Capitalism through Hollywood’s Lens/ On the big screen, every businessman is a criminal.

Jonah Goldberg "That’s what corporations do, right? At least that’s what my kid is taught. In Beethoven, the evil munitions industry shoots Saint Bernards to test bullets. In The Lorax, businesses hate trees. In The Muppets, they hate Muppets (and love oil). I think that in nearly every movie involving cute woodland creatures (Furry Vengeance, Yogi Bear, et al.), businesses are always the bad guys.
"When kids get older, they learn from John Grisham movies that big businesses kill people in order to get what they want. In Aliens, the company wants to smuggle space critters that will likely wipe out all humanity, in the slim hope they’ll eke out a bit more profit. In Avatar, the Halliburton of the future slaughters intelligent aliens and rapes their planet just to make a buck."
I recall what a thrilling movie "The Fugitive" was all the way through until the last when it was revealed the real evil was -wait for it- a "monster" pharmaceutical firm that manufactured dangerous prescriptions to make money faster. Pretty much standard fare on shows like "Law & Order", et al.

Romney fights Hollywood's take on big business   "Take, for example, last Thursday when Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) — the heroine of the hit NBC sitcom “Parks and Recreation” — squared off for a fictitious city council debate with a rich, out-of-touch businessman who threatened to ship jobs overseas unless he got his way.

" “I want to run this town like a business,” Bobby Newport (played by Paul Rudd), said to the constituents of the fictional Pawnee, Ind. “My opponent, Leslie Knope, has an anti-business agenda.”

"When it was Knope’s turn, she shot back: “Corporations are not allowed to dictate what a city needs. The power belongs to the people.”

"She then added: “Bobby Newport and his daddy would like you to think it belongs to them.”

"It’s a prominent example of how businessmen are portrayed in the modern era, examples of which are also seen in films such as “Wall Street,” “Boiler Room,” and “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

"And Romney is not only countering Hollywood’s portrayal of big business, he’s running against a president with pop cultural appeal."

A shout-out to our fallen veterans

http://www.conservativedailynews.com/2012/05/memorial-day-shout-out/

Hat tip to Don Standlee,Vietnam vet from Arlington, TX

Memorial Day; for many the barbecues are a thing of the past

As Memorial Day Nears, a Single Image That Continues to Haunt
"Taken by the photographer Todd Heisler from his 2005 award-winning series for The Rocky Mountain News, “Jim Comes Home”  — which documents the return and burial of Second Lt. Jim Cathey of the Marines, who lost his life in Iraq — the photo shows his pregnant widow, Katherine, lying on an air mattress in front of his coffin. She’s staring at her laptop, listening to songs that remind her of Jim. Her expression is vacant, her grief almost palpable."

"It is the one and only photo that makes me cry each time I see it. What brings the tears to my eyes is not just the bereaved young woman, but the Marine who stands behind her. In an earlier photo in the series, we see him building her a little nest of blankets on the air mattress. Sweet Lord, I cry just typing the words, the matter-of-fact tenderness is so overwhelming. So soldierly. But in this photo — the one that lives on and on online — he merely stands next to the coffin, watching over her. It is impossible to be unmoved by the juxtaposition of the eternal stone-faced warrior and the disheveled modern military wife-turned-widow, him rigid in his dress uniform, her on the floor in her blanket nest, wearing glasses and a baggy T-shirt, him nearly concealed by shadow while the pale blue light from the computer screen illuminates her like God’s own grace."

