of thought that does not conform to the left's template.

Thank goodness the Left lost this battle...and may they lose many more in the future.

I'm In Love With Ann Coulter

(post title taken from the song by The Right Brothers)

I finished reading Ann Coulter's latest book the other day...needless to say, it was excellent. Not her best work, to be sure (that would be Godless), but still well worth the money.

Coulter is constantly under attack by the left. Nearly every time Coulter's name is mentioned, it's followed by phrases such as "gone too far" or "beyond the pale." She is commonly called a fascist, racist, anti-semite, and any other of various names that leftists can come up with.

The thing that I love about Ann Coulter is that she gets under liberals' skin. She combines facts with conservative ideology and a healthy dose of humor to produce some of the best material the Right has ever seen.

The answer to the question posed by Time Magazine (is she serious or just having fun?) is: both.

This is something many liberals have lost: it's possible to promote your ideology without taking yourself too seriously.
It's possible to engage in political debate and have fun doing it.

The one thing that draws me to conservatism is that it makes sense. Conservative positions require logical reasoning, where liberalism is ruled by emotion.


Just to show that she's not affected by liberal lies, smears, and name calling, her latest book (If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans) is a collection of the quotes that earned her the most ridicule from the Left.

The sad thing is, political correctness has so inundated our society that Coulter draws a lot of criticism from people on the Right, as well. These people need to stop listening to liberal lies about what is and isn't appropriate. They need to grow up and get a sense of humor. They need to turn their backs on the liberal doctrine of wussification and understand that if we listen to the liberal lies every time they say "gone too far" or "beyond the pale," liberalism will win. We cannot let the other side dictate just what is and is not appropriate. Conservatives need to stand up for conservatism, if for no other reason than that it is worth defending.

When it comes to conservative icons, Ronald Reagan is king. He was the President for two terms, and he showed the world just what it means to stand for freedom and true conservative values. The world may never see such a high quality of man come out of Hollywood ever again.

The thing that draws people to Ann Coulter is that she is truly Reaganesque. Many Republicans try to sell themselves as Reaganesque on issues, but issues didn't make Reagan great. The thing that made Ronald Reagan the great man that he was was the fact that he was conservative through and through, and he wasn't afraid to stand up for his beliefs. He had deep faith, and he wasn't ashamed of it. He didn't buy into the liberal lies about "separation of church and state" meaning that religious people somehow shouldn't let their faith values effect how they vote. He wasn't willing to give evil a pass just because America doesn't have a spotless record.

Ann Coulter, like Ronald Reagan, is a not ashamed to be a conservative. She isn't afraid to call evil out for what it is. And she's not afraid to address liberal emotionalism bluntly and with wit.

The liberal doctrine of political correctness makes people tremble when they hear someone like Ann Coulter speak plainly about liberal hypocracy. And liberals truly are hypocrites: we only have one Ann Coulter, whose doses of truth spun with biting wit send liberals into temper tantrums, but liberals have dozens of people who are unafraid to spread hateful lies, smearing conservatives and trying to ruin their lives just because of political disagreements.

Any conservative who denounces Ann Coulter as being too harsh should be ashamed. The conservative movement needs more people like Ann Coulter, unafraid to speak their minds, unashamed of their beliefs, willing to stand up before an onslaught of liberal hate speech and tell it like it is. If we allow liberals, in the guise of political correctness, to dictate what we can and cannot say, we may as well kiss the United States of America, the freest nation on the planet, goodbye. America needs Ann Coulter to remind conservatives that liberal speech isn't the only form of speech protected under the First Amendment.

And any liberal that says that this comment has "gone too far," or that comment was "beyond the pale" should look at their own side of the aisle and see the hate speech emanating from their own party.

The Imams Strike Back

Remember the Imams that made so much noise because they were thrown off of a US Airways plane for acting suspiciously? Well, they're back. Now the Imams are filing a law suit against the airline for religious discrimination. US Airways is standing by their employees, saying that they "acted appropriately," and I agree with them.

Just as US Airways is standing by the actions of their employees, I stand by my past statements, that these Imams were and are involved in a deliberate attempt to soften US security measures toward Muslims, in a calculated effort to make it easier for Muslim terrorists to get onto planes. It is also entirely possible that these Imams were performing a "dry run," essentially a dress-rehearsal for a future terrorist attack.

