President Bush’s Radio Address: "Whee, Socialism is Fun!"

You know, I’ve defended President Bush on a number of occassions. I’ve never been a really big fan, but I know for a fact that he gets unfairly demonized in every medium. But I just listened to his radio address on the housing bailout, and in no way can I support him.

First of all, who the hell gave the government permission to spend my money like that? It is a direct contradiction of the basic founding principles of our nation. Second, what about the statement that many of the assets being purchased by the government have underlying value, and the government will probably be able to recoup its expenditures? I mean, hasn’t the message coming from the President and the Congress for MONTHS been that “speculation is EEEEVIL?” Haven’t we been talking about “PUNISHING speculators?”

An American Carol

“Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.”
–Samuel Clemens

I’ve started with that quote because I’ve had some time to consider its meaning, given all of the times it has been thrown at me for being a “brainwashed killer.” The truth is, Clemens didn’t mean that patriots are scoundrels–but that scoundrels would use the veneer of patriotism to prevent people from questioning their motives. Think of the congressmen who ask, “Are you questioning my patriotism?” Then think of those who don’t. See what I mean?
If you are the type of person who asks, “Are you questioning my patriotism?” you shouldn’t be here. As much as I enjoy traffic on my blog, you really aren’t welcome. More to the point of this post, however, you won’t enjoy An American Carol. Carol is part slapstick spoof and part feel-good-about-America movie; the two don’t mix seamlessly, and like any movie trying to push an agenda, it gets tiresome in places. I think those places are worth sitting through to see the rest of the movie, however–and in it’s defense, it is certainly no more agenda-driven than the original Christmas Carol.
While I was alone, for some reason, in laughing out loud about the “Episcopal Suppository Bomber,” I was far from alone in laughing out loud during the movie. The only part I really didn’t enjoy was the trailers–they decided to put a trailer for Oliver Stone’s new suckumentary, “W.” before the first really conservative feature to come out of Hollywood in thirty years.

Blech.

A quick scene to whet your appetite:

The main character, Michael Malone (a spoof of Michael Moore), is cowering in a port-a-john because he knows that a group of Afghan terrorists is about to set off a bomb in Madison Square Garden, killing 20,000 American troops and their families during an Independence Day concert. Suddenly, he is slapped across the face.
It is the spirit of General George Patton, who talks to Michael about courage. Michael begins to sputter… and is slapped across the face again. This time it is the spirit of John F. Kennedy, who talks to him about doing the right thing. Michael begins to sputter again, when a third hand reaches out and slaps him across the face.
“Bill O’Reilly? What are you doing here? You’re not a spirit!”
“I know,” answers a smirking O’Reilly. “I just enjoy slapping you.”

The take-home message is this: if you are tired of the constant stream of anti-American, military-bashing, leftist crap being shoveled on you by Hollywood–go to the cinema and watch this movie. If you like it (and I think you will), watch it AGAIN. Due to the nearly totalitarian political situation in Hollywood, everyone involved in this movie has literally put their careers on the line–this is our one good shot to send Hollywood a message that they might be able to understand. Let’s give Carol a really big opening weekend!

Update: Some agrees with me.

*****

While I’m plugging movies, let me put in a word for Get Smart. I saw this with friends in Kansas City, at the dollar cinema. We were really expecting another Starsky and Hutch debacle.
But this movie was good.
Really good. The gags were not only funny, they were smart. Someone did serious homework to make this a movie worth watching, and I recommend it. If it’s too late to catch it at the cinema, the DVD release is in December.

Well, goody.

The Bailout Bill–a.k.a., the Crap Sandwich, has been passed with strong bipartisan support.

So, now that I have worked for over a decade to buy my own house, I get to witness not only the expansion of American socialism and the crippling of the free market system, but I get to watch my own tax money be used to buy the houses of other people who couldn’t be bothered with their own fiscal responsibility.

I am absolutely disgusted with the American Congress. As I wrote that last sentence, House Majority Whip Clyburn is actually speaking on television, saying, “I hope that this piece of legislation has gone a long way toward restoring the credibility of our body politic.”

My God.

Movie Showdown

An interesting showdown shaping up in the cinema this week–“An American Carol,” the conservatively-oriented spoof produced by the Friends of Abe, opened today, as did Bill Maher’s religion-bashing movie, “Religulous.”

It’s the resurgence of American Conservatism vs. more spiteful Hollywood liberalism… I don’t know how good Carol is going to be, but I’ll be going to the cinema to support the effort anyway. One thing that I will predict, regardless of how well Carol actually does (and the new trailers are raising my hopes), is that Religulous is going to tank. Bad.

Correction: Per Anonymous’ comment, this movie was not “produced” or in any way financed by the Friends of Abe. However,several members have parts in the movie.

Update: Someone agrees with me.

Speaking to the Future…

On the way home from annual training, I stopped at Wendy’s for lunch. As I was eating, I overheard a conversation between the young man who had served me and another customer. It turned out that the customer was, like me, a former U. S. Marine–and the server was getting ready to ship to Marine Recruit Training (“Boot Camp”) in San Diego, CA. The former Marine had attended Boot at Parris Island, SC and was making the typical pained noises about “Hollywood Marines,” so I got up quickly and introduced myself as a graduate of San Diego. I returned to my seat, from which I heard him deliver his parting lesson: the best way to make it through Boot was to “keep your head down and blend in to the background.”

After some thought, I got up from my salad and walked back to the counter. There were no other customers in line, so I called the young man over to talk. “I’m going to disagree with my fellow Marine,” I said. The young man smiled uncertainly. “No matter how well you try to blend in, you will get attention from the Drill Instructors. I say, if your platoon is doing something that you can do balls-to-the-wall and really show your stuff, do it. Not just because your platoon will respect you for it, but because no matter what you do for the rest of your life, I guarantee you that you will remember Marine Corps Boot Camp. So you might as well make it a memory worth having.

“What you can’t do is, A) Get injured–they’ll recycle you, which would suck–and B) Take it personally. No matter how personal your Drill Instructors try to make it, telling you that the platoon is out island-hopping because of something that you did, it’s just a game. The platoon is out island-hopping because island-hopping is on the schedule. It’s just your day to find out how you stand up under the pressure, and taking it personally makes it worse.

“Good luck in my Corps, and I know you will do great things.”

Little to report…

I didn’t have a chance to visit Unity Village while on TDY like I’d hoped… I was pretty busy (most of my free time was spent visiting my friends). There won’t be any church for me this Sunday; I’ll be at drill. Next week I have it clearly marked on my calendar to visit the early service of the Episcopal Church (if I really don’t like it, I’ll have plenty of time to go the Unity service later…).