Movies of Excellence - Spoilers

Ok, back in 3-D; I'm a fast healer ;)

Look, I'm very glad the independent film industry is doing good - really, I am. I thank Kevin Smith even if he did "Go Hollywood", Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Bill Macy, Welcome to the Dollhouse (which was so authentic Jersey) and even Adrian Brody and Milla Jovovich for Dummy (which is an excellent movie; high on the list.) Also to Trey Parker and Matt Stone who won't sell out, period - they like Brian Boitano and that's it. They HATE the MPAA, who pretty much banned their first movie, until people just demanded that they get their South Park movie (and man, was it funny - I've NEVER had an experience in a theater where every single seat was full and everyone simply LAUGHED for 1 1/2 hours straight - ever. We cheered at Empire, we cheered for Indy Jones, we cheered when Clubber Lang went down, but laughing for the whole movie? That was unique. And kids weren't allowed in, so no one had to worry about that noise heh.)

But let's face it, the indie industry also puts out a lot of garbage and weird crap. It's a gamble. So I saw this movie today called "Thumbsucker" and it was...weird. I wasn't sure what the hell they were trying to say. You've got Vince Vaughn as the teacher and Keanu Reeves as an orthodontist channeling Morpheus, an adorable 18 year old boy who sucks his thumb, the unhappy mom and the demanding and non-accepting dad. Lots of moody Elliott Smith music. The kid goes from thumbsucking to ADHD to Ritalin (and flying way too high) to getting stoned with a girl and playing weird games with her to...well I don't freaking know. Eventually he made it to NYU, threw out his pills, stopped getting high and was running through the streets of NYC. Was it good? I don't know. So I started thinking about all the other possibilities, of movies that are still reliably awesome, and came up with a few names. I've already mentioned Of Mice and Men (1992 version), but there's also O. Henry's Full House (1952), an often overlooked gem, and Captains Courageous (1937.) So we'll start with those.

Captains Courageous stars little Freddie Bartholomew set against Spencer Tracey, a group of other fishermen and Captain Disko played wonderfully by Lionel Barrymore. This movie delivers reliable laughter and tears, and really, joy. Trailer Here

Harvey Chayne is a spoiled rich boy who the other kids can't stand, who makes false accusations against his teachers (such as leaving 50 dollars for a teacher to make a test easy without telling the teacher what the money was for or who it was from - he accuses that one of accepting a bribe.) One of my favorite Freddie's lines was about how they had invited one particular boy to a sleepover as part of a plot - he asks "Well what do you want to go around spoiling plots for?" Well, his father is told when Harvey gets suspended, and what is so refreshing is that instead of protecting his precious snowflake, the father immediately apologized for his son and said he would immediately start spending more time with the boy to try and help him change. When his father takes him on a boat ride, the boy brags that he can drink 5 milkshakes if he wants because it's his dad's boat, gets sick and falls overboard. He is rescued by the remarkably talented Spencer Tracey, playing a Portuguese fisherman on a run out of Gloucester. Naturally, like in Sea Wolf, the rich boy is set aboard a tiny fishing boat with a rough group of men and has to spend the next few months with them. Barrymore heard his story, and said he couldn't wager a year's bread against a boy's yarn, and they would drop him off in Gloucester when they were done fishing. The boy keeps yelling, and another refreshing change - Disko delivers a resounding slap to the kid, knocking him to the ground. In amazement, Harvey says "You hit me!" and Barrymore says drily, "Now you jest set there and think about it." Heh; great stuff you don't see anymore.

Over the course of the trip Manuel (Tracey) takes Harvey under his wing and helps him overcome his rotten temperament and learn how to be a real fisherman. There are pitfalls along the way, such as Harvey tampering with another fisherman's line when he and Manuel have a bet with another fisherman on who would catch the most fish. He had just reeled in an enormous halibut and Manuel simply threw it back in, saying, "I no catch big honest feesh like you with a cheater. Go tell all the other feeshies we got no fisherman here!" When the other man, having hooks pulled from his arms, hears Harvey's apology he attacks the boy - Manuel, failing to smooth it over by saying "See, he apologized like good boy", goes medieval on the guy, saying "You touch that keed I keel you, see? ME, Manuel." It's a truly shiver-worthy moment seeing this sweet-natured well-intentioned man go from smiles and apologies to quiet, menacing rage.

Well probably everyone knows the story, so I'm not spoiling it by telling you he becomes a worthy boy and Manuel dies...when Harvey is finally reunited with his loving dad, he says he wants to be with Manuel, that he's got to. He was going to fish in a dorry with him the rest of his life. Fortunately the father is perfectly sympathetic and they end up a wiser boy and father in the end. It is a truly dramatic comedy - that perfect blend of both, that you don't often find anymore. Cuckoo's Nest did it, I think, but that was much darker than this story, which is moving and uplifting and musical right up to the dramatic death at sea. And it was truly dramatic - he knew he was going down but Harvey didn't - he thought they would save poor Manuel. He did end up with the hurdy-gurdy Manuel's father had left him, which had provided so much comfort aboardship. He even hears about how Jesus was a fisherman too, and that there was fishing in heaven. When Manuel asks him if he didn't have a song in his heart so big he just had to let it out? Don't you never feel like that? I still could cry, but the nice kind of tears. Disko's slap is in the trailer as well as Manuel's threat. The movie might be there too.

