We’ve gone from Dirty Harry to Jason Bourne (or whatever his name ended up being; the camera was too shaky for me to ever tell what was going on). We’ve gone from Humphrey Bogart to George Clooney.  We’ve gone from John Wayne fighting Indians to Na’vi fighting Americans.

But, don’t fret. For there is an answer to our problems, fellow film buffs. I know you’re six feet from that ledge, but let me give you hope…they are called books. They are these contraptions with bindings and pages with words on the inside. Together this all creates a story one hundred times more fulfilling than today’s dim-witted liberal flavor-of-the-month films.

Hollywood has always been a liberal town. They give us anti-Iraq war movie after anti-Iraq war movie despite the fact that they all flop at the box office. But what of the literary world?  They must surely share Hollywood’s contempt for conservatives and enriching stories, right? Wrong. The publishing world seems to get it, for the most part. They like to publish what sells and what seems to sell today are right-leaning stories.

Stephen Hunter, Vince Flynn, Brad Thor, Tom Clancy, Frank Miller, James Ellroy, and Andrew Klavan. These are just a handful of names of today’s top fiction writers. All of them have something in common: they have, admittedly, right leaning politics and philosophies. This does not mean that their books are some kind of weird right-wing propaganda. What it means is that their stories usually make the bad guys who the bad guys really are and their heroes don’t shy away from masculinity or righteous indignation. These writers also have something else in common: they are all New York Times bestselling authors. Try out Stephen Hunter’s new novel Soft Target. It’s a hundred times better and more visually striking than any new action film to hit theaters in the last year. Or try Andrew Klavan’s last adult thriller, The Identity Man. It’s more thought-provoking and more well thought out than any half-baked political thriller cooked up by George Clooney. These writers lead the fiction front in literature today. They put out bestsellers that frequently win acclaim from critics.

As for non fiction…now we are really getting to the heart of the beast. Look at the New York Times bestseller list for non-fiction and you are bound to see a plethora of conservative thought. While Bill O’Reilly and Laura Ingraham are regularly blasted in the mainstream media, they regularly put out bestsellers. Others do too. In fact, most non-fiction political books that hit shelves are written by conservatives. Why this phenomenon and why now? Is it that conservatives have been turned away by Hollywood so they have retreated to the inner workings of books? Or is it because right-leaning artists and right-leaning thinkers need more than a 90-minute film to bring across a message and/or story?

Perhaps films are more representative of a liberal approach to storytelling, while writing is a more conservative approach. Films are a collected effort. They takes hundreds, if not, thousands of people to create, and usually have a vision that is compromised by too many cooks in the kitchen. Books, on the other hand, are a celebration of individualism. It takes one person to sit and put his vision down. Maybe this is the explanation, but maybe not.

But whatever it may be, this much is true: if you hit up your local bookstore or head over to Amazon, you’ll find a world of old school storytelling and right-leaning stories. John Wayne and his films ain’t dead, they just grew up. They exist in an entirely new world: the world of books.

Check out footage from the latest Tea Party rally and you’ll see people holding signs referencing classics like 1984 by George Orwell and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Check out footage of the latest Occupy Wall Street rally and you’ll see people wearing “V for Vendetta” masks. That says it all.

Now, the podcast king is opening up about the media’s reaction to clip, and what happens whenever Carolla dares to take a position to the right of center.

The following is from the Dec. 6 episode of “The Adam Carolla Show” …

I was doing an interview with this chick from Sacramento, and she was like, “aren’t you worried about the stigma of Glenn Beck?” I get this a lot … “aren’t you worried about being associated with the right?”

I said, “how come when Alec Baldwin announces we’re good buddies no one interviews me and says, ‘aren’t you worried about being connected to the left?’ That doesn’t exist.” She’s like, “well … well …”

The reason you’re asking that is because the media is slanting toward the left, and you all think that way … you can’t help the way you think.

If I go, “me and Alec Baldwin are good buddies, and we hang out,” you go, “cool.” If somebody says, “Glenn Beck was calling you a genius the other day,” you go, “oooh, aren’t you worried?”

I’ve been asked, “am I worried about being connected with right wing whatever” a thousand times. No media members have ever asked me about being too left wing when I talk about pot, abortion and gay marriage … that’s a little clue about the universe that they’re living in.”

Here’s a link to what we can assume Michael Moore’s referring to when he speaks of Glenn Beck fantasizing about killing him.

Ooh, menacing stuff.

Moore is unattractive enough without adding “playing the victim” to the pile.

Furthermore, we’d like to see or hear evidence of the “daily” encouragement of violence against him on “hate radio.”

Now, Glenn gets upset, a lot.

So you never know how much is theater.

But then Lindsey Piscatell wrote a letter, saying she was seated behind him.