Second Lt. James Cathey’s body arrived at the Reno Airport in 2005

"It is the one and only photo that makes me cry each time I see it. What brings the tears to my eyes is not just the bereaved young woman, but the Marine who stands behind her. In an earlier photo in the series, we see him building her a little nest of blankets on the air mattress. Sweet Lord, I cry just typing the words, the matter-of-fact tenderness is so overwhelming. So soldierly. But in this photo — the one that lives on and on online — he merely stands next to the coffin, watching over her. It is impossible to be unmoved by the juxtaposition of the eternal stone-faced warrior and the disheveled modern military wife-turned-widow, him rigid in his dress uniform, her on the floor in her blanket nest, wearing glasses and a baggy T-shirt, him nearly concealed by shadow while the pale blue light from the computer screen illuminates her like God’s own grace."
Lily Burana is the author of “I Love a Man in Uniform: A Memoir of Love War and Other Battles” (Weinstein Books). Her husband, a former soldier, is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Loyal Dog Mourns, Lays at Casket of Fallen Navy Seal
"The dog of slain Petty Officer Jon Tumilson refused to leave his side during the Navy SEAL’s funeral earlier this week in Rockford, Iowa. The heartbreaking photo taken by his cousin, Lisa Pembleton, shows Tumilson’s dog Hawkeye lying by the casket."




Let's also see (below) unmitigated joy at the return of a soldier:

Now, on to the next post (below) that features an altogether different form of humanity:

ADBUSTERS ENDORSES OCCUPY'S VIOLENT 'BLACK BLOC' FACTION

Big Government  "In a piece that must be read to be believed, the radical publication Adbusters, which first suggested the tactic of occupying Wall Street, has now officially endorsed the Black Bloc anarchists as the next phase of the now-flaccid Occupy movement."

From Adbusters, whose stated purpose is:  "We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society."

 In Oakland, the Black Bloc, which made up a large portion of the May Day General Strike, displayed a coordinated tactical philosophy – including the de-arresting of comrades, throwing eggs filled with paint, using homemade smoke-creating incendiaries to confuse police, and the rejection of media – that suggests prior planning, ongoing innovation and increasing sophistication. And Black Bloc tactics are just one aspect of the overall rejuvenation of anarchism that is happening right now including the increase of infoshops (there are two near Occupy Oakland: The Holdout and The Longhaul); the creation of bottom-up solidarity networks to replace top-down unions; providing free food on the model of Food Not Bombs; offering a compelling DIY aesthetic.Anarchist occupiers are energized and their visceral tactics are attracting members. Now, the power of the Black Bloc is growing within Occupy and pushing the movement in unexpected directions.Round 7 goes to the Black Bloc – now let’s see what we can do for the rest of May!

 http://ireporters.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/cartoon-guide-to-protestors-alg-6002.jpg

Useful idiots: "This is the term Karl Marx used to describe an uneducated mass of people that accomplished a goal of political puppetmasters unbeknownst to them. These people thought that they were carrying out good works that would better society, but in reality they simply were sold a bill of goods and duped into worsening their own societal position. Used and abused by a deceitful taskmaster."

Obama’s Blockbuster Secrets

The Foundry  "Deep in the cover of night in the town of Abbottabad, Pakistan, a team of Navy SEALs descended from helicopters, breached the compound of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and brought him to justice. The story is the stuff that blockbuster movies are made of, but many of the details are largely a closely guarded secret. That was until the Obama White House granted extraordinary access and information to Hollywood filmmakers for their film about the raid, originally slated to be released just before the November presidential elections. As disturbing as that may be, it is not the first time this White House has disclosed confidential information under questionable circumstances."
"....And then there’s the fact that Sony Pictures Entertainment, which owns the production house distributing the film, hosted a fundraiser for President Obama on its lot last month, part of a West Coast fundraising tour that raise the campaign more than $4 million."   (Emphasis added; need you ask why?)
...."Those facts should raise a red flag for Congress that the White House has come awfully close to the line. It’s up to them to find out how this Administration is handling or mishandling ultra-sensitive national security secrets."


Obama Navy SEAL doll an insult to real Navy SEALs.

"For the record, Obama’s “heroics” surrounding the Osama bin Laden killing consisted of cutting his golf game short on that Sunday to return to the White House to watch the true national heroes take down Osama bin Laden–only to have Obama’s White House concoct a whole cloth version of what happened that has changed numerous times. Obama’s heroics also consisted of taking hours to give the initial green light on the Navy SEAL mission–and only after sleeping on it. Yes, clearly, “action,” is Obama’s middle name."

A liberal cartoonist's take

UK Mail: Revealed: How Obama was playing golf until 20 minutes before Navy SEALs began mission to take out Bin Laden 
"Stayed out on golf course to distance himself if it went wrong, book claims"
"Mr Pfarrer says the President's role was largely inflated and suggests he stayed out on the golf course for so long so he could distance himself in case it went wrong. Mr Pfarrer writes: 'If this had completely gone south, he was in a position to disavow.' "

A User's Guide To Smoking Pot With Barack Obama

BuzzFeed  "Barry was quite the accomplished marijuana enthusiast back in high school and college. Excerpts from David Maraniss' Barack Obama: The Story dealing with the elaborate drug culture surrounding the president when he attended Punahou School in Honolulu and Occidental College in Los Angeles. He inhaled. A lot"  (Emphasis in the original)

1. The Choom Gang  "A self-selected group of boys at Punahou School who loved basketball and good times called themselves the Choom Gang. Choom is a verb, meaning "to smoke marijuana."

....8. Ray The Dealer   "He was a long-haired haole hippie who worked at the Mama Mia Pizza Parlor not far from Punahou and lived in a dilapidated bus in an abandoned warehouse. … According to Topolinski, Ray the dealer was "freakin' scary." Many years later they learned that he had been killed with a ball-peen hammer by a scorned gay lover. But at the time he was useful because of his ability to "score quality weed." 

....

"In another section of the [senior] yearbook, students were given a block of space to express thanks and define their high school experience. … Nestled below [Obama's] photographs was one odd line of gratitude: "Thanks Tut, Gramps, Choom Gang, and Ray for all the good times." … A hippie drug-dealer made his acknowledgments; his own mother did not."

The Stupid Party

Bruce Thornton   "The fundamental wisdom known by every village explainer — spend more than you earn and you’ll go broke, give people something for nothing and they will expect something for nothing forever, there is no free lunch, if something can’t go on forever it won’t — doesn’t seem to penetrate the minds of the self-styled “genius” party."
...."In other words, a hundred years of painful experience and the failure of these notions should demonstrate their danger. That liberals continue to ignore those historical lessons and recycle those discredited ideas makes them the stupid party."

Gay Superheroes? Boycott DC Comics!

Thiswillgagyou.com

Warning Signs   "I don’t want a gay superhero of either gender. Deliberately making one of them homosexual serves no purpose other than to spread the gay message that altering all of society to suit their preference for their own sex is okay. It never was. It never will be.
"I regard changing our perception of one of the superheroes as a slap in the face of everyone who grew up enjoying their adventures and a form of gay indoctrination for a new, younger generation. 
"Superman stands for “truth, justice, and the American way.” If he’s gay, then the American way has strayed so far from decency and common sense that it portends the death of our unique political and social experiment. That applies to all the rest of the DC characters as well."

...."I do not want homosexuals harmed or harassed. I want them to be ignored. That’s hard to do with relentless campaigns to highlight “bullying” as if only gays were its target or passing out literature in the schools that would make me blush. 
"This is, simply put, the subversion of a society that began as the result of deeply held religious beliefs that included the sanctity of marriage. It is insidious. It should be resisted." Alan Caruba
 

Believe it. Obama’s A Big Spender.

The Foundry  "You can see the proof for yourself in Heritage’s 2012 edition of the Federal Budget in Pictures. Of the last ten presidents, going back to John F. Kennedy, president Obama’s budget deficits as a percentage of GDP have exploded. And if you take a look at where spending is headed under President Obama’s budget, you’ll see that the country’s debt crisis just keeps getting worse. The President’s FY 2013 budget would increase the debt to 76.5 percent of GDP by 2022, despite $2 trillion in tax hikes. That’s not “fiscal restraint,” no matter how you slice it."

That's A Hot One

The Truth about President Obama’s Skyrocketing Spending  "Spending has skyrocketed under President Obama, but of late some are claiming that the opposite is true. Case in point: MarketWatch columnist Rex Nutting wrote, “Obama spending binge never happened,” andPolitifact rated this statement “mostly true.” "


Real federal deficit dwarfs official tally  "The typical American household would have paid nearly all of its income in taxes last year to balance the budget if the government used standard accounting rules to compute the deficit, a USA TODAY analysis finds." Via Boortz

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2012/05/23/99414

CNN Fails to Refute Bogus Numbers Claiming 'Obama Spending Binge Never Happened'  "And this Investor's Business Daily piece offers another smack-down of the numbers. The editorial argues that since TARP was a loan but was included in the budget outlays, and since much of the bailout money for Fannie and Freddie was spent in 2009, spending under Bush was "exaggerated" when the TARP money was loaned out and Obama's spending hikes were blurred when the loans were paid back and the bailouts subsided.

