Give Thanks for John Wilkes Booth

I received an email expressing Thanksgiving greetings from a business contact of mine. J.R (I’ll not use his name as to avoid him embarrassment) appears to be a Lincoln cultist, diligently promoting the myth of the “honorable Lincoln.” He offers in his greeting several quotes from Abraham Lincoln, including Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation on Oct. 3, 1863. Says J.R., “I am a fan of Abraham Lincoln and I’ve read several books about this great man. Each time I’m humbled and learn more about myself. I’m also, like many of you, a big fan of Thanksgiving.”

J.R.’s message contains the text of Lincoln’s proclamation in its entirety. I’ll not waste space and bore you with it here. You can look it up if you’ve never read it. Suffice to say that Lincoln, admittedly an excellent wordsmith, rarely believed anything he wrote that could be considered truthful or accurate. Nor did his actions confirm these stated beliefs. Any time studying these actions will prove his statements disingenuous, deceptive, and even outright lies. Personally, I’m as likely to be motivated and inspired by a message from A. Lincoln as I am from the blabbering nonsense of Kim Jong Il.

If J.R. or anyone else enjoys reading books about Lincoln, I highly recommend two by Thomas DiLorenzo, “The Real Lincoln” and “Lincoln Unmasked.” These well researched books (often using Lincoln’s own words) shatter the long standing myth of “Honest Abe,” often proclaimed the most heroic American “leader” in its history.

J.R.’s message concludes, “If only we had Lincoln’s leadership and greatness to help us through our challenges of today.” Yikes! I always cringe when I read or hear that horrid sounding, collective “we.” Yes, “we” should all think of ourselves not as sovereign individuals born with inalienable liberty, but as a homogenous collection of helpless, clueless cattle to be “led” by all-knowing leaders to national collective greatness- or to collective slaughter, whichever comes first.

Lincoln was such a “great leader” that he was willing to sacrifice over 600,000 of his subjects to preserve an abstract, meaningless, political union. I’ll refer to Mr. DiLorenzo to elaborate in more detail;

“…..Lincoln established a French Revolutionary/Stalinist-style regime that imprisoned tens of thousands of Northern political dissenters, employed an army of spies and informers (on Northern citizens), shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers, illegally suspended habeas corpus, deported an outspoken member of the opposition party, confiscated firearms, illegally created the state of West Virginia, censored all telegraph communication, and myriad other assaults on the Constitution, including waging war on his own country after promising to defend the lives and liberties of the very people he was waging war on.”

And this is just a smattering of the crimes initiated and executed by one of the worst political tyrants in world history. Lincoln’s tyrannical rein set the foundation for the centralized, fascist, thieving, police state that we now suffer under. And for this I should be “thankful?”

Not bloody likely!

No Owls Allowed in ‘God’s’ House

It seems that a family of barn owls have taken up residence in a local church. Church “leaders” want the owls moved. They complained that the owls were “swooping down on people.” A wildlife expert was called in and claimed the owls to be “federally protected.”

First off, as a firm believer in property rights, the church has the inherent right to dispose of the owls as they wish. I’m certain no one wishes to kill them, but moving them would certainly be reasonable. No level of state busybodies has any legitimate authority to tell or order how the church manages the problem.

That said, I find it sadly comical, that such wonderful representations of God’s creation are rejected for such a minor inconvenience. What a grand opportunity for church goers to directly observe and experience such an intriguing creature. Yes, rats and roaches are God’s creation as well, but they can be easily controlled and don’t offer the unique, rare opportunity the owls offer.

Being “swooped” down upon by an owl seems likes a nice break from the typical sterile, suburban life experience, not to mention the plastic, choreographed “worship experience” that occurs within the church’s walls. Just one glimpse of these owls flying must provide more spiritual value than any large, climate controlled, Sunday morning worship extravaganza sporting sophisticated light shows and amplified music.