Some excerpts.

…while the crowd was certainly not *thrilled* that he had shown up, his family was left completely alone, and for the most part, he was too. Conversely, it was his security detail…that seemed to be unnecessarily prickly with the crowd, scolding myself and my friends for acrobatics and other harmless activities…

Acrobatics?

Everyone does that before a movie, right?

She goes on:

It was my friend that spilled the… wine…and I can assure you that it was a complete accident. A happy one, to be sure, but nonetheless a complete and utter accident. As soon as the wine spilled …apologies were made and my friends pretty much scrambled to give … napkins..”.

Of course.

So I contacted this Lindsey person, via email to follow up, but she never got back to me.

I wanted to ask her why, in her letter, she doesn’t mention her tweet.

You know – the one where she wrote “F*cking a**hole glen beck is sitting next to me….get the f*ck out of my city.”

And what of the tweet from a friend, suggesting Lindsey spill wine on Beck, “accidentally.”

Yeah, a coincidence.

Now, Lindsey’s letter showed up all over (as well as the creepy pics she took of Beck’s family), without scrutiny.

But why should there be? it was beck.

Which gets to my main point:

Bullying is cowardice exploiting opportunity.

Lindsey went after Beck because she knew she could.

She’s safe, among a mob. The bully need not a spine to toss the wine.

And that wine – wasn’t spilled. it was projected.

Finally, Lindsey hides behind the coward’s cloak: tolerance – claiming she’s really accepting, as long as you agree with her.

But, if you really think this is the way “New Yorkers” act — targeting someone because they’re different– you aren’t a new Yorker.

You’re a fascist.

Or from Philly.

And if you disagree with me, you’re worse than Hitler.

** Update: Gawker did a followup on this story after lamely attempting to debunk Beck’s story. They happily glossed over the incriminating tweets; and when forced to acknowledge them, did exactly what I predicted the night before: they played it off as a mere coincidence.

It makes you wonder: if someone had tweeted that they were going to toss wine all over Rachel Maddow, and then it happened, would Gawker assume that would be a coincidence too?

Of course, they’re not blinded by ideology, are they?

Thursday’s Guests:

Diane Macedo!

Joe Derosa

Brooke Goldstein.

and for Friday:

Patti Anne Browne

Sean Kanan

Joe Devito

—–

As with the majority of the conservative artists in the Tea Party movement, Jeremy has been traveling around the country performing on his own dime and as many fellow musicians know, studio time costs a pretty penny.  Jeremy has set up a project page where fans can participate in the production of his new songs by helping defray some of his costs, getting a few “thank you” goodies in return, and even a shout-out in his video.

Here’s what Jeremy has to say about how he got started in music and how he ended up using his talents to wake his fellow Americans up:

L'homme s'accroche amèrement.

Yet since Obama’s election, their aim has tilted right. While they revisited the nonpartisan issue of censorship over fear of jihadist violence in their 200th episode, the only overtly political targets of the past two seasons have been Glenn Beck in “Dances with Smurfs” and the Tea Party in last week’s episode, “TMI.” In “Smurfs,” Cartman starts to do the school’s morning announcements, quickly transforming into a conspiratorial nut who accuses the school president of murdering the titular cartoon characters. Now, Glenn Beck’s TV show is certainly ripe for parody (not a fan myself), but the episode plays as though Parker & Stone have only seen second-hand accounts of the program (which they’ve admitted regarding other episodes’ source material), and the satire, because it’s only mocking a straw man version of Beck, lacks the bite of their previous work.

In the same way, on “TMI” (spoilers ahead), South Park rips on the Tea Party– which, again, could be a source of truly funny jokes, even mean-spirited ones– with recycled second-hand stereotypes.  Cartman’s principal sends him to a counselor when he measures his and his classmates’ penis sizes. Eventually, the counselor recommends an anger management session, wherein a Tea Party member complains about “stupid-ass blind liberals” while wearing tea bags draped over a tri-corner hat. The counselor quickly surmises that all the anger management attendees act out because of insecurity over their penis sizes.

This first meeting isn’t actually that annoying yet, as the Tea Partier is just one of many mocked characters. However, when staple character Randy Marsh gets sent to anger management, he begins to parrot the Tea Party complaints about big government and socialism (which is uncharacteristic of Randy– historically, he’s been rather liberal) and starts a riot. In an attempt to stick it to the federal government, all the characters in the meeting attack Federal Express, American Apparel, and other private businesses that seem nominally connected to the feds. In a hostage situation, the Tea Party character pipes up that he demands to see “Obama’s real birth certificate.”

