Just as the anti-war artists of the 60’s expressed their political views through music, so too are an increasing number of artists of the TEA Party movement who refuse to keep silent about the destruction of this great nation by many who ironically subscribed to those radical, anti-government views of the 60’s counterculture movement.

James Kole - American Folk Blues Artist

One such patriot artist, whose musical style is reminiscent of the folk music of the 60’s, but with a contemporary blues/rock twist, is American Folk Blues artist James Kole.

We have been fans of James Kole’s for over two years since first stumbling upon his YouTube channel, impressed not only by his positive, pro-America lyrics, but also by his professionally produced videos, unique musical and vocal style, and his captivating delivery.

James is no newcomer to patriotic-infused songwriting promoting individual liberty and love of country.  His 1998 full-length release, Liberty, offered listeners a glimpse of what was to come over the years and culminate into his 7th full-length album (released July 4th, 2010):  Songs For Freedom in which he sings about the American Revolution, Frederick Douglass, the Constitution, U.S. Sovereignty, current uncertain times, and much more.

“Rockin’ the stage with a force like thunder”, James Kole’s musical talent is mesmerizing and his energetic aura commanding.  A singer/songwriter from Scottsdale, Arizona, Kole has impressed audiences with his unique blend of blues, rock, and American folk, earning him the title “Local Legend” in the 2008 edition of Perfectify Magazine.

Outside the local scene, his music has a long list of film and television credits, including projects for Miramax, HBO, Washington Square Films, MTV, PBS, and even Red Bull energy drinks.

In 2003, Kole was awarded the Best Original Song at the Saguaro Film Festival for his hit, Big Orange Sun.  James has shared stages with The Doobie Brothers, Nashville country artist Pat Green, SNL star Victoria Jackson, and many more.

This raises a couple of questions.  The first is, “Who is Mathew Marsden?”  Well, he was an up-and-coming young English singer and actor with athletic roles in Rambo and Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.  Which leads to the second question – why would writer Jackson Williams be so giddy about the revelation that Marsden apparently does not hew obediently to the Hollywood left’s party line?

Well, it sure isn’t because he’s interested in giving Marsden’s career a boost.  Like the grinning little snot in every elementary school class who gets off on the high of narc-ing out the other kids to the schoolmarm, Jackson’s purpose was to tattle to every producer, agent, actor and other Hollywoodoid that Marsden had been a bad, bad boy.  He exercised his right to think for himself. Maybe Jackson should wear a sash:  “Political Hall Monitor.”  But it’s clear that his article is simply a nomination of Marsden for a spot on the New Hollywood Blacklist.

And what is Marsden’s alleged thoughtcrime?  Well, since Jackson’s “reporting” appears to be based solely on his reading of some newspaper articles, and because Jackson never bothered to ask Marsden anything, it’s difficult to tell.  It appears the actor was a guest of a “sneaky” “conservative” “outfit” called the Council for National Policy that was “smoked out” when it held a “secret, far-right conclave” in an Austin hotel.  We know it’s “sneaky” because its website fails to provide all of the information Jackson thinks it should, though having a public website would seem to be the opposite of “sneaky.”  For that matter, having its event in a public hotel seems to be the opposite of “secret.” 

In any case, you really don’t need to know any more than the fact that it appears that some evangelicals are involved.  Case closed.   To the keepers of the New Blacklist, evangelical Christians are clearly agents of the antichrist, mostly because they believe in Christ.  Or something like that.

Jackson’s particular bugaboo seems to be the kind of “lunatic” who spews “right-wing screeds,” and for this he cites Pat Boone and Chuck Norris.  If you’re wondering what kind of screeds these are, well, some seem to be “anti-gay.”  I guess Jackson is referring to those who support traditional marriage – you know, like the majority of the American people and our President.   Or perhaps he is referring to those with belief in a Creator, a belief he labels “creationism” – you know, like the belief shared by the majority of the American people and our famously Christian President. 

Marsden’s purported embrace of the same values and beliefs of most Americans and our President apparently somehow has the effect of placing him far outside the mainstream.   Of course, to the New Blacklisters, the mainstream consists solely of a few thousand Hollywoodoids dwelling in the 310 area code.  Well, maybe some folks in the 212 qualify too – you know, for diversity.

Nothing in Jackson’s article – which, after all, is just a summary of someone else’s reporting – offers any explanation of why Marsden might be less than thrilled to have his political beliefs publicized.   Maybe he doesn’t feel like he wants to impose his views on his fans.  Maybe he feels he should learn more before speaking out.  Or, I dunno, maybe he doesn’t want a bunch of left-wing bigots indulging their prejudices and blacklisting him from future work because he dares think for himself.

Jackson’s big objection seems to be that Marsden doesn’t make a big public spectacle of his beliefs, which he seems to think makes Marsden liable for lefty animus.  Strangely, Jackson seems to argue that conservative animus toward Hollywoodiods who are not only public about their views but beat paying customers over their heads with them is misplaced.  So, the guy who quietly works for his beliefs – evil.  Loudmouth no-talents who stop their concerts to trash their country to paying customers or who prance about in North Vietnamese AA-gun emplacements –– well, they’re America’s greatest heroes. 

–

In my experience, there are three types of people in Hollywood.  There are a few smart ones.  Most of them had to work for success and have life experience in the real world that gives them a certain level of wisdom.  Then there are the ones who are dumb but think they are smart – mostly because they’ve been told they are awesome by sycophants and suck-ups like Jackson (Ms. Streisand and Ms. Sarandon, you are so “honest” and brave in your liberalism – can I come to the party now?).   And then there are the ones who are dumb and know it but don’t care because they are really good looking and rich to boot.

I can deal with the first and the third kind, and they are also the two types that do not go in for the New Blacklist nonsense.  They couldn’t care less about your political views as long as you do your job. 

It’s the dumb ones who impose lefty political litmus tests.  The dumb ones come in two types – people who just aren’t that bright to begin with and people who went to expensive, prestigious universities and therefore became dumb by buying into commie academic nonsense. 

The first kind tends to end up on camera pledging to be a servant to a politician.  The second tend not to know anyone to the right of Dennis Kucinich and therefore buy into every negative stereotype about normal Americans that they come across on the HuffPost.   Alienating huge numbers of potential paying customers by attacking those few in Hollywood who share their beliefs is just bad business.  Jackson sneers at the “Left Behind” books in his article.  Hey, they aren’t my cup of tea either, but if a major studio made a movie out of one it would do Twilight-level box office.  Hollywood, there are a lot more evangelical Christians out there with nothing to spend money on at the multiplex than lonely teenagers pining away for emo bloodsucker sagas.

The New Blacklist barring those with dissenting views is particularly dumb in an age of technology that makes the old Hollywood-centric model of a single, monolithic entertainment complex increasingly untenable.  Pretty soon technology is going to make major motion picture studios obsolete.  Anyone will be able to make a professional movie.  Just look at Panic Attack, a robot invasion short some dude in Paraguay made for about 100 pesos, lira, shiny rocks or whatever they use for currency in Montevideo.   And the distribution system based on film stock will go the way of phrenology, buggy whips and popular faith in global warming as the next generation of movies is transmitted to theaters digitally.  In the past, the Hollywoodoids could maintain a blacklist because only they could make and distribute movies; tomorrow, the blacklisted will just go around them.

Now, not everyone in Hollywood with a political opinion is a fool.  The man who was arguably the greatest American of the last half-century was an actor – an actor who spent years in the political arena, developed and honed his views, and convinced his countrymen to elect him their president.  On the left, actors like Mike Farrell and Martin Sheen expose the silliest leftism, but there can’t be any doubt that they both have learned and developed expertise regarding their issues – they just got the issues completely wrong.  But their usual acting work is generally non-political, making it easy for fans to appreciate their craft while ignoring their views.  Hell, I’m even a huge fanof HuffPost columnist Alec Baldwin’s acting – in fact, he’s one of my top four favorite Baldwin brothers.

Here’s an idea.  It may not be so popular anymore but it seems due for a comeback.  It’s called freedom.  It’s the idea that people are free to say, do and think what they want without petty fascists trying to punish them for presuming to think differently.  Liberals used to believe in that – until they got the power to do the punishing. 

Hopefully, and despite Jackson’s best efforts, the revelation that Marsden dares to have opinions that many in Hollywood do not share will not harm his career.  There’s probably another Transformers movie on the horizon, and while I have no clue as to Michael Bay and his team’s politics, I do know they are HUGE supporters of our troops and therefore deserve the benefit of the doubt. 

By the way, Marsden himself is a big soldier supporter too, and he actually did a parachute jump with the U.S. Army’s Golden Knights (Airborne – all the way, Matt!).  Uh oh, I probably just moved him up the New Blacklist about twenty spots by revealing that he doesn’t hold our fighting men and women in sufficient contempt.  I can see his panicked agent now, nervously tugging on his Armani tie, telling his client, “Hey, Matt, you gotta get in front of this thing!  You gotta turn it around!  You gotta hug a Latin thug, burn a flag or maybe spit on a wounded Marine!   You do that and, well, I think I smell an Oscar!”

Paul Bond at the Hollywood Reporter:

“Looks like “Land of the Lost” has earned star Will Ferrell the dubious distinction of being the most overpaid actor in show business, according to the list makers at Forbes magazine.

“Forbes looked at 100 top actors based on their widely released films over the past five years. It factored in the production costs of those movies against how much boxoffice, DVD and other revenue they generated in order to come up with an operating income for each film, which it then compared with the salaries the stars earned.

“In Ferrell’s case, the actor’s films earned just $3.29 for every dollar he was paid. That’s a pretty poor contrast to the $160 that Shia LaBeouf’s movies returned to the studios for every buck he earned.”

More names and the full story here.

Despite the fact I’m an actor, she loves me. She thinks I’m the most talented guy on the planet, even as work continues to dry up.  The eternal optimist to my ever lovin’ pessimist. I’m a Flintstone while she’s a beauty with a heart of gold.  I make her laugh.  She loves my bits. (A particular favorite is, my DeNiro, as Jake LaMotta, performing Kenny Loggins, “House at Pooh Corner”). FAHGETAHBOUT IT! My wife’s a peach.

Lately, however, there’ve been some clouds brewing on the horizon and it’s possible I may have had a slight hand in creating the situation.  I’ve been listening to her as she’s watching the tube, talking about how Hannity is so cute.  On other occasions, how the humble founder of Big Hollywood, Andrew Breitbart, has such a quick wit.  I mean, I can handle her getting jazzed about Dennis Prager but this is new stuff for me. For the longest time, she was just so liberal.  To this day, she’s a registered Democrat.  I asked myself, how did this happen?  How did she go from being a liberal woman from Buffalo to being charmed by the likes of O’Reilly?  As I mentioned, I may be somewhat to blame because truth be told, at one time I was a liberal guy from Beantown.  A man who voted for both Carter and Clinton.  There, I said it. 

Somewhere along the line, I began slowly waking up.  I started to look at things a little differently. Events were happening in our country that began getting my attention, coincidentally right around the time my wife and I met in 1991. First up were the hearings for Clarence Thomas followed by The World Trade Center bombing in 1993. Needless to say, I didn’t vote for Clinton in ‘96. I chose to sit it out.  I was frustrated. In retrospect, I believe the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, in the summer of 2000, was the last straw. I was angry and didn’t like the way our country seemed to be blamed when we were the ones who were attacked.  Our sailors were murdered yet we were at fault?  No way.

9/11 happened and like millions of other Americans, I was never quite the same.  I found myself asking questions, looking for answers.  It was difficult.  We were a country at war.  A nation divided.  I began to notice the way certain stories were reported in the MSM and would look for alternative sources to get information.  The Internet was a good place to plug into.  I discovered Oriana Fallaci, David Horowitz and Thomas Sowell.  I would listen to talk radio, in particular, Dennis Prager, who seemed so clear.  He made sense. The fact that he had been a Democrat for so many years and was now a Republican interested me.

Hearing Ron Silver speak at the RNC in 2004 was a big one.  I remember thinking, wasn’t this actor a Democrat? A liberal?  How could this be?  Yet there he stood, speaking with such passion.  Ron Silver made it cool for me to call myself conservative.  As a result, I began looking once again at Charlton Heston and Ronald Reagan. These men were the real deal.  Men of courage, conviction and I related to their values. I was ashamed of myself for having bad mouthed them years before.  I began to ask, how could I have been so blind?  The answer was easy.  I was growing up.

One other small incident happened during the election of 2004.  My wife and I were visiting with family (I’ll keep it loose as not to upset anyone).  I remember watching a program on CNN with a relative.  Something about President Bush and then I heard those words, “Republicans are evil.” It just hit me. I kept my mouth shut. For some reason, in that moment, all I thought of was my Republican brother-in-law, Johnny, one of the most decent men I know. A man of integrity and someone I respect.  Yet, I was silent knowing full well, if I opened my mouth, there was a good chance all hell would break loose. I kept quiet and didn’t like the feeling. It was personal. From that moment on I was pretty much done with liberals. (I wish to add, not all liberals, just the ones who pretend to be liberals but in truth are leftists. I despise leftists).

As a result, I began finding myself being drawn more and more to conservatives. During the 2008 election, I literally was coming home.  I tried to educate myself best as I could on the candidates and the issues.  My wife and I talked a lot.  We were united as a couple.  What became clear was the fact that many of our family members and friends didn’t seem to quite share our points of view.  On one occasion, I was actually accused, by a liberal friend, of brainwashing my wife.  There was a great deal of tension in the air. People were angry, still raging about the “stolen” elections of 2000.

Our country was divided and the historic election seemed to bring out the best and worst in people. The stakes were high. When my wife and I let it be known we were supporting McCain/Palin, it wasn’t good. We were drinking the kool-aid (so we were told). A particular challenge for me, as an actor, was to stay on the high road whenever the subject of politics came up with liberal friends. Man, it was rough.

The attacks on Sarah Palin made it even more difficult for me as I resented the hypocrisy of so called progressives, feminists and other like minded souls, who stood by while many in the MSM viciously went after her. Screw politics, I thought, enough is enough. I wanted to fight back, tear the faces off these miserable mutts. My Italian Irish American blood was boiling. Through it all my wife was there to help me stay focused. Keep my cool. Although, I must say to this day, I still get a little pissed off when I hear someone go after Governor Palin. She’s a decent woman, who I believe will come back wiser and stronger to lead this country on another day.

Ultimately we got through the election. The waters calmed briefly and on January 20, 2009, Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th President of the United States. History was made and a new day in America had begun.

What will happen now? God only knows. I believe, as Americans, we will persevere and find our way back home. Time will tell.

As for those clouds on the horizon, I’m really just fine with my wife.  It’s cool.  Hannity, Breitbart, Prager, O’Reilly and all the rest of those guys are good men.  As I said, I’m somewhat (proudly) responsible for her taking a different look at how she views politics, although it was always her call. Alice to my Ralph Kramden. It’s been an interesting journey along the way and I look forward to better days.

My wife loves me.

Despite the fact I’m an actor and a conservative, she loves me.

Oh, and one more thing…Kath, I love you too.

“It would be a very, very terrible thing for the United States in many, many ways,” he said. Adding that Mr. Obama, “represents a huge step upward from (the) incompetence and misjudgment” of the Bush administration.”

You know, it’s a hard thing to watch your heroes fall. To see them as they really are, not as you thought they were, not as you wish they were.

I grew up loving Woody Allen movies, ranking “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan” and “Hannah and Her Sisters” as three of my favorite all-time films. With “Radio Days” and “Sleeper” not too far behind. 

I also grew up watching the evening news. I felt it was good, it was right when breaking news events came by way of the distinguished anchor, the courageous reporter in the field or by intrepid foreign correspondent, trench coat and all, reporting from overseas. I thought we were being looked after, our interests as Americans were safe with the names I could recite, everyone could recite, without skipping a beat, names synonymous with reporting, with news, with professionalism. I watched Dan Rather,  Peter Jennings, MacNeil/Lehrer, Bill Moyers and even a little of Walter Cronkite without a thought to any reason why I shouldn’t.  These were the voices I heard. These were the faces I believed. The people on TV that I looked up to. That’s the way it was.

Since then, I have learned that I was fooled. I was tricked, tricked by professionals at illusion: entertainers and journalists.

I don’t blame them.  I just feel sad. I feel sad that those fixed stars of my childhood have all but vanished, disappeared into a bleakness and a darkness that is bias, that is a pandemic misguidedness all in the name of power, power for one side, their side, their choices, with little regard for the big picture, the country, our culture.

Like myself, Woody Allen is a New Yorker. He, too, experienced the reality of 9/11 up close and personal. It hit home like nothing else before it. Yet, if we are to judge him by his statements to the press — the international press – he is ignoring the fact that our country has been untouched, completely and absolutely for the seven plus years since that horrible day. No matter how many arguments you have over oil, Halliburton, missing Bin Laden, etc, there has been no repeat of 9/11. None. It’s a fact that seems to go unnoticed by so many in the media, so many like Woody Allen, so many otherwise intelligent people. We have not been hit again.

Mr. Allen completely ignores the reality that this feat was and has been due in large part to the steadfastness of one man, one man who faced obstacles in our media, in our press, in our entertainment fields of movies, music, news, print and video. Every possible avenue of information dispersal in the English language and beyond has been hellbent on bringing down this one man, removing him – trying to do to him, to President Bush, with slow bullets what befell President Kennedy with fast ones.

They failed. No, they didn’t miss. They hit him most certainly. Yes, they wounded him and us.  They wounded and killed many in the field, many innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, and many of our finest citizens who volunteered to protect our nation by joining the armed forces. They, that our friends in the press and entertainment call rubes, morons and uneducated, those honored souls that Hollywood defiles at every opportunity are our best. Yeah, those guys. How many of them were wounded or killed because our irresponsible media and shameless entertainment industry heaped scorn on our country’s Commander in Chief at the worst possible time, when all the world’s eyes were upon us, when everyone waited to see what the United States was going to do when attacked on its shores. Eyes strained to see what would happen when the entertainment capital of the world, Woody Allen’s beloved New York City was struck a lethal blow and when the political capital was likewise attacked.  What enemy would not want to see and examine what this so-called omnipotent super power was going to do next?

When the burned steel and flesh was still smoldering at Pearl Harbor, Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto allegedly stated, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Whether or not he actually uttered those words, or only included them in his diary later, is unknown. But what is undeniable is that he believed them.

This phrase was repeated, in various versions all over the place after 9/11. So many people believed that we could not let 9/11 go unpunished. So many people felt we could not just wait for the UN to bungle it. So many people were certain we’d come together as a country, just like after Pearl Harbor. So many people were positive it was finally time to send the message that America was not going to allow its citizens to perish at the hands of madmen.

So many people… forgot.

Sleeping, indeed. Well, Yamamoto was half right. While most of the country forgot their words, their resolve, they went back to work, never really feeling a blip in their daily lives, since they didn’t live in Woody Allen’s New York or work in the Pentagon, and let’s face it, continuing to think about 9/11 was like going to watch “The Sorrow and the Pity” one more time. It was depressing. So, we went back to our lives already in progress. We fell back asleep again.

But our Commander in Chief didn’t. Our airmen didn’t. Our sailors didn’t. Our soldiers didn’t. Our Marines didn’t. They are our giants. And it is their shoulders we now stand upon. How many have lost eyes, limbs, years from their lives because callous individuals which make up our celebrity class are quoted in the domestic and overseas media constantly spewing their hate for this one man, for his stubborn efforts to keep us safe and prevent another 9/11?  How many suffered, who are not Americans, because terrorists, and that’s what they are, were emboldened by a fraud documentary or a movie star-of-the-week’s public mockery of our president to anyone and everyone who would listen. And brother, did the world’s press love to listen.

This reminds me of something I’ve thought about a lot since 9/11. In the movie “The Godfather,” there are so many great scenes it’s really hard to pick a favorite. But there is one very small but profound one that stands out for me.  It’s a keystone to what happens to the Corleone family from that moment on. Nothing for that family, other families and for the entire business – since the Corleone’s strength is what keeps the peace amongst them –  is the same after that scene.  Can you start to see why this scene comes to mind? No, it’s not a shootout at a toll booth in New Jersey.  No, it’s not a montage of execution and baptism, nor is it a very nice veal dinner ruined by a .38 caliber tracheotomy. No, it’s a very quiet scene. And many might not even remember it. But it’s the stepping stone to all that follows. And it applies exactly to what I have  witnessed my country doing to itself since 9/11, and maybe before, if I had taken the time to notice.

The scene takes place in the building of the Genco Olive Oil Company. The Godfather is there with his sons. He is visited by an ambitious outsider making the rounds to all the families who run New York’s underworld. When Sonny, for a brief moment, shows that he might be interested in a new line of business being pitched by this outsider, but which his father had already concluded was not in keeping with their line of work or morality, all is lost. Sonny blew it. That one moment, that one action of Sonny’s was to be the undoing of all that they knew.

How can that be, you ask?  Just by showing interest? Or was it greed? The Godfather, the father to his sons, had wisdom enough to realize that to show even the slightest bit of division of purpose within the family was to show the enemy how to attack and defeat them. His displeasure at his son’s carelessness is obvious, but he attempts to diminish its importance by writing it off to youth and a few too many amorous expeditions. But the damage is done. And the Godfather knows it. He shows it in his eyes. Brando is marvelous here. Coppola was very clever not to overplay this scene. He knew to keep it simple and subtle. Because it was subtlety, nuance, and yes, greed that gives away the shop, that exposes the weakness.

Division. You would think no celebrity, no movie star, no director, and especially no director from New York would ever miss something that poignant.

It’s known worldwide that President Bush was a man who did not always do well in front of the camera. But it’s not an easy thing for anyone in even the best conditions. It’s particularly difficult, if not impossible, when the camera has, so to speak, a limited focus and narrow depth of field. Thanks to those cameras, Bush’s every flub, every misstep, every awkward moment that we’ve all been prone to, was highlighted for all the world to see, and for our enemies to learn from, to learn of our lack of unity. Thanks to those cameras President Bush took the heat and became the figurehead for every error, perceived and real, made in America or abroad dating back to the Magna Carta. And for those small, insignificant gains, such as not being attacked since 9/11, for that actual accomplishment and so many others of which we never hear of, he is given none of the credit. Nor does he seek it. What does he do, instead? He thanks the troops.

Filmmaker Woody Allen knows all too well the manipulation possible with the camera,  microphone, and editing room. He knows all too well how easy it is to make things appear the way you want them to. The way you need them to.

He knows.

Yet, he seems to have been hoodwinked into thinking Mr. Obama was going to bring change, real change, positive change to the Oval Office. Why did he think this? What evidence was there? Mr. Allen had stated quite clearly that our country would suffer home and abroad if we as a nation did not elect Mr. Obama. Of what evidence or expertise did he consult or review to make such a claim, other than the promises made by a smooth candidate unknown to him and most of the world a mere one year earlier?  All we could judge this candidate on were his words and his appearance in front of the camera on the campaign trail. That, and promises of change, loosely dangled in front of self-inflicted weary eyes, hoping for something, anything to bring joy to them after the eight years of misery, of not being attacked again.

Make no mistake.  Mr. Allen is not to be grouped in the same category as the Matt Afflecks, the Ben Damons or the Maggie Cho Garofalos. No, he is not an outspoken and overpaid semi-talented celebrity smitten with the limelight and adored by fans hanging on and hooting at his every shameless, treasonous word. No, that is not Woody Allen. He is a talented director and a gifted writer with a vast reservoir of experiences that trump anything a pretty face and high friends in higher places could ever hope to muster. Unlike the celebrity actor, a good director is a manager, a contemplator of bigger pictures than the scene at hand, constantly dealing in the reality of imaginary ‘what if’s. With all due respect to great actors everywhere, and there are many, the director has a bit more to be concerned about than lines to be memorized, a mark to hit and a good side to show to the cameras. He must be a multi-level chess player aware of always changing contingencies on what to do if this fails, if that goes wrong, if so-and-so doesn’t show up. He is tasked with a never-ending list of scenarios of what ideally should be done, what can be done, and what will probably have to be done for each and every set-up, with more levels of uncertainty than a fictional “Buck” Turgidson or Walter Groteschele could ever dream of. He does this all the while inspiring confidence among his crew and never losing sight of the goal: to create something entertaining for others. Maybe even something fun.

In the James L. Brooks film “As Good as it Gets,” Jack Nicholson’s character, Melvin, is approached by a fan who adores his very successful novels.

Young Woman: How do you write women so well?

Melvin: I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.

Jack could just as easily be talking about our favorite liberal celebrities there. Too many on the left, while our nation is at war and lives are at stake, have failed to apply reason or bother to take responsibility for their words or any accountability of their behavior and actions, aside from that connected with their box office appeal.

Directors, traditionally, must be able to reason and are always accountable. That’s why, when a director makes statements such as Woody, it means more, it hurts more. While in the past, Mr. Allen had shown himself to be an astute thinker and poignant commentator on the comic tragedy called life and with all his abilities, all his experience, all his wit and humor on the fraud that is power, that is politics, he fully accepted Mr. Obama’s campaign promises on face value alone. He did so for no other reason than that such otherwise written blandness was performed well in front of the camera. With all his background why would Woody Allen fall for that?

Why did Dan Rather throw away a distinguished career on the eve of his retirement, to push a story he simply had to know was false, or at the very least stemmed from a single, highly questionable source? Again. Why?

What has happened to critical thinking?

Mr. Allen is not naive.  I won’t get into his personal life and criticize him for his judgement there. That would be unfair, and far too easy. Besides, who among us, including our former president, has not made decisions in their lives, absolutely certain of their correctness at the time, that to others, not in-the-know would seem misguided, wrong or downright evil? Mr. Allen seems unaware that the same description he used of what would have happened to us in America if Obama had lost, “a disgrace” and “humiliation,” are the very words most would apply today to our media, our entertainment industry and of course Mr. Allen’s own personal family life choices.

How can a man who brought us such great visions in his films suddenly be so blind?

Are we in good hands now? Today’s news says otherwise. Woody must feel we are at least not “a disgrace and a humiliation” to the rest of the world. So, that’s something, I guess. Are we safe? Time will tell. But watching the news as I used to do no longer leaves me with any comfort or feeling that the news system itself is in good hands, that they’ll get to the bottom of it, whatever ‘it’ is. Gone is the feeling reporters will leave no stone unturned while the anchor, fulfilling his namesake, will steady the nerves of the nation and remind us of our safety and our security as the president quietly but effectively ensures it.  Is that happening anymore for anyone? Is anyone out there feeling reassured by the news, that all may not be well, but that we can handle it because we’re Americans, after all?

I’m not getting that anymore.  And I don’t believe that those in the news really care anymore if we do. I think they did, at one time. I really think they tried. But that isn’t what is happening today in all newsrooms great and small. This is a sad conclusion that many, like me, have come reluctantly to meet, and that others are turning their eyes away from. I will confess, though, that what I miss more than most things about those days are the anchors themselves. It may sound shallow, but there aren’t any real anchormen or women in the news business anymore, are there?  Like the great actors and directors of Hollywood, they’re replaced by a  washed-out bland parade of interchangeable names and faces, all equally untrustworthy and lacking.

To my own questions I have no answers, it is true. Only a kind of sadness and a yearning. A yearning to go back to those days before I knew any better, before the stars began to fade, before they ceased to shine so brightly above, blinding me with their visual eloquence and to a reality that I can now see all too clearly.