Some years back I quit going to any Sunday services. Instead I would take long, brisk walks through a 400 acre park I lived near. During the walk, my mind clear of any artificial distractions, I would meditate on a variety of subjects. Just one morning out there, filling my lungs with fresh air, feeling the warm sun on my neck, and viewing and listening to the wonders of creation gave me more spiritual awareness, inspiration, and even enlightenment than a year’s worth of church services. I know some prefer a bricks and mortar church service for the experience of communal worship. This never appealed to me, though I surely tried to appreciate such an experience. I just got nothing from it. What better way to appreciate and glorify God’s creation, I thought, than to spend time out experiencing it. No, I don’t worship that creation as a pagan would, but I do gather much inspiration from it. My mind was also crystal clear, free, and fertile to work out life’s problems and mysteries.

Church institutions and church buildings are artificial constructs that have no relation to the reality of Creation. They are mere decoration. These glorious owls represent reality, the flesh and blood creation displaying the magnificent miracle of life.

Go to any church service and what do you get- a self-professed gate keeper who claims to “understand” the words of Christ and the ability to “interpret” his words. I’m sorry but I can read quite well, and can certainly understand the wisdom and clear message His words proclaim. Those who “interpret” tend to interject their own philosophies to serve their own agendas. Even Paul, a member of the first generation church, was guilty of this.

Certainly, the noise and actions of God’s beautiful creatures are much more interesting and inspiring than the nonsense and blather that emanates from the pulpit.

Go Ahead, TSA, Make My Day!

I think I’m probably the last blogger to post something about the TSA’s recent grope-athon and molestation madness directed at the victimized flying public. I haven’t flown in ten years and refused to fly post-911 if it meant submitting to the relatively mundane (as compared to now) “security enhancements.” Just a simple bag search and being treated as a criminal was, and still is, totally unacceptable to me. I’m just amazed it has taken others this long, and having to suffer this degree of madness, to finally speak out and take action.

While reading numerous accounts of security brutality a couple ideas on how to respond developed in my head. I began to think those ideas might be quite original until this gentlemen stole my thunder.

The initial response to any state sponsored foolishness is to use reason and common sense to convince the self-proclaimed powers-that-be that their actions and policies are unreasonable, ineffective, and even outright insane.  Failing that (which is often the case), the next plan of action should include directly demonstrating the ridiculousness of the activity. That is, illustrate absurdity by being absurd. You achieve this by making fun of the state’s actions through peaceful, equally absurd actions.

Mr. Wolanyk simply took the TSA’s search to the next, succeeding level- the strip search. Why bother with the cagey hand searches, feeling around your body’s perimeter, when simply dropping trou’ will expose any illegal, unacceptable irregularities? After all, that is the TSA’s aim, is it not- to expose and uncover any shielding of any dangerous component, not naturally a part of your body? Why waste the time and discomfort (for both parties) with hand searches or the millions of stolen dollars spent on naked body scanners? Take the quick, low tech, time saving, inexpensive approach and get nekid!

Mr. Wolanyk seems to retain a very competent lawyer, considering his past success in dealing with LEO lamebrains. Most certainly, counsel could successfully argue that his client merely wanted to cooperate and assist the TSA’s “mission” in the most expeditious and efficient way possible.

Another thought comes to mind is why should only male TSA agents inspect male passengers and female TSA agents inspect females? Isn’t this discrimination? Since I’ve chosen to “opt out” being irradiated by the dreaded porno scanner, do I also have the option of choosing what sex my molester will be? If not, why? What if I argued that I’m really a woman trapped inside a man’s body? Would they buy it? Would they legally be required to accept and accommodate my peculiarity? Just speaking for myself, a homely, middle aged bachelor, being caressed and probed by a female would be a much less traumatizing experience and might even be stimulating and memorable. Even having my “junk” “handled” by a typical, plain looking, unalluring, female, federal employee would be less upsetting than being probed by some blue gloved, hairy nosed, coffee reeking, Nancy Boy wannabe. Just the thought of such an experience makes me retch!