From that summary, one might assume that I didn’t find the episode funny, which is false. No matter what the setup is, when the punchline is Cartman or Randy flipping out, South Park remains one of the best comedies on television. “TMI” is an episode full of great gags and outrageous performances, but I can’t help but be disillusioned at how safe and politically correct the jokes about the Tea Party are. Since its inception, comedians have picked on the Tea Party with virtually identical insults. “Hey, look at those silly costumes!” “They’re angry white men sublimating their insecurities!” “Crazy birthers, every one of them!” There’s a word for comedians who just repackage other people’s jokes:  hacks. And I have a hard time defending Matt and Trey when I think about whether that charge can apply to their Beck/Tea Party jokes.

I have no beef with South Park making fun of what I believe; “Goobacks” and “Christian Rock Hard” are two examples of standout episodes that mock Christians and anti-illegal immigration sentiments. They work far better than “TMI” and “Smurfs” because they send up the actual follies of those ideas; they don’t just rinse and repeat straw men representations of the satire’s subject. Also, they weren’t just piling on ridicule for a much-maligned object. Whereas South Park is best known for being politically incorrect and unabashedly skewering that which no one else dare touch with a ten-foot pole, attacking Beck and the Tea Party when everyone else is already doing just that places the show in the back of the herd. It takes courage to stick your neck out against someone powerful and popular, but it doesn’t to be the last guy in line kicking some kid on the ground. Hopefully, Parker & Stone will turn things around soon, because this could be the point where South Park loses its edge– and therefore its appeal.

This article was originally posted at the Landmark Report.

It usually takes our new members a few days to figure out how to navigate their way around our site (hosted on the NING platform), so I went about my business and made a mental note to check back in a day or two.

My good friend/songmate/partner-in-crime, Drew (a.k.a. BigDawg), sent an email to me saying, “You have got to check out this new guy, Toots Sweet…he’s great!”

So I did…and I smiled…big.

We have such a wide range of musical genres at our site, but this man is a true original with a great message and a cool vibe.  His tribute to our troops, “Soldier Boy,” is one of my favorites.

Wasn’t sure exactly which genre to classify his music as until I read his bio:

Toots Sweet (singer/songwriter) is a New York City original.   The only Conservative urban funk rock artist.   Toots combines his passion for music with his love of country to create a refreshing new sound with a powerful message.  He creates an “urban” rock funk sound that is uplifting and rhythmic with memorable hooks that will entice your mind and awaken your soul.  His music communicates a message that is in sync with the beliefs and passions of our Founding Fathers that is respected by both young and old, from rural farms to urban city streets.  Be warned though… if you do not love America you may find his lyrical content extremely offensive.

His CD release of Takin’ Back America in 2010 with songs as We The People, Soldier Boy, Culture of Corruption and That’s My Girl Lady Liberty, has received much praise.  In a recent interview by Joe Ardis of Raiders News Network, he was quoted as saying “Toots Sweet is the funk master and the real deal… He’s so tenacious about what he believes in, yet so warm and approachable.”

I couldn’t agree more.  His videos are well-produced and fun to watch, his messages are always spot on, and the way he delivers them through his unique and very entertaining musical style grabs you from the first note and keeps you hanging on ’til the very end.  His personality is every bit as fabulous as his music — a warm, caring, passionate patriot… and I dig his accent.  I asked him what made him decide to write political songs.  Here is the response he sent me:

After 9/11 I started getting into politics more.  By the end of Bush’s second term I was extremely disappointed in the bailouts for the banks via TARP.  Then came along Mr. ‘Hope and Change’ and he really put the pedal to the metal in the wrong direction with the Stimulus and ObamaCare.  The country is broke but the politicians do not seem to care.  They were passing bills without reading them. It’s insane what is going on in this great Country.

So I started to fight back the only way I knew which was through my music.  I attended the 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally and was attending TEA Party events.  I went down to march in Washington DC for both 9/12 events in 2009 and 2010.  I met some amazing patriots down there.  What struck me the most was the TEA Partiers who were born in other countries like Russia and Cuba.  They were more frightened than most.  They would say ‘Americans better wake up before it is too late’…almost like they’ve seen this before in their countries.  It made me really concerned for the future of this great country.  But as we all know, freedom ain’t free and we have to stand up for what we believe in.

I don’t look like your typical conservative.  I want the youth to know that, as they say on BigDawgMusicMafia, ‘Conservative is Cool’.  We as conservatives need to understand that music and the arts play a critical role in motivating and capturing the beliefs and passions of all people and by embracing pop culture, the conservative movement can further its cause, as all other movements have in the past like Bob Dylan did in the 1960’s and Bob Marley in the 1970’s, which have shown to be very effective.

