The Bloomberg terms for this year’s 9/11 Memorial are not only wrong, they are spiritually, metaphysically and, even in Karl Marx’s terms, dialectically “unbalanced”. Bloomberg is courting an even worse disaster than 9/11.

To bear false witness against God, of all defendants, to blame Him for 9/11, branding Him and his representatives as persona non grata without a full trial is literally demanding God’s complete abandonment of New York City.

Is preventing clergy from participating in the 9/11 Memorial excluding God Himself?

Yes.

Why?

Try excluding a single State’s representative, Senator and/or House member, from a Congressional Ceremony Honoring Abraham Lincoln.

Try it, and may God have mercy on you.

The Almighty, if you haven’t noticed, runs a Democracy as well or better than Washington does.

God has also been known to take sides in American Wars.

Particularly the domestic wars of her Revolution and the nightmares of 1860-65.

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If all goes as planned, as you read this the wife and I will be loading a moving van full of everything we own in advance of a cross-country move back to our home in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Eight years ago we did the reverse. Left our beloved home for what was supposed to be a three-year adventure in Hollywood. Much happened over those years — most of it wonderful. But we’ve been terribly homesick every minute we’ve been away and simply can’t wait to pick up our small town lives where they left off.

Crying out in anguished pretension

To say we’ve enjoyed our time in Los Angeles would be an understatement. Adventure we sought and adventure we received. Though I eventually failed out, I loved the few years I (barely) scraped out a living in the independent film world and that it led to eventually being a part of Andrew Breitbart’s BIG empire feels something like providence. There is very little, however, my wife and I will miss about the city itself. We learned pretty quickly that all the cliches are true about the crime, traffic, smog, tremors, and artificiality of it all. Simply put, this city is a dump with a 10% sales tax where light bulbs are contraband the seasons change from hot to scalding and throwing your garbage in the wrong bin ranks as something close to a capital crime. No offense, but I see Los Angeles as nothing more than a big, fascist, one-story ghetto and those of you who love it are welcome to it.  

One cliche that is a total lie, though, is the unbelievably phony narrative created by the Leftist media and Hollywood about the people who live here. Throughout my misspent life, I’ve lived in Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina, and now California — and I have never met nicer people than the people of Los Angeles. That’s not hyperbole or rose-colored glasses or sentiment. It’s a fact. Over the years, I’ve been all over this city and have met and worked with folks from every possible background and income group; from movie stars, producers, journalists and politicians to cops, public school teachers, and factory workers. The people who live and work and make this city run are almost without exception uncommonly decent and kind.

Which brings me to the Paul Haggis film “Crash.”

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At least he’s not, you know, saving the planet….

THR:

Ex-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his return to movies Monday, saying a film version of his much-publicized cartoon project The Governator is in the works.

“First will come (The Governator) comic books, then a (cartoon) TV series and after that we will develop the games and then a movie,” Schwarzenegger told a packed room of international journalists at global TV market MipTV in Cannes. “Maybe then we’ll be back in Cannes for that.”

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About three miles south of Beverly Hills in the upper-middle class neighborhood of Beverlywood is Hamilton High School.  An otherwise ordinary Los Angeles Unified School District-sponsored juvenile detention center, Hamilton is home to a couple of well regarded magnet programs, particularly the Academy of Music Magnet.  The Music Magnet is the old stomping grounds of pop stars, Broadway talent, and even Hollywood A-listers who were drawn to a public school program that has a focus on the arts.  Yet, even this rare LAUSD high school that students actually want to attend has become a casualty of the horrendous budget crises in the state of California.

Reporter Steve Lopez was dispatched to the scene to write up the various cutbacks for the Los Angeles Times.  Lopez is known for being the journalist whose articles on a schizophrenic musician inspired the Robert Downey Jr./Jaime Foxx film The Soloist.  Then all of a sudden, what had the makings of a compelling human interest piece on one of the handful of quintessentially Hollywood high schools quickly devolved into a sob story about how these poor teachers and students have been victimized by the dastardly Republicans and their resistance to tax hikes.

How did he do this?

First, Lopez paints a rosy picture of the school by glowingly describing a performance by the jazz band and cherry-picking quotes raving about teachers; his portrayal of Hamilton is a lot like Sean Penn’s depiction of Iraq in Team America:

As it happens, Hamilton is my local high school and I have family and friends who have graduated from the Music Magnet in recent years.  To put it bluntly, many of their experiences didn’t resemble the mythical land of incredible teachers and students anxious to learn that Lopez describes.  An anonymous Hamilton graduate told me she recalls students doing cocaine in the state-of the art auditorium (which was overhauled with a lavish grant to the Music Magnet)—in fact, the source recalled students showing up to class on an assortment of drugs.  Faculty members were seen “celebrating” with students at cast parties after plays.

And I thought programs like these were meant to keep kids off drugs. (more…)

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It’s the forced hilarity between James Cameron and Governor Schwarzenegger at the very end of the video that ultimately changed our minds about how we’ll vote on Prop. 23, that swung us over to the dark-side of over-regulation and middle-class job destruction.

How could anyone resist that Rat Packy ring-a-ding-ding rapport?

Over at NRO, however, Mark Krikorian wasn’t as awed as we were:

I don’t know anything about the substance of the issue, though my inclination would be to assume Cameron’s full of it. But what’s interesting is that Cameron is a foreigner, a Canadian citizen, who withdrew his application for U.S. citizenship after Bush won reelection in 2004. So what business does he have telling Americans how to vote on anything? Do Americans appear in Canadian political ads?

James Cameron, full of it?  Mark, please stop believing your lying eyes.

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After Barack Obama’s historic victory in 2008, many in the Democratic Party and on the political left argued that the GOP and the conservative movement were finished and that Democrats were destined to control, in perpetuity, the presidency, Congress, and culture, writ large. But then something unexpected happened–millions of sleepwalking, mall-shopping Americans finally woke up.

The activist left, which denigrated the previous president in a merciless fashion, took the reins of power with reckless abandon and shoved its brand of poisonous hope and change down the throats of the American people. So we the people, the reawakening silent majority, responded in the form of a grassroots movement that is turning into a juggernaut set to roll past November 2nd and become something transcendent and long-lasting. Our Founding Fathers would be proud that we have rediscovered the spirit and the essence of their ideas.

While the Tea Party has not been specifically partisan–many Republican carcasses lie in its rubble–this conservative and constitutional checks and balances has created a rejuvenated GOP, chastened and wiser.

This weekend I have the honor of sharing the stage with one of the Tea Party’s and Republican Party’s fearless leaders, Sarah Palin. Since her arrival on the national stage, the Democratic Party has recognized her potential as a political powerhouse and has worked in tandem with its partners in crime, the mainstream media, to wage an unprecedented personal campaign against her and her family. The Tea Party can relate.

But the power of Alinsky and the politics of personal destruction vis a vis the Democrat Media Complex has reverse effects when the object of the hate bravely stands up to the bullies and thugs. The Tea Party and Sarah Palin have given America a great lesson in standing up to the bullies who have co-opted the Democratic Party and the American media. (more…)

So a new survey reports that one in five Californians need help for a mental or emotional issue.

Seems low, if you ask me. I mean – this is California, home to Sean Penn, Mel Gibson and the Oakland Raiders.

But more important, you can reduce this report to a cavalcade of cliches.

So, did they group all emotional and mental “issues” together – so we get millions of sufferers?

Yep.

Did they expand the distress to include things like “feeling sad, anxious or nervous?”

You bet. (In the old days we called that “life,” but now it’s an injustice if you aren’t snorting rainbows 24/7.) (more…)

Opposes same-sex marriage, plays Rush Limbaugh’s wedding, refuses to boycott Israel, and now this. Does Elton John’s free-thinking apostasy know no bounds? 

Today’s Arizona Daily Star:

Elton John didn’t mince words in slamming his fellow musicians for boycotting Arizona over the controversial SB 1070 immigration law. From the stage at his sold-out Tucson Arena concert Thursday night, John savored a few choice, not-so-family-friendly words:

“We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona. I have read that some of the artists won’t come here. They are (expletive)wits! Let’s face it: I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what’s the (expletive) with these people?”

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Dr. Wesley Smith, Superintendent of California’s Morgan Hill Unified School District and ‘self-proclaimed expert’ gave a petulant and incoherent performance on behalf of his administration and School Board for the now infamous anti-American Flag discrimination against Live Oak High School students by their Principal Nick Boden and his Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez on May 5th.

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Supt. Smith claims the incident was “not about whether our students can wear patriotic clothing,” but was “about ensuring that our campus was orderly and safe.”

Any school superintendent, staff or school board that determines its students wearing patriotic American clothing should ever be deemed ‘disorderly’, or ‘unsafe’ is an incompetent superintendent, staff and board.

Bad acting as Special Champion during his “apology,” Supt. Smith repeatedly exploited his High School student-body-at-large as somehow the victim of evil unnamed straw men, i.e., politically motivated “bloggers, talk shows and social networks [e.g., Twitter].” (more…)

Here it is 2010 and I still don’t have a jet-pack or flying car. Those were the kind of things that I was led to believe would be here by now when I was a little kid. The real problem is that there isn’t one on the horizon either. You know what is in the near future for us? A remake of the Yugo or some other Euro-crap car that doesn’t burn up much dinosaur remains and tops out at a heart stopping 50 or 60 miles per hour.

It is that time of year for me to let my psychic self loose and gaze into the future. Yeah, I know I’m a little late but I promise not to predict anything that has already happened like a lot of your mainstream psychics tend to do. Last year Kevin Costner didn’t even have the decency to make a bad film, so I was o-fer-09. The only way for my psychic score to go is up! (more…)

All instructional materials approved by school boards and used in California schools must comply with the Standards for Evaluating Instructional Materials for Social Content (2000).  It’s an idiotic set of standards, radically liberal in orientation.  It states that materials must “instill in each child a sense of pride in his or her heritage …”  One wonders whether it is a good idea to instill in the grandson of a Nazi brownshirt “pride in his heritage.”

At the same time, the standards do have their strong points.  On religion, all students are supposed to “become aware and accepting of religious diversity while being allowed to remain secure in any religious beliefs they may already have.”

The California Education Code includes similar provisions regarding the use of particular materials in the classroom.  Section 60044 requires that no instructional materials be adopted by any governing board which contains “Any matter reflecting adversely upon persons because of their race, color, creed, national origin, ancestry, handicap, or occupation.”  The statute does not exclude whites or Americans. (more…)

I like finding examples of left-wing media bias as much as the next guy but I suppose that guy would have to be another right-wing nut job like me in order to enjoy it as much as I do. Anyway, over the weekend I was watching all the hype for the big Obama Afghanistan announcement on Tuesday when I saw a little gem of a news story on Headline News. There she was, the former darling of the left-wing press — Ms. Anti-War herself — Cindy Sheehan, leading a huge war protest in front of Travis Air Force Base outside of Sacramento, CA.

Except Ms. Sheehan’s protest really wasn’t all that huge. It looked like Cindy and about seven or eight of her aging hipster friends had gotten some gas money together, made a few signs and a rented U Haul truck for a trip from the Bay Area up to Sacto. I sometimes confuse Cindy’s pals in Code Pink with the pink hats my mother’s old friends in the Red Hat Society wore. Except the Red Hat ladies are out for fun and the Code Pink gals seem to have gotten out of bed on the wrong side. To be honest, I felt a little sad for Cindy. I think I could get more people over to my house for an Amway meeting. I didn’t see how less than a dozen people doing anything would rate national news time. However, Ms. Cindy was getting more airtime on HLN than the entire 9/12 weekend demonstration did, and though we may disagree about how many folks were there, I think we can all agree it was a little more than twelve. (more…)

I have been a California resident for the past 23 years.  During that time, I have seen the best of times and worst of times.  Prior to this economic disaster, the only serious recession in those 23 years was in 1991-1992.  At that time, myself and many others in similar situations faced economic turmoil.  However, nothing comes close to what is happening now in what used to be the greatest State in the union. 

According to the most recent reports, the unemployment rate in California has reached 12.2%.  The rate in Los Angeles County is at 12.7%.  Some cities within the county such as Compton and Commerce are over 20%.  These are all far worse than the national rate of 9.8%. 

What makes these numbers even scarier is that they have not hit rock bottom according to economic estimates at both the state and federal level.  In fact, the State Government estimate of a maximum unemployment rate of 12.8% seems like it is going to be topped shortly, probably by early winter.  Is it possible that California’s unemployment rate will top the number in 1940 of 14.7% which is the highest recorded on record?  (more…)

In Parts One and Two of this interview, Mr Lebaron described the many legal, moral and ethical problems plaguing the California legislative process. In Part Three, Mr. LeBaron describes how We The People can begin to bring the long-hallowed and honorable traditions of enlightened American lawmaking back to the State House in Sacramento.

Q: How could such a law as the Honor In Office Act be enforced?

JERROL: There are some legislators who will perjure themselves day in and day out. There is no hope for them, unless someone reports the violation. However, we are dealing with partisanship. That means that 45-55% are Democrats and 45-55% are Republicans, typically. The Honor In Office Act plays very nicely into that. Newly elected lawmakers might be far more conscious of the new rules. There are other lawmakers in office who have lost their way, because they have had no way to protect themselves from the less scrupulous. (more…)

In Part One of this interview, Mr. LeBaron provided background on his own classic American and Hollywood success stories, and why he started the Honor In Office campaign. Today, Mr. LeBaron tells us what Honor In Office is all about, and why real reform is so badly needed in Sacramento.

Q: Can you describe for me, specifically, what Honor In Office is all about?

JERROL: If you look at the header at the Honor In Office homepage you will see the phrase, “There was a time in this country when our leaders’ signatures meant more.” Be it the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, or bills passed by Congress to conduct the People’s business, our Founding Fathers and early members of Congress drafted, read in full, debated at length, and either passed or rejected whatever legislation was before the Congress. (more…)

THE BACKSTORY

From all appearances, Jerrol LeBaron’s life is both a classic American and Hollywood success story. Having started out in the construction industry in and around Los Angeles, Mr. LeBaron became restless and purchased a small jewelry business, which he owned and ran for seven years. In 2000, after dabbling in screenwriting and discovering just how difficult it was to market scripts in Hollywood, Mr. LeBaron sold his jewelry business and started the online Writers’ Script Network, now known today as Inktip.com.

Today, InkTip is the most successful venture of its kind in Hollywood, matching spec screenplays with prospective studios, producers, and other film industry insiders looking for new material. An average of twenty films a year are made from scripts discovered on InkTip. Mr. LeBaron’s bi-monthly magazine, containing the loglines of hundreds of screenplays in the InkTip database, is distributed industry-wide. Having optioned a script off of InkTip myself, I can personally testify to its success. (more…)

Before all of you Californians get upset, be sure to ask yourself… Is there anything being said in this video that’s untrue? Besides, Arnold is the one telling it like it is, so you’re beef is with the big Austrian… Not with me.

“If California goes, so does the rest of the country.” – Dear God, I hope not. (more…)

Red-blooded males aren’t supposed to stock their CD shelves – or iPod Shuffles – with songs by handsome crooner Chris Isaak. But I’ve got plenty of Isaak’s music spread throughout my eclectic collection – being a fan of both Dwight Yoakam and the Monkees qualifies the “eclectic” label.

It isn’t just Isaak’s retro music, a heady crush of rockabilly and no-nonsense pop that endears him to me. It’s his attitude. He’s hopelessly self deprecating, a singer with talented pipes and a movie marquee mug who never gets lost in his own hype.

He’s also smart enough to know his limitations. Just listen to him dodge a baited question from a Washington Post interviewer over the weekend. (more…)

LOS ANGELES – Millions of fans from around the globe gathered along Sunset Boulevard to pay final respects to California today, as a slow moving funeral procession transported the eccentric superstar state’s remains to its final resting place in a Winchell’s Donuts dumpster in Van Nuys. The self-proclaimed ‘King of Pop Culture’ died last week at 160, in what coroners ruled an accidental case of financial autoerotic asphyxiation. The death sent shock waves across the world and sparked an outpouring of grief by rabid fans.

“I don’t care what the tabloids and the Wall Street Journal say,” said a weeping Illinois. “I still love you, Cali!”

The 640-mile long funeral parade route was lined with flowers, candles, teddy bears, and IOUs from millions of mourners and debtors who made the somber journey to watch the passing of the state that had once ruled the box office and industrial charts. Among them were current chart-toppers who cited California as a key influence.

“If it wasn’t for California, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” said Arizona of Westside 3, the popular Sunbelt trio who recently benefited from the late state’s generous gift of fleeing taxpayers and businesses. As a tribute to their mentor, Arizona vowed the group would start spending money “like crack-addled hip hop stars.” (more…)