If disrobing is just too extreme a response, how about arriving to the search line wearing no underwear? This should bring some interesting feedback and facial expressions from your assigned molester. You can add to their discomfort by emitting soft, agreeable cooing sounds during the course of the molestation. That might just be enough to cause the depraved, tax eating hack to immediately resign his phony job in understandable disgust. Quite possibly, his threshold of shame and repugnance will have been exceeded.

There are always ways to sidestep tyranny and humiliate your oppressors. All it takes is a bit of courage, a dose of creativity, and just a pinch of psychological knowledge. In the end, you may help free yourself and others from state sponsored cruelty and injustice. You may even help state terrorists realize the error of their ways. And you may even have some fun along the way. I realize the probable serious consequences that may result from such fun, but what the heck. Why not have a good laugh before they slam the gate at your gulag.

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
"The state itself is a continuing war on humanity, reincarnated in every year, in every moment, since the first conscienceless gang of muggers decided it suited them to set a conflagration to fruitful, voluntary society. To extinguish that fire, we must denounce aggression in all of its forms, not just when darker-skinned people in strange garb lash out against American military colonization."
David D'Amato

“There has never been a time when the so-called ‘Left’ party in our two-party system represented a genuine alternative to the ruling class. Always, at all times, it has represented the ‘liberal’ wing of the ruling class. The state, by its nature, cannot be controlled by a majority; it’s an instrument by which a ruling class extracts wealth from the producing majority.”
Kevin Carson

“The average man’s mental horizons are extremely limited, not only in America but also throughout the globe and throughout recorded time. In his political knowledge, opinions, and behavior the average American is for the most part an ignorant savage, so when he sticks his nose into the democratic process he displays much in common with his contemporaries around the globe.”
CJ Maloney

“Quantitative easing is ‘just monetary policy’ like pornography is ‘just cinema.’ QE and pornography both utilize the conventions of mainstream activities in order to conduct and legitimize questionable activities. Chairman Bernanke considers quantitative easing to be an oeuvre d'art - a monetary masterpiece. But to most of the outside world, QE looks like nothing more than monetary porn.”
Eric Fry

“The more freedom the average man has, the more productive he is and the richer we all are for it. Intellectuals and politicians are fundamentally different, because they get richer and more powerful to exactly the same extent that the average man is less free. There is no hope for economic recovery unless we get these intellectual and political parasites off our backs by recognizing the profound role of the average man in creating wealth, and the abject immorality of the intellectuals and politicians who strangulate him.”
Mark R. Crovelli

“Political establishments always favor the ‘status quo’ over ‘change’ because they are the status quo. Any appearance of change that goes beyond tinkering with details and introducing more fundamental questioning of existing arrangements, will be co-opted by the ruling forces and directed toward their ends. In this way, the owners reinforce the popular illusion that the subjects can control the system.”
Butler Shaffer

“One may put it in a word that while government is by its nature concerned with the administration of justice, the State is by its nature concerned with the administration of law- law, which the State itself manufactures for the service of its own primary ends. Therefore an appeal to the State, based on the ground of justice, is futile in any circumstances, for whatever the action the State might take in response to it would be conditioned by the State’s own paramount interest, and would hence be bound to result as we see such action invariably resulting, in as great injustice as that which it pretends to correct, or as a rule, greater.”
Albert Jay Nock

“…..A violation of a person's intrinsic, God bestowed human dignity and transcendent value is evil regardless of how normalized it has become, how culturally acceptable it has become, how 'holy' it has become or how legal it has become.”
Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy

“Yes, any individual may decide to break the natural law in his interactions with other human beings, but the statistical insignificance of a single violation does not in itself doom the human race. But when social institutions are implemented which violate natural law, and when an appreciable percentage of the human race begins to more flagrantly violate natural law in their everyday existence, then the social order—the human-to-human cooperation that is the foundation of continued human existence—is endangered.”
Tzo

*********************************************************************

From the Darkness:

“You should be prepared to stand with the president against Iran’s nuclear aspirations using whatever means necessary to ensure the mullahs in Tehran do not get their hands on nuclear weapons. And you can stand with the Iranian people who oppose the tyrannical rule of the clerics and concretely support their efforts to win their freedom – even if the president does not.
You need to say no to cutting the necessities in our defense budget when we are engaged in two wars and face so many threats – from Islamic extremists to a nuclear Iran to a rising China
You can stand with allies like Israel, not criticize them.”
Sarah Palin, in an “open letter” to Republican freshman representatives.

“In a time of war—and that’s what we’re in with Muslim jihadists—you have to do things you would not ordinarily do. For example, Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War. So to waterboard three high-ranking terror suspects in order to get valuable information that likely saved thousands of lives seems to be logical and responsible unless you live in a theoretical world where feeling noble is the ultimate objective.”
Bill O’Reilly

“AIT [Advance Imaging Technology] machines are safe, efficient, and protect passenger privacy. They have been independently evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who have all affirmed their safety.”
Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano

“If this country ever wants to be energy independent, if we ever want to stop sending our monies to the terrorists who want to take our freedoms away and kill us, we’ve got to wean ourselves off all this foreign oil. We’ve got to make this decision: do you want to stop sending your money to terrorists and have terrorists come here, or do you not?”
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg

"I'm wildly excited that I can walk through a [TSA naked body scanner] machine instead of getting my dose of love pats.”
Sen. Claire McCaskill

“There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse; our ability to do our work here in Congress, and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and more importantly, in their future.”
Sen. Jay Rockefeller
 
“I am very sensitive to and concerned about people’s privacy concerns and I want to work through that as best we can."
John Pistole, TSA Chief Molester

"In taking that action, [counterfeiting $600 billion new dollars] the Committee seeks to support the economic recovery, promote a faster pace of job creation, and reduce the risk of a further decline in inflation that would prove damaging to the recovery."
Ben Bernanke, admitting the Fed causes and promotes inflation.

"Striking the right balance is what this is about. And I am absolutely confident that our security experts are gonna keep trying to get it better and less intrusive and more precise."
Queen Hillary, expressing her faith in the TSA thugs.

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
"One can no more advance liberty through violence than he can regain sobriety by embracing an alternative brand of alcohol. The state is a system that enjoys a monopoly on the use of violence. It is no answer to this destructive menace to introduce a competitor who employs the same means and seeks the same ends, namely, to construct society on the principle of the power to compel obedience to authority."
Butler Shaffer

“Voting is a charade designed to dupe the people into thinking they are free. The state enforces a political monopoly, meaning that dissenters may not opt out of the system for any reason. Thus we are all slaves. The acquisition of liberty is dependent upon the majority's withdrawal of its consent to being ruled by a criminal gang, not upon tacitly or overtly granting it.”
Trevor Bothwell

“Elections happen in the U.S., but change doesn’t necessarily follow. The same shit just gets done to us by a slightly re-shuffled arrangement of oh-so-concerned faces.”
J. D. Tuccille

“It’s time to start making our own reforms, living our lives the way we want without waiting for permission from the government. We can build the society we want, cooperate and do business with one another through institutions of our own making, here and now, without having to persuade a majority of the public to vote on it first.”
Kevin Carson

“The power of every state ultimately depends on a statist ideology that glorifies the state and its functionaries while denigrating and attacking the civil society, private property, and private enterprise. This is as true of democracy as it is of totalitarian socialism.”
 Thomas J. DiLorenzo

“Ours was supposedly a society founded on the liberal principles of self-ownership and self-governance and yet we have morphed into a gigantic, fascist police state whose chief exports are debt and violence. Moreover, those most entrusted with shedding light on the truth turn their eyes inward, looking only at and serving those issuing the edicts as opposed to the effects of those edicts; cheerleading the empire, or worse, making excuses for it, while everyone else suffers.”
Thomas Luongo

“It is high time that Americans stop holding veterans and current members of the military in such high esteem. It is scientists, engineers, inventors, businessmen, industrialists, software developers, and entrepreneurs that made America great – not veterans of foreign wars. It is doctors, iron workers, taxi drivers, bricklayers, writers, electricians, and cooks that positively contribute to society – not soldiers.”
Laurence Vance

“In the statist lexicon, the United States, with its state of the art machinery of death, is a righteous force for freedom while the panicky strains of subdued people fighting against occupation are ‘terrorism.’ The methodical devastation of an entire region of the world is regarded as morally legitimate, while a victimized population’s admittedly wrong and misguided attempts at self-defense are rebuked as the maniacal savagery of evil subhumans who ‘hate us because we’re free.’”
David D'Amato

“The argument for voting usually uttered is that it is a (sometimes, and perhaps more correctly from their point of view, stated as ‘the only-) way to ‘make one’s voice heard’ in government. They certainly do make their voices heard in the sense that they increase the state’s statistics of the number of implicit supporters for its continued rule. I don’t want to be part of any such thing, and I do not fear telling them what I truly think of their despicable behavior.”

Per Bylund

“We do not have one dictator, of course. We switch him out every few years, in the festival of democracy.”
Lew Rockwell

“The military is a hiding place for the country’s degenerate class. Until they can get out and become cops.”
Don Cooper

*************************************************************

From the Darkness:

“Nothing ever justifies the slaughter of innocent men, women and children.”

B. Obama [How does he say this with a straight face?]

"The takeover of the House by Republicans is great news for Israel and her supporters. The House leadership and almost every single GOP member is rock-solid behind Israel. At times like this, Israel needs friends everywhere."
Ari Fleischer, White House spokesman under President George W. Bush

“I strongly believe the mission is worth the cost. Fortunately, I am not the only one.”
G. W. Bush, in his memoir, praising President Barack Obama’s decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan.

“On election night, I was moved by images of black men and women crying on TV. Barack Obama had campaigned on hope, and that was what he had given many Americans.”
GW Bush

“When it comes to Israel’s security there can be no daylight – no daylight – between Israel and the US.
It is critical to keep the international spot light on the genuine threats to the Israel like the Iranian nuclear program, not Israel.”
Joe Biden

“There is no fondling, squeezing, groping, or any sort of sexual assault taking place [by the TSA] at airports. You have a professional workforce carrying out procedures they were trained to perform to keep aviation security safe.”
Response to a question about TSA passenger abuse, posted on the TSA website.

"We need to be straight with the American people. We can't just engage in political rhetoric."
B. Obama [Dude, your whole material existence and power over the lives of others is based on “political rhetoric.”]

"I am fearful that a chasm will develop between those [soldier boys] who protect our freedoms and those who are being protected. I am concerned that the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, will fade in the American consciousness, and that the purpose of our efforts against extremist terrorists will fade. It could come to pass that the American military could become isolated from American society and that Americans' thoughts may fail to consider our men and women in uniform.
I sincerely worry that the needs of military families will be overlooked as we go through this budget drama."
Departing House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton [Let’s hope and pray this “chasm” continues to grow.]

“Plaintiffs’ assertion of a fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families” is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish.”
From a bill being supported in the Senate “To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to the safety of the food supply.”

Quotes of the Week

From the Light:
“The key to government control is voluntary compliance. Without self-government, the civil government cannot exercise control. Self-government relies on widespread trust far more than widespread fear.
Widespread trust is fading. Widespread fear will fade with it.”
Gary North

“Regardless of the rationalization, the State, by a process of moral alchemy, or moral laundering, claims to turn bad things into good. By this ideology, rulers have kept the idea of freedom tightly contained, when it is in effect at all.”
Sheldon Richman

“The state is the ultimate weapon in Hobbes’s 'war of all against all,' and so long as it remains loaded it shall be continuously fired by those whose fingers have access to the trigger. You can have the state or you can have peace, but you can’t have both.”
Thomas L. Knapp

"It's odd that people trust the government when the government doesn't trust them at all. If the government treats you like a criminal, a terrorist, a lab rat and a vaccine depository, doesn't that only prove they don't honor you as a sovereign individual?"
Mike Adams

“My experience convinces me that participation in electoral politics is more than futile: it only adds energy to the system; it confirms the central premise of all political thinking, namely: important change can occur only within the halls of government. Besides the fact that the electoral process is unavoidably rigged in favor of the status quo, it also assures that, no matter who you vote for, the government always gets elected. Voting is designed to give people the false sense that they are in control of the machinery and the policies of the state.”
Butler Shaffer

“Market anarchists envision a world without poverty or war, where individuals are not forced to subsidize the domination of one another, nor have our own lives paternalistically guided by bureaucrats, politicians, or generals, irrelevant of how they were placed in a position of political power.
This world is possible, and it isn’t really all that complex of an idea: there should be no arbitrary political boundaries and thus no forced collectivization. Political relationships should be based upon consent and problems resolved through decentralized common law negotiation amongst the affected parties, not non-refusable legislative representation based upon geographical lines.”
Ross Kenyon

“A war crime is an artificial construct hatched in the ‘advanced’ Western mind. Take a look at the Hague Convention of a century ago and consider the weapons described. For a war crime to have any meaning, no distinction should be made between the means of killing.”
Hiroaki Sato

“Formerly trained to kill people and break things, American soldiers now attend to winning hearts and minds, while moonlighting in assassination. The politically correct term for this is ‘counterinsurgency.’”
Andrew J. Bacevich

"The net result of the state’s involvement in economic life is and always has been to diminish the bargaining power of the proles while cultivating the appearance of benevolence. Equality is a worthy goal, and we should scrutinize corporate power at every opportunity, but it is crucial to dislodge that goal from the case in favor of statism.”
David D'Amato

"Fashion consultants and beauticians are indispensable to the professional politician. Voters refuse to accept a candidate that looks like an ordinary person. At a time when fewer and fewer people wear suits and ties, it is odd that people expect politicians to wear the costume of the least trusted people in society - lawyers, insurance salesmen and television news readers."
Tom Blanton

“'Government of the people’ means that Washington can do whatever it damn pleases in their name.”
Kirkpatrick Sale

“Initiatives that begin as 'state services' invariably end up making us servants to the state. And, in the end, voters only have themselves to blame.”
Joel Bowman

“Modern authoritarian movements tend to adopt the strategy of avoiding talking about or even hinting at the coercion they will adopt to deal with those opposed to the supreme rule of the all-powerful state apparatus. They deny that they are fascist movements and instead adopt a slew of fanciful euphemisms for the coercive policies they propose to inflict on their brutalized subjects.”
Ben O’Neill

*************************************************************

From the Darkness:

“Here is where Obama is likely to prevail. With strong Republican support in Congress for challenging Iran's ambition to become a nuclear power, he can spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating a showdown with the mullahs. This will help him politically because the opposition party will be urging him on. And as tensions rise and we accelerate preparations for war, the economy will improve.
I am not suggesting, of course, that the president incite a war to get reelected. But the nation will rally around Obama because Iran is the greatest threat to the world in the young century. If he can confront this threat and contain Iran's nuclear ambitions, he will have made the world safer and may be regarded as one of the most successful presidents in history.”

David Broder, Washington Post

“I'd like to ask a simple question: Why isn't Julian Assange dead? . . . WikiLeaks is easily among the most significant and well-publicized breaches of American national security since the Rosenbergs gave the Soviets the bomb. . . So again, I ask: Why wasn't Assange garroted in his hotel room years ago?  It's a serious question.”
Jonah Goldberg

“The government has a wide range of options for dealing with him [Julian Assange]. It can employ not only law enforcement but also intelligence and military assets to bring Assange to justice and put his criminal syndicate out of business.”
Marc Thiessen

"We have no intention of allowing our great achievements to be rolled back."
Nancy Pelosi, after her party got its butt kicked in the latest gang war.

DVD Reviews

Fixer- The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi:
This HBO documentary looks at an American reporter and his “fixer” (interpreter and guide) who film behind enemy lines in Afghanistan. Mr. Naqshbandi is then kidnapped with an Italian journalist. A good examination of the brutality of war, the constant danger in reporting it, and the bumbling bureaucrats who get people killed.
Recommended

Triage:
Colin Farrell stars as a photojournalist who suffers psychological trauma after photographing the Iraq/Kurdistan conflict in the late 1980’s.
Recommended

Molokai- The Story of Father Damien:
A true story (filmed in the original location) about a priest who sacrificed his life, caring for individuals in a 19th century, Hawaiian leper colony. He overcomes every obstacle, including those from the state and the church who pretend to care.
Recommended

The Art of the Steal:
A must see documentary about how the state will manipulate and lie to steal a man’s property it covets. In this case the City of Philadelphia patiently works for decades to steal the multi-billion dollar Barnes art collection, in direct defiance of the original owner’s wishes.
Recommended

That Evening Sun:
I enjoy watching movies about curmudgeons. They inspire me to keep on pluggin.’ And no one is better at playing a curmudgeon that Hal Holbrook. His character escapes his retirement home to return to his Tennessee farm, only to find it occupied by a man he despises.
Recommended

Pandorum:
This sci-fi flick revolves around a deep space ship, sent as a Noah’s ark, to populate a new planet. The crew awakes from deep sleep to find the ship occupied by mutant, flesh eating, space zombies. Not a bad film, but watching any episode of the X-Files is much more satisfying.
Not recommended

10,000 Black Men named George:
This Showtime produced historical drama looks at the effort to unionize train porters at the Pullman Rail Co. during the Depression. The efforts are ultimately successful when the state’s hammer is utilized. A well acted snippet of history.
Recommended

The Good, the Bad, the Weird:
This Korean made film combines the non-stop, treasure hunting action of a “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with the feel of an American western. The result is quite entertaining. A bonus is the unique, impressive, and physically risky camera work.
Recommended

Philadelphia:
This is one of the few Tom Hanks films I haven’t seen. It, of course, was made back in the dark ages when most people thought HIV causes AIDS (which they still do) and people did not respect freedom of association (which they still don’t). That said, this is a well crafted story, less about “civil rights” than about the necessity of human compassion.
Recommended

Keb Mo-Sessions at West 54th:
I’m a big fan of Keb Mo (Kevin Moore) and his tasty and expertly composed and performed version of the blues. This is a good disc to watch for those not familiar with this enduring and productive artist.
Recommended

Good:
Viggo Mortensen plays a well mannered professor in 1930’s Germany where the Nazi regime takes a liking to his writing about euthanasia. Not the best movie, but a nice illustration of how otherwise decent folks can be sufficiently flattered to align themselves with obvious evil.
Recommended

500 Nations:
This 4 disc series details the near 500 year history of the 500 nations of aborigines on the North American continent. All the despicable acts of European colonization are outlined which contributed to the demise and even outright extinction of many of these unique civilizations.
Recommended

The Experiment:
This 2010 film is based on the 1971 Stanford prison experiment where some volunteers are given roles as guards and others as prisoners. The film implies that man, despite his flattering self image of a highly evolved and rational creature, is still nothing more that an animal when faced with extreme stress. I would instead view this film as an excellent illustration of how those who are given a monopoly of power over others will, without exception, abuse that power. Forest Whitaker and Adrien Brody do an excellent job of being the focus of conflict under those conditions.
Recommended

Bela Fleck- Throw Down Your Heart:
The master banjo player visits Africa and the birthplace of his musical instrument of choice to learn and jam with some of the continent’s most talented musicians. A wonderful display of musical expertise from all involved. Much lasting and beautiful art was created by this musical interaction, some of it quite moving.
Recommended

El Bola:
A Spanish made film that explores a universal theme- parental child abuse. I’ve seen much better child acting but the two young boy’s work in this film is sufficiently effective to show the pain and desperation of those children who are beaten and abused by the very ones that should be offering unconditional love.
Recommended