Either way, this whole thing is a farce on the part of the Imams, and at the least, their lawsuit should be thrown out of court...it would be preferable if they were held on suspicion of terrorist activities and the FBI investigated them, instead of wasting their time on investigating an airline whose employees should be applauded for keeping their passengers safe.

Ann Coulter says "faggot," Dems seek to put her into rehab.

This past weekend at CPAC (the Conservative Political Action Conference), Ann Coulter made news (see the video above). Now, the strange thing, as I see it, is how liberals keep on proving Ann Coulter right.

The last time Ann was the subject of this kind of virulent debate was when her last book, Godless was set to come out. In that book, she refered to certain 9/11 widows (the ones who had joined together into a seemingly untouchable political action group) "harpies." Coulter took a lot of flak for that remark, even before the book came out. I, being a fan of Ann Coulter's column and her previous books, was understandibly intrigued, and looked forward eagerly to the book's release. As it turned out, the chapter in which she called these widows "harpies" was a chapter about how liberals put forward victims; people whose credibility is extremely difficult to impeach because to do so would be politically incorrect...and by attacking her so virulently over this comment, they proved her right - and this fact has been borne out again and again, through the 9/11 widows becuase their husbands were killed, Christopher Reeves because he was paralyzed, Michael J. Fox because he has parkinson's (or Hilary Clinton because she's a woman, or Al Sharpton & Jessie Jackson because they're black, et cetera, et cetera).

Now, by crying and whining about her comments at CPAC, the Left is proving Ann right yet again. She said "I think you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,'" and all kinds of people on the Left and the Right have shunned her as if she were a leper or a crack whore, and needed to go into rehab.


Personally, I find Ann Coulter to be a very funny woman. I enjoy her commentary, if only because she tells it like it is without taking everything so seriously. I thought her comment at CPAC was funny, and I'm not sorry she said it, nor will I try to distance myself from her because it was politically incorrect.

Why? Because political correctness was first thought up by the Soviet Union: if you said something that was "politically incorrect," you were either executed, sent to a labor camp, or send to a "reeducation center," depending on the severity of the offense. Anyone who says the Cold War is over is deluding themselves: the war has not ended, it has only been transformed. Instead of fighting Communism in Russia, we are now fighting it within our own borders. The Commie cause has been taken up by the Democrat Party, who seeks to silence any dissent and opposition through the guidelines of political correctness, even while they seek to take control of people's everyday lives through government programs, prohibitive legislation, and Supeme Court opinions.

Keep speaking out, Ann. You will always have at least one supporter in me.

They say they were humiliated...as well they should have been

The Washington Times today takes a look at the Imam incident where the 6 Imams were removed from their flight from Minneapolis to Phoenix. As it turns out, the Imams, who are claiming that they were discriminated against based on their religion, were pretty much doing all that they could to act like terrorists! Not only were they praying in the terminal, which initially raised red flags among the gate agents, they didn't sit in their assigned seats. Two of the Imams had tried to upgrade to first class, but were told that there were no first class seats available...so they sat in the front-row of first class anyway. Two others sat in the exit aisles in the middle of the plane, and the remaining two sat in the back - the same configuration used by the 9/11 terrorists.

So, we have Muslim Imams praying in the terminal, and then refusing to sit in their assigned seats, instead copying a pattern known to have been used by the terrorists who perpetrated the worst terrorist attack in the history of America...and they say they're removal and interrogation is religious persecution? The behavior of these Imams was inflammatory, at best, and criminal, at worst. As former Air Marshall Robert MacLean was quoted in the Times article, "That's like shouting 'fire' in a crowded theater. You just can't do that anymore."

In my personal opinion, this case is an attempt by these Imams, in conjunction with CAIR and other Muslim organizations, to step up the politically correct treatment of Muslims. They are currently calling on Congress to pass a bill outlawing passenger profiling...but if security officials cannot remove Muslims from airplanes when they exhibit this kind of suspicious behavior, is there any time when officials will be allowed to remove Muslims from airplanes if new restrictions are put into place? There is no doubt that these Imams were acting suspiciously and that the airline was right to have them removed. These claims of religious discrimination are nothing but obfuscation in what, to all appearances, is an attempt to make it easier for Muslim terrorists to board planes...and we even have members of Congress buying into it.

This, more than anything else in American history, shows the danger of political correctness. If we allow these Imams and groups like CAIR (who have ties to Islamic terrorist organizations) to dictate US domestic security policy, we are only inviting further attacks.