"[W]hen you fix Nutting's mistakes, it turns out that Obama jacked up spending 12 percent in 2010, IBD argues"

.

Communist Party sets its hope on Obama in 2012

Communist Party USA Chair: "We Can Set In Motion Progressive Agenda Coming Out Of 2012 Election. (If It Goes Our Way)"  "Sam Web, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA ) Chairman, said to a gathering of local Communists in Arizona last year that if the 2012 election goes their way, (The re-election of President Obama) that they will have the possibility of setting the 'Progressive' Agenda. (Starts around the 2:00 Mark.)"

Racist cartoon

http://terrellaftermath.com/

The Catholic Church vs the Obama administration

Last March, a letter was sent by from Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan, President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. What follows are some excerpts.
"...the White House Press Secretary, for instance, informed the nation that the mandates are a fait accompli(and, embarrassingly for him, commented that we bishops have always opposed Health Care anyway, a charge that is scurrilous and insulting, not to mention flat out wrong. Bishop Blaire did a fine job of setting the record straight.) The White House already notified Congress that the dreaded mandates are now published in the Federal Registry “without change.” "


01/31/12: Insurance decision formally declares war on religion  "Obama chose to substantially burden a religious belief, by the most intrusive means, for a less-than-compelling state purpose – a marginal increase in access to contraceptives that are easily available elsewhere."

http://obamacartoon.blogspot.com/2012/03/free-birth-control-via-american-tax.html

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/31/2005922/insurance-decision-formally-declares.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/01/31/2005922/insurance-decision-formally-declares.html#storylink=misearch#storylink=cpy

Via Institute for Justice: Catholic dioceses, colleges sue over Obama mandate  "The lawsuits are the latest in the intensifying standoff between Roman Catholic bishops and the Obama administration during this election year."


Outrage Over 72 Hours Of Network Silence On Catholic Lawsuit Spreads To Other Christian Leaders   " Fury over the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts’ continued refusal to report the lawsuits Catholic entities have filed against the Obama administration has spread beyond the Media Research Center watchdog group and Catholic leaders to nine additional Christian leaders equally concerned about this decision to deliberately not report national news. Below are statements released by FRC’s Tony Perkins, Gary Bauer of American Values and eight more leaders."

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/

Church of the Holy Contraception  "Perhaps the Catholic Church, which often seems to back economic "fairness" rather than market freedom, will be more sensitive to the intrusions of the state in economic choice. This episode exhibits how economic freedom is intricately tied to all other liberties. When the state creates virtual monopolies through regulatory regimes, it also gets to decide what is moral and necessary and compels everyone to act accordingly."David Harsanyi

Catholic Leaders Outraged Over Media Silence on HHS Mandate Lawsuits

More here.   And here, including this quote: 

"If there is one freedom our country has consistently cherished, it is the right to freedom of conscience: the right to act or not to act as conscience dictates. Thomas Jefferson wrote that “no provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of civil authority.”"

Media Research Center:  Shameless Bias By Omission  "You’d think the largest legal action in American history in defense of religious liberty would be a major news story. But ABC, CBS, and NBC don’t judge news events by their inherent importance as relates to the future of our freedoms. They deliver the news according to a simple formula: Does it, or doesn’t it, advance the re-election of Barack Obama?
"If it doesn’t, it isn’t news."....

...."This is the worst example of shameless bias by omission I have seen in the quarter-century history of the Media Research Center. We recall the Chinese communists withholding from its citizenry for 20 years the news that the U.S. had landed on the moon, because it reflected poorly on their government. Never, never would the U.S. “news” media behave thusly.

"They just did."  Brent Bozell   (Emphasis added.)

http://obamacartoon.blogspot.com/2012/03/birth-control-and-constitution.html