If you like bizarre humor (and I do) it's worth watching Chris Elliott's spoof, Cabin Boy.

O. Henry's Full House is a collection of O Henry stories played by a star cast including Anne Baxter. Particularly touching was The Last Leaf, wherein a bum who actively commits petty crime every fall to get himself sheltered in jail for the winter, finally decides to get his act and life together, only to find himself accidentally arrested and sent away again. A perfect O. Henry twist, classic. That one is melancholy and full of pathos. Of course you've got Magi and The Ransom of Red Leaf, which is a comedy. Well worth watching - it's usually shown around Christmas because of Magi and the Last Leaf.

Finally, Of Mice and Men 1992. Now I'm not particularly a Steinbeck fan - I find him to be an angry, bitter writer. (Hmmm...) Like Dickens. And I normally don't like adaptations too much (which is why I just listed three of them ;) ) and if I do, I usually like the original much more than the remake. Case in Point - the Poseidon Adventure. The remake blew; you could not compete with the original cast in that case. But this time I was totally won over by an excellent and tragic movie (you really have to be up for this one; it's very sad) acted by one of the best casts I've seen assembled for such a piece. And the fact is, much as I love Burgess Meredith, he just didn't pull George off right. You've got Gary Sinise (the most underrated actor I've ever seen) as George, guardian to the seemingly lovable, frighteningly strong retarded man Lenny (John Malkovich!) whose previous guardian had died. They are always on the road, looking for the next job as itinerant farmhands. Lenny is excellent at it, being so amazingly strong, but you get a hint right away that he gets into "trouble". In fact the movie begins with a woman running, torn and beat up, through a field and a team with dogs hunting, Lenny hiding waiting for George. Then they get on the road and it gets funny, happier, and pathetic. Lenny makes George tell him the same story every chance he gets - tell it George! "Guys like us," answers George, "are the loneliest guys in the world." "Yeah, but not me and you George, you tell it tell it" and George drawls, "That's right, not us, because we've got each other." He then spins a tale about how they are going to save up their money and go in together on a little farmhouse and Lenny will get to tend the rabbits. But he mustn't let the cats get the rabbits - to which he replies "I'd break that goddamn cat's neck!" They laugh together, they travel, they eat together - Lenny threatens to move to a cave in a particularly hilarious Malkovich moment. When they reach their next job, George makes sure to show Lenny where to hide if he gets "in trouble" again, and George will come for him. In a particularly foretelling moment, George throws away a dead mouse Lenny is petting in his pocket and trying to hide. That mouse ain't fresh, Lenny, I didn't do it out of meanness, as Lenny weeps bitterly. George promises to get him a pup as soon as he can, because they're sturdier and won't die so easy from Lenny's not-so-gentle handling. Bad move, George.

What's really striking is the bond they share - all they have is each other in the world during the Great Depression. On the farm, we find that guys like us really ARE the loneliest people in the world - they each sleep alone even though they're all in a bunkhouse, are mistreated by the boss-man, and we meet the *wonderful* Ray Walston, all broken from years and years doing the most backbreaking work. Walston has a mongrel dog that is also old and broken down - when the men start telling him he needs to shoot the dog, Walston says he can't because he's had him since he was a pup...they keep pushing, and Walston finally agrees to let them go shoot the dog. When he finally hears the shot, he curls up on his bunk and weeps, and so do I. He ominously hints to George that he shouldn't have let them shoot his dog, because it was HIS dog; HE should have shot it himself. George takes the hint.

Walston hears George's story and asked him if it was true about the house; George says it is. Walston asks if he could please throw in with them; that he had $300 to contribute. They were reluctant, but he convinces them and they plan to buy the house at the end of the month. Lenny amazes everyone (and busts the hell out of the boss-man's hand because he hit George, and George turned Lenny loose to take care of him; it's a frightening display of what Lenny CAN be and do without George's restraint) but then he does kill the pup, and inadvertently kills the boss-man's wife, the only woman in the picture. George had warned Lenny by slapping him - the only time you ever see him slap Lenny - and telling him to stay away from her, she was a rat-trap and that's it. But she was very lonely and pushy, and got Lenny alone by the end...and that was the end of her too. He pets women too hard as well, and he snaps her neck. Well, I needn't tell you that when Lenny went to his hiding place and George ran after him as the men followed, searching with their guns, that George remembers the lesson of the dog...he tells Lenny not to turn around, and Lenny says "Tell it to me, George, tell about them rabbits again" as Sinise takes aim with his gun. It was his dog, and he was going to put it down or no one was...and frankly Lenny's dangerous. In the end George is riding the rails alone, no house to look forward to and no companionship. Like I say, it's incredibly sad and you really have to be up for that one, but it's still a must-see if you love fine acting. Teaming Malkovich, Sinise and Walston like they did was just brilliant; I wish Sinise had gotten the Tom Hanks lead in Green Mile; he was much more suited to it. Which is another very sad movie but well worth watching.

So there you have some rainy-day entertainment, depending on what you're in the mood for. Like I say they're all reliably good and moving, all have laughs and tears, and all have excellent performances.

PRICELESS!!

False predictions - $10 bil

Erasing evidence (badly) - $50 bil

Spreading New False Predictions - $150 bil

Handing the UN their asses on a plate - priceless.

Fools! Seriously, read the whole thing; it keeps getting better!

While you're at it, here's a great song parody - The "Squanderer", set to "The Wanderer." If you play the music while reading the lyrics, you'll realize she's really good! Here

F*** Your Mitsubishi...I've a Horse Outside

Cut off? View it HERE. Fuck your Mitsubishi. These guys are from Limerick and they ROCK! (Apparently the horse thing is true; you can find many people with no vehicles except for the horse there.)

Book Comes To Life

Cool-Ass Video Obviously it's cut off so watch it HERE

Christmas Greeting From A Great President Past

Since we'll never hear anything like it now, here's one for the ages: If it's cut off, view HERE

Cry, Baby, Cry! KOS Nooz.

BONUS AT THE END FOR MY READERS!!

Ok this is gonna be a long one, but I assure you it's worth it. Liz at rightnation.us braved the cesspool that is KOS to bring it to us and I'ma rip it to shreds one delicious bite at a time.

As the last election cycle demonstrated, reckless government has awoken the sleeping giant at last (boy was he sleeping hard) and while it must NEVER be pleasant to be a leftist, it's about to get one hell of a lot harder for a long time to come. Too many years we had to be "above" their sleazy level, be the better person, compassionate conservatism blahdeblahdeblah. The bashing was ceaseless, constant, it became like white noise and Bush for all his faults didn't crumple under it and have a mental breakdown. Sure some of us have been angry for a long time, but now millions upon millions more are angry and what's more they're done playing that game. The one some of us knew they could never win anyway. Ok, on to the KOS post that so inspired me - because the taste of their tears is sweet like candy, like sugar, like milk and honey. KOS - you EARNED this and I'mma give it to you.

First, the link - Title: Unsubscribed from Organizing For America - Moved to Tears - we'll see if Markos scrubs it like he does so many other things. I've got it anyway. Title "Unsubscribed from Organizing for America - Moved to Tears. By a man.

I watched some of President Obama's comments in his press conference today, one day after I sent him a letter in response to an Organizing for America email, expressing my disappointment in some of his policies and his proposal to extend all of the Bush tax cuts.

I'm sure he'd already received it and it was his number one priority to address your letter. He didn't have anything better to do that day anyway. Not even a golf game in sight. Now what are we talking about - HIS proposal to extend the tax cuts? HIS proposal? No, honey, let me explain this to you - our guys were not going to play ball on that one, no way no how. And apparently with Obama you don't even have to be in your seat yet; you just have to not blink. They didn't blink. See, it was all or nothing on that one - let the taxes increase for *everyone* - including you leftist bloggers and the people barely scraping by paycheck to paycheck (not that you'd know about THAT; that involves WORK) - or leave the tax rates as they are across the board. He knew how you'd scream if your paychecks (those of you who get them) got smaller and frankly, he also knew it would be wrong to do that to them. He doesn't get why it's wrong to do it to the richer people, but he got that it would be wrong to do to the poorer among us. You didn't get that memo or didn't understand it. Moving on then, since you're a wordy fucker.

Today I saw a president openly mocking and disparaging the principled activists of his party. He sounded like he didn't want my support or the support of any progressives -- that he is done with us and plans to make no attempt to woo us by embracing any of our principles and policy preferences as he has done so frequently and self-abasedly with conservative Republicans.

First of all...WOO you? What are you, 14? An idiot? It is not the president's job to "woo" you - that's called campaigning. See, he's got the job now and he has to, like, DO it. I know, foreign concept. He doesn't have time to KEEP stroking your schlong for you anymore every second of every freaking day - not if he wants to get anything at all done; you people are ENDLESSLY greedy for stroking and you expect it from the guy as your birthright; well grow up.

Second of all, I watched the thing, and what I saw was a man who was TRYING to explain this all to you in very simple terms why it had to happen this way. They weren't lobbing softballs or writing puff pieces this time; this was his time to "get even" with the GOP and you were thirsty for conservative blood, and you thought he could get it for you. He couldn't. And you were galled. Surprisingly enough, not at them for being so insistent, but at HIM this time. I don't think he saw that one a'comin'. Because you built this man up to be a God...well he's a God who BLEEDS! (5 pts for reference.) The FIRST TIME he meets up with the new folk, he strikes a pretty even compromise (you know, that thing you're always telling conservatives to do?) and you call that "frequently and self-abasedly with Republicans"??? Are you kidding me? What in the hell are you going to do for two years when he's forced to make bigger compromises and take bigger losses? Do your heads go 'splodey or what? Because even Olbermann went on an unbelievable rant already; spewing the same shit he always does, only this time at his own guy instead of teh ebil Bush. My God, when it comes time to defund Obamacare and actually make cuts, what happens to you? I can't wait to find out.

But you know, if you had any sense at all, you would have actually listened to his explanation. He even did it your way - he blamed the Republicans for it (you say blame, I say credit - potayto potahto) - and you still wouldn't listen? Why? He was telling the truth (loosely defined) and in all likelihood he did his best (he did come out with a few things of his own, you know) but his best isn't going to be everything you want it to be - nobody's best could be, and this time he's up against real competition for the first time. This time he didn't have an entire congress and senate full of supporters to ram it through without reading it first. (Well...technically he DID, but whatever. I'm not really sure why he had to do this.) And you take his explanations as mockery of you? Get over yourself. He read your fucking letter and he did the best he could about it!

He sounded like he would not even try to "earn back my support and the support of the millions of progressive Democrats, especially young people like myself who invested so much hope in your candidacy two years ago," as I asked him to do in my letter.

Like I said, he read it first thing, and he really tried, my darling. Earning your support is his #1 priority. Along with his 8 thousand other number one priorities.

Then, this evening, I got another email from OFA, asking me to watch a video of President Obama promoting the Republican tax cuts for the rich and to leave a comment as feedback to the Obama campaign. I watched the video and left the following comment:

Whoah whoah - back up there, buddy boy. There were no tax cuts involved here - not for the wealthy. What was on the table was maintaining current tax RATES, not making cuts. Please do get your facts straight on this because it's rather important. Tax cuts come later. Coming soon to a district near you!

* Eric Stetson's diary :: :: * I think President Obama is making a big mistake by moving so far to the right and essentially doing exactly what Republicans want, a tax policy that will increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars and necessitate deep spending cuts that will be devastating to the economy.

Ok, how can I explain this one. First of all, the guy couldn't be more leftist if he were Stalin. He REALLY IS on your side. He studied and believes in Marx. He was raised into Islamicism. He finds it beautiful. He makes grandiose speeches to Middle Eastern Islamic leaders about how wonderful they are and bows to them when he can. This "move so far to the right" was an ever-so-slight swerve to avoid a massive pothole - if you think this is moving to the right, you are in for a VERY rude awakening. He hasn't even thought of coming close to the middle yet, and he's going to have to (or he'll have to use his own unemployment plan).

Second of all snookums, the Republicans did NOT get exactly what they want - not by a long shot. They made what is called a compromise wherein each side gives up something and try to come out fairly even. It was too soon for cuts, and continuing unemployment was not a bad one to compromise on for the Rs. With all due respect to Mark Levin, my favorite, this was not at all a bad deal for either side. Certainly not this early in the game.

Lastly, maintaining tax rates does not devastate the economy - tax hikes do. To stimulate the economy you make tax CUTS. You see, the government doesn't CREATE wealth and as Obama found to his chagrin, there are no such things as "shovel-ready jobs" like he thought there were. You make a couple trillion dollars fiat money and that doesn't put everyone to work building highways, unfortunately. All it does is create enormous debt. If you want the economy to grow, government has to GET OUT OF THE WAY of business so it can DO business and put people to work earning sweet sweet dough. That's how the real world works.

I was an enthusiastic supporter and volunteer in Mr. Obama's 2008 campaign, but I am very disappointed with his presidency so far. I was disappointed that he did not fight for a public option in the health care reform bill. I was disappointed that he did not close the Guantanamo Bay prison. I was disappointed that he did not allow investigations of high ranking Bush administration officials who authorized the use of torture. I was disappointed that he escalated the war in Afghanistan.

Ok you mixed them in together but let me pick 'em apart for you. He DID fight for a public option and wasn't able to get it if he wanted his health care plan to go through at all. I don't know why since he had both houses firmly stacked, but that's just how it went. They had to pick something out of that monstrosity, and that was the bit that got taken out of that MASSIVE chunk of bill. He got the rest of it through, or did you miss that part?

Now, Guantanamo Bay - you see, I know he WANTED to do that and YOU wanted him to do that but that was never going to happen. Because once he got there, you see, he found out that you really CAN'T do that. You really CAN'T, as we've tried to explain to you for YEARS now, simply let terrorist enemy combatants loose in the world, and the civil court is certainly not equipped to deal with them. So there has been a stalemate, or another sort of compromise - you don't set them loose or bring them through civil court, and we won't put them in front of a tribunal as SHOULD be done. See how that works? They get to live - in comfort - but they don't get OUT. Until we can get them properly before tribunals, that's how it's going to have to be, and Obama had to face this hard REALITY pretty quickly. You haven't caught on yet is all.

He hasn't brought the troops home and he's escalating efforts in the worst possible area (Afghanistan isn't worth it and doesn't need it) because the man has no foreign policy or military experience, which we told you in the first place. You knew that's what Biden was there for, but Biden is busy eating burritos or something, faking an Indian accent to get into the 7/11. So Joe's a little busy to help with foreign policy decisions. Actually, the man was such an embarrassment they had to shut him up permanently, but we won't talk about that. Many lulz have been denied us that should have been ours from Biden, so I will hold that against you.

At any rate, while he WANTS to simply bring the troops home and declare the Iraq efforts over and done, he was faced with another harsh reality which we have tried ENDLESSLY to explain to you - you SIMPLY. CAN. NOT. DO. THAT. It doesn't work that way. I'll leave it to our friends with military experience to explain to you why this is so. But trust me, it is.

As to "investigating" Bush's policies and trying to prosecute a defunct administration, that was never going to happen. I don't even believe he made any promises to that effect, either. You see, that takes years for one thing. For another thing, he actually has access to the information now, and he knows your rhetoric was mostly all bullshit and there's nothing to prosecute. Caterpillars do not equal torture no matter how you spin it. And while he was wasting his time dicking around trying to find something and prosecute the previous administration, he wouldn't have had a single moment to ram through all the pork you demanded. Which he DID. So you ought to be really, really glad he didn't waste his time on that bullshit.

Extending the Republican tax cuts for the rich is the last straw for me. I can no longer call myself a supporter of President Obama. I hope he will step aside at the end of his term and let other Democrats who actually believe in Democratic principles and policies run for president in 2012.

Slight correction - maintaining current tax rates for everyone. There, fixed it for you. Step aside for another Dem? Who in the hell else do you think is going to be able to A) win and B) get what you want done? You fool! But OK; I have no problem with him stepping aside. Bring it on; whoever you want.

And then I clicked the link to unsubscribe from the Organizing for America email list. I didn't do it lightly. I have thought of doing it before, but never actually did it.

You're gonna...un...un...unsubscribe??? Shit just got real.

Maybe it was my memory of the weekends I spent walking neighborhoods, knocking on doors, passing out literature and attempting to persuade people to vote for this man in the crucial swing state of Virginia.

Yeah I remember that to. He told you to "get in their faces", remember that? He told you to go to the barbershops and beauty shops and your neighbors and get in their faces and tell them who to vote for. And you did it. Seems a little funny now, doesn't it? Yeah, we thought so too.

I was always hoping that at some point, President Obama would surprise me by restoring the hope I had invested in him in his campaign.

Problem with that, dollface, is that "Hope and Change" were a campaign slogan. There was absolutely no meaning behind it. You can't just say "Hope! Change!" without defining your terms. See, we were real specific with our candidates about what they need to do when they're there, or at least try to do. You voted for an empty suit with an empty slogan with no definition. But I'm sorry your poor little hope was just dashed against the rocks like seafoam. Oh, wait. No, I'm not. You're a filthy hatemongering KOStard and I hate you back.

There is such a deliberate finality about taking the action of unsubscribing from the mailing list of an organization that one used to support strongly and in which one made a significant investment. Finally I did it.

ZOMG YOU DID? Cue up the violins, I think he's gonna solo! Then what happened, Eric?

I felt a sick feeling in my stomach and found tears welling up in my eyes. I don't cry easily. I certainly didn't expect that the simple act of unsubscribing from a political mailing list would have such an effect on me, but somehow it did.

Yeah, I think that's the definition of "crying easy." But hey, that's just me. I was sorely disappointed when Fred Thompson dropped out because no one else was suitable, but hey, life goes on. I didn't, like, cry over it.

I think my tears came because of a realization that suddenly hit me full force like a punch in the gut: that Barack Obama will go down in history as a tragic figure, a classic, archetypal example of a man who had so much potential to be a great, transformational leader at a time when the society in which he lived desperately needed such a leader and actually elected him to lead our country in a new direction.

Oh, please. You guys are constantly writing and rewriting and rewriting history before it even happens. You were never taught so you don't have the vaguest concept of history. If the grownups hadn't come in to save him midterm he COULD have gone down as another Carter - an utter failure who led us into some of the deepest misery seen since the Great Depression. Ever hear of the Misery Index? Gas lines? Look into it sometime. But now he won't even get that chance. If he's lucky he'll go down like another Clinton - saved two years in by the efforts of others that he took credit for and got rewarded with a second term for. That's gonna take a hell of a lot of luck, though. Because, see, you didn't count on us. You thought we'd NEVER strike back in significant numbers. You didn't know you'd awoken a sleeping giant with your constant streams of daily invective and utter, mouth-foaming hatred. But you did. The giant am awake now, and he's PISSED. We're done playing pussyfoot with you people. Oh you had it so easy with mild-mannered Bush...you just don't know what's coming your way this time.

And who took the rare opportunity given to him and threw it away, becoming just another typical politician making backroom deals for less than half a loaf -- mere crumbs, in fact, and crumbs spiked with poison -- becoming an accessory to the continued decline of American civilization, shattering the hopes of millions. When he could have been so much more.

First of all, no he couldn't have. He hadn't the vaguest notion of what being president would mean and he had no experience whatsoever. The guy was in way over his head from day one. Second of all, spare me the damned melodrama - the guy did one HELL of a lot more damage than "crumbs" (poisoned ones! Oh noes!) in the last two years. He and Pelosi rammed through MASSIVE expansions of government and extreme levels of unprecedented debt. Trillions of dollars in fiat money. (By the way, something like 100 billion of that was misprinted, or mixed with properly printed and misprinted...so that money's tied up - it would take them 30 years to sort it by hand, but the machines they figure on something like two years. So some of that sweet sweet stimulus money won't be going to Obama's big business friends for a while.) Obamacare. HUGE expansion in governmental power and damage to the insured. The guy even tried to explain THIS to you - he tried to explain that all the massive government entitlements we have today - Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare, etc. etc. etc. started out one hell of a lot smaller than they are now - it takes time for them to grow you know; but once you start them, unless you defund them immediately they never go away; they just grow. He TRIED to tell you this and you just kept pounding and pounding your drum and wouldn't listen. Remember when he said the Tea Partiers should be thanking him? YOU should be thanking him. He's done every fucking thing you wanted except the things that there is no way to do (like closing club Gitmo and releasing the rats from their tropical cages) and do you thank him? No, you ungrateful sacks of shit.

Instead what you do is scream and cry and throw a big fat tantrum like children who have to go to bed early or can't get that piece of candy RIGHT NOW. And you know why? Because ALL YOU KNOW HOW TO DO IS HATE AND SCREAM AND TEAR THINGS APART, and it's too old to keep doing Bush now, so you stoked up your hate machine again (because life's no fun without it) and threw Obama into it instead this time. Because this time there was no one else to throw in. The guy is one unlikeable, angry, Marxist, lying sonofabitch, but you know what? He didn't deserve that. Not from YOU. He really HAS done his best by YOU.

But you know what, my friend? That empty feeling in your gut? Those bitter tears that taste like sugar to me? Get used to them. Because we're angry now. And we're not playing your reindeer games anymore. For reindeer, see Sarah Palin's last television show. That's what reindeer get, you Socialist, anti-Semitic, race-baiting scumbags. They get EATEN. What's that? I hear the sound of a shotgun being cocked...oh cry, baby, cry...cry...cry. Damn, that's some tasty caribou. It's gonna take years to clean up your mess and wipe your shitty diapers up but the grownups are going to do it. Just cry it out; it's good for the lungs.

Now, for my readers I have an AWESOME bonus, as promised - with major hat tips to my good friend clambake - GET THIS MAN OVER HERE STAT!!! REALITY CHECK! I was *cheering* as much as the crowd after this one; it's better than your morning coffee, I assure you. And if you can't see it here, go HERE - MUST SEE

Enough Is Enough...and a Funny

Please read this powerful post by the wife of a soldier and a grassroots Tea Partier.And when you're done, here is a funny look at quantitative easing (i.e. inflation/fiat money) by none other than Adolph Hitler.

If you can't see the whole video (it seems to cut off on the right) check it out on youtube: Quantitative Easing Explained by Hitler

Liberty in an Amusing Nutshell

I've seldom seen liberty and free markets captured so profoundly in such an amusing and succinct way. How do we get back there from here?

FLAG YOURSELF

Join Steven Crowder, Lee Doren (my video guy!), Machosauce's Zo, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, and millions of other Americans in our REFUSAL to be intimidated by the federal government, and FLAG YOURSELF! Send your email to flag@whitehouse.gov along with YOUR thoughts on this phony dog and pony showed, astroturfing, crowd-packing, SEIU violent thug gooning, planting fake Nazi protestors outside town-halling, turds of this administration and their ginned up HELL care reform bill with their euthanasia and their denial of medical services to those who need them most. Tell them exactly what you think of them and REFUSE to be intimidated. You are an American. Remember that, patriots, and do the right thing. This works best in the largest numbers possible, so stop hiding and being intimidated and just do it already. Who the hell do these people think they are? Let them know what their place REALLY is for once. THEY WORK FOR US.

Dickless Republicans and Palin

A thing of beauty. Hat tip to Eric Dondero.

Oops

Karl Rove set up this graph so we'd see just how well Obama's promises about the economy are going. Looks like an oopsie to me. Hope and change - it's what's for dinner.

When arguing with leftists (a fruitless enterprise; I hope you don't engage in it much) it's kind of stunning how often they fall into the false dichotomy of calling various despotic societies "right-wing" and only allowing that the despotic "left-wing" societies were only so because people didn't implement them right. I'd like to clear the idiot cobwebs away with some sanity from Mark Levin's amazing tome, Liberty and Tyranny. This is not a polemicist book; this is not a "fun" book - it is very serious, and this guy is genuinely brilliant. So here's some genius from The Great One:

The Conservative must accept that the Statist does not share his passion for liberty and all the good that flows from it. The Statist does not acknowledge the tremendous benefits to society from the individual pursuits of tens of millions of others. The Statist rejects the Founders' idea of the dignity of the individual, who can flourish through ordered liberty, for one rooted in unpredictability, irrationality and, ultimately, tyranny...

For the Statist, liberty is not a blessing but the enemy. It is not possible to achieve Utopia if individuals are free to go their own way. The individual must be dehumanized and his nature delegitimized. Through persuasion, deception and coercion, the individual must be subordinated to the state. He must abandon his own ambitions for the ambitions of the state. He must become reliant on and fearful of the state. His first duty must be to the state - not family, community, and faith, all of which have the potential of threatening the state. Once dispirited, the individual can be molded by the state.

The Statist's Utopia can take many forms, and has throughout human history, including monarchism, feudalism, militarism, fascism, communism, national socialism, and economic socialism. They are all of the same species - tyranny. The primary principle around which the Statist organizes can be summed up in a single word - equality.

Equality, as understood by the Founders, is the natural right of every individual to live freely under self-government, to acquire and retain the property he creates through his own labor, and to be treated impartially before a just law. Moreover, equality should not be confused with perfection, for man is also imperfect, making his application of equality, even in the most just society, imperfect. Otherwise, inequality is the natural state of man in the sense that each individual is born unique in all his human characteristics. Therefore, equality and inequality, properly comprehended, are both engines of liberty.

The Statist, however, misuses equality to pursue uniform economic and social outcomes. He must continuously enhance his power at the expense of self-government and violate the individual's property rights at the expense of individual liberty, for he believes that through persuasion, deception, and coercion he can tame man's natural state and man's perfection can, therefore, be achieved in Utopia. The Statist must claim the power to make that which is unequal equal and that which is imperfect perfect. This is the hope the Statist offers, if only the individual surrenders himself to the all-powerful state. Only then can the impossible be made possible.

Welcome Track-a-Crat

Found a great new blog - well, I'm assuming it's great based on this one post, and since this one post is that frickin' awesome, I think it's a safe assumption. Here is a portion of it but you'll have to go to Track-a-Crat to get the relevant links that prove all of these assertions. I had just heard that horrible story about the little boy turned away from Michelle Obama's hospital (that fake job thingie where she made lots-n-lots of money) and I'm going to ask the Obama-care supporters - IS THAT REALLY WHAT YOU FUCKING WANT YOU CRETINOUS NEOTENOUS FUCKS?! ARE YOU STUPID?! Here's the smoking gun on Obama care and what you really have to look forward to - patient-dumping while crooked politicos and their worthless beast wives and friends make a fortune "working" these hospitals:

Then again, I’d be that happy if I’d worked for the University of Chicago Hospitals.

The perks are magnificent: should your spouse get elected to the State Senate, then your salary is automatically tripled!

If you decide to take a year off work, then you still get paid $63,000 for that year!

Plus your job is really only half a job, but it was seperated into its own position on account of your hubby’s standing!

And what did Michelle have to do in return?

Why, nothing more than turn away “urban” patients from the hospital. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Which included the unfortunate Dontae Adams, who, after a pit bull tore off his upper lip, was given a tetanus shot, antibiotics and Tylenol, then promptly told to scram. He subsequently had to take an hour-long bus ride to another hospital for surgery.

Welcome to the Anniee Hall of Fame, the PurelyPolitics Walk of Life, Track-a-Crat.

Two Great Videos

Direct thanks to IMAO for both - I can't wait for this show to come out!

This one is part of a series on economics and American values that I am finding fascinating. Just go to IMAO and look up the "Capitalist Propaganda" series for the rest, or access the series directly here. This one touches on why minimum wage hikes are useless and counter-ptorudctive in the long run. The whole series is amazing.

Velociworld

"The worst, of course, is Life After People. This is nothing more than a thrill ride for the Earth Firsters and other ecoterrorists of the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement who think mankind should be eliminated from the biosphere. Whereas the History Channel formerly had erudite scholars discussing serious issues they now have burned out, ponytailed hippie cocksuckers with titles such as "urban ecologist" rubbing their hands together, barely able to contain their glee, as they recount what will happen when humans disappear, and the traces of humanity from buildings to monuments to sacred texts and documents to the lowliest footprint are wiped clean from Gaia's mons pubis. It's a singularly disgusting bit of theater. Everyone involved in this putrescent spectacle should be ashamed."

A thing of beauty is a joy forever. And my friends, that is beautiful. I'd like to welcome Velociworld to the blogroll because I'm dying to see what he'll say next. He's already DEMOLISHED David Attenborough's bukkakic glee over the stupid squirrel fossil that frankly, can not possibly be what they claim it is. (See the May 19th entry for why that is.) I'm crushing. And not your head. Alas, he is in love with another blogger and doesn't know I exist. :D

Kneecapping Barry

Holy crap, did anyone hear any of Cheney's speech today duelling with Barry's long-winded shit about closing Guantanamo (when just yesterday they said they knew it had been a hasty pronouncement)?

Because I'm impressed. Dick is just out there positively KNEECAPPING Obama, HAMSTRINGING the guy, and it's a beautiful, beautiful thing to see. Even seeing how mad he gets and how defensive, making further hasty pronouncements to cover it all with bluster (We're closing it and that's that! HarUMPH! Neiner neiner!) is beautiful. Cheney, I don't know why you saved up all your defense for NOW but I'm not sorry you did. Talk about giving the left the rope to hang themselves with - you gave them 7 YEARS worth of rope and they're hanging out to dry now. Lovin' it in New Jersey, Cheney!

Also, did anyone notice they passed that ridiculous credit card rights bill but slipped in the thing about being able to carry guns in national parks? I thought that was pretty cool and clever, but the Brady Bunch is up in arms (er...non-arms?) about it, saying families shouldn't have to face down an AK-47 when they're on a nature hike. Because that is something that happens. Law-abiding gun owners hold families at gunpoint on their nature hikes every day. And families without guns end up dead because of that. Tsk tsk.

Must-See Video

Haha! Raaaaaacist! New blog to read, yay! I have to try making some of those movies, but I doubt I can do it as good as he/she does :D

On a more serious note, I can't find any pictures of Air Force One buzzing downtown Manhattan. I saw some good footage but I don't see any stills, and looking up Air Force One Manhattan in google images just gets you sneaker pictures. I have some funny captions to put on but I need the pics. I know they're out there. Or stills from the video at least. Anyone know where?

Q: Why Won't the "News" Show This?

A: They look even dumber when they mock such eloquence.

Unprofessional Reporter Gets Schooled - Hard. Etc.

Well. You could almost feel sorry for her if you didn't remember that she's not doing her job, is a moonbat, a bitch, and a completely unprofessional asshole.

I'm not going into Garofalo's lunatic rant because we've already established that she is a racist, misogynist, bigoted self-loathing narcissist (the last three are her self-description) who hates all black people who don't want her leftist largesse and calls them mentally ill. Any and all accusations she hurls at others regarding racism are null, void, and not worthy of listening to, much less responding to. SHE doesn't get to lecture ANYONE on racism.

In other not-worthwhile but fun news, Marcotte's teeth are gnashing slightly more than usual at the "wingnuts" who protested last Wednesday, and she's come up with a fairly funny post venting her spleen.

It turns out that the wingnuts were utterly clueless about the slang term “teabag”... Somehow, the group of people who never clued into this term---despite the fact that it’s a widely photographed activity, and joked about by everyone from the characters on “Always Sunny In Philadelphia” to “Sex and the City” to John Waters---is the same group of people who think it’s meaningful to protest the existence of taxes as a cover story for throwing a tantrum about having a black President.

She squoze in every moonbat meme (i.e. lie) except how it was all funded by Fox News - nice going, bitch.

So much becomes clear. Of course you’d become a bitter, nasty wingnut who hates everyone and fears the outside world if you can’t even understand the simple pleasures of a dick joke.

Ohh, this was all just a dick joke! Well THOSE are funny! Though if you try to tell a pussy joke to a feminist, they aren't going to find the humor in it, now, are they? (She gives an "example" of just that except her example only proves what I just said, not the converse. Nothing will arouse a feminist's ire quicker than a vagina joke. That's Not Funny!

Childish? I prefer the term “childlike” as in “childlike joy and wonder"

Ah yes, those childlike joys and wonders - blowing soap bubbles, watching an inchworm make his way across a leaf, splashing in rainpuddles, blowing the fluff off of a dandelion, and watching John Waters hang his testicles over Divine's mouth. I can see it like it was yesterday!

"at a world that could produce people who insist that there’s nothing funny about teabagging”

There is, but not when you do it 51 times in 13 minutes. See, when you BEAT THE JOKE INTO THE GROUND and then keep beating it and beating it like it was Kunta Kinte, it's not funny anymore. When you do it only to mock people who you don't think have gotten or will get it, it's not only not funny, it's not a "dick joke" anymore anyway; it's "CONSERVATIVES R DUMMIES! HAHA!" I smiled (at the teabagging part of it) the first 2 or 3 times Maddow said it...and then she kept on, and on, and on, and on...51 times. Yeah, it wasn't funny anymore, even if teabagging were the joke instead of "RIGHTWING NUTBAGS R TEH STUPID! HAHA!"

You shall not make fun of the penis! ...What is wingnuttery if not a cult of phallic worship, and every time you make a dick joke, you are blaspheming their god.

Well. I can't think of anything crazier to use to mock on THAT one, so why don't we just leave it as it is, huh? Blaspheming their god...nope. I'm crazy but not THAT crazy. Moonbats? They are 18 shades of crazy in a single sentence, and ol' Annie here just can't top that.

Building A Religion - Censored?

Youtube seems to be attempting to censor this video. There's nothing pornographic or otherwise illegitimate contained in it; no nudity or violence...apparently it's just the political beliefs that are a problem.

Please visit Jim Treacher's site to get directions on how to do your own download/upload on your youtube account before they get it taken down all over. I can't do it from this computer, but will try again tonight. Time may be of the essence. By the way, that video is pretty frickin' awesome. The song - where do I know it from??? Was it in Party Monster? It's driving me nuts.

Way to Go, Copious Dissent!

My video guy has just had a bit of a youtube war with some prominent leftard assholes, and it was a really awesome thing to see. To see someone who can thoroughly demolish nonsense without raising a voice or saying "Fuck you" while the other guy is rabidly foaming at the mouth...yeah, I like that. I don't/can't DO it, but I love seeing it. So now we have Zo (of Machosauce) and Crowder, and Copious Dissent. Way to go, guys! Keep it up!