If ‘We The People’ are to make a lasting difference in the minds of Americans, especially the youth, we need to understand that music and the arts can be very persuasive and influential.  As I see our country losing its way, I will continue writing songs to help restore American exceptionalism to a country that was founded on freedom and the belief in the greatest minority on earth — the Individual.  That’s why I believe sites like BigDawg Music Mafia, Raiders News Network (RNN), ArtistExpressway, and Big Hollywood are important and I want to take the time to thank them and thank you for giving Conservative musicians a platform.  It means a lot to me but more importantly they are helping restore this country as opposed to fundamentally transforming it.  At BigDawg I met some awesome musicians/songwriters.  I’m currently working with great artists such as Chris Ross.  He will be coming down to New York City next month. So we are going to meet up in my studio & collaborate on some freedom songs.  I’m also going to collaborate on some tunes with the one and only Joe Dan Gorman, another great musician.

As I like to say, we are all in the mess together so we need to support each other in the struggle to preserve Liberty.  Both Chris Ross and Joe Dan are as passionate about music as I am and just as concerned about the direction this country is heading and we all know what passion does for musicians so here we come America.

But in this uncertainty there is much hope out there which leads me to my next project, Keep Hope Alive with songs like The End Game, The Enemy Within & The Liberty Manifesto, with an anticipated release date of December 2011.

On different note, I’m going to continue to write fun songs/parodies in support of conservative candidates and their causes, such as Allen West, Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain & others.  It’s my way of contributing to their campaigns in hopes of making people more aware of who they are.  So stay tuned, there’s much coming down the pike.

I had the great honor of meeting Congressman Allen West twice;  once on the Intrepid in New York City through a mutual friend where Allen West and I spoke for about 15 minutes and then again when when I was down at CPAC, where he was the keynote speaker,and he took some time to chat with me.  What a great guy.  His speech that he gave on the American Freedom Tour, when he was running for Congress, inspired my song ‘1775’ (I’m currently working on the video).  He’s a true leader and is greatly needed today as he is one of the few in Congress who has a clue.  I’ll be meeting up with him again this summer at an event in New York City at which I’ll have an opportunity to speak with him one-on-one.  I’m really looking forward to meeting up with him again.

I also had the great privilege of meeting Dr. Alveda King at a church in Harlem where she was discussing human rights for the unborn.  She took some time out of her busy schedule to speak with me and take some pictures.  She is a strong and beautiful woman.  She is attacked all the time by the so called ‘caring’ liberals but she does not waver on her beliefs.  She is an inspiration on what courage and integrity are all about.Glenn Beck, who is doing an amazing job to enlighten the American soul, has inspired most of my CD Takin’ Back America.  I’ve been told “When Glenn Beck speaks it, Toots Sweet sings it”.  I had the pleasure of being in the studio audience for one of his shows.  He’s truly an inspiration.

The United States Military is an inspiration as well.  Their bravery and courage amaze me.  I wrote a song called ‘Soldier Boy’ to honor our heroes who take an oath to defend this country and defend its Constitution. Without the sacrifice and dedication of the men and women in the Armed Forces there would be no America.  Thank you for all you do.

There is no question: this man loves his country and is one artist you will not soon forget.  You can enjoy his music live at the National TEA Party Convention in Memphis and the Freedom Jamboree in Kansas City this Fall as he will be performing at both events along with many other great patriot artists including a bunch of BigDawg’ers.

If you love his music as much as we do, please tell your friends about this great patriot who is shaking things up in New York City named Toots Sweet.  You can buy his music on his official site and keep up with him by subscribing to his YouTube channel and “Liking” his brand new Facebook fan page.

We are honored to call him friend and to have this opportunity to share his music with you.  As he always likes to say:

We gotta keep on keepin’ up the good fight, spreading the truth, ’cause this party is just gettin’ started…and together let’s take back America one song at a time.

It’s when your elderly parents become politically energized, thanks to watching so much Fox News.

Richmond Ramsey, a pseudonym for “wussface,” slams his mom, thusly:

I don’t know when it happened, exactly, but she began peppering our conversation with red-hot remarks about President Obama. I would try to engage her, but unless I shared her particular judgment, and her outrage, she apparently thought that I was a dupe or a RINO. Even though we’re all conservatives, I found myself having to steer our phone conversations away from politics and current events.

…It wasn’t that I disagreed with their opinions – though I often did – but rather that I found the vehemence with which they expressed those opinions to be so off-putting.

And so your parents are embarrassing reactionaries, cuz they chose Beck over Oprah.

Look, Ramsey has a point – for many people Beck has been an energizing influence. But he hasn’t turned the elderly into pitchfork-waving neanderthals. Some, thanks to Beck, are reading more, and buying more books. And some are investing in food storage. I bought an underground trampoline made of gold.

The gist in this condescending piece: your parents are stupid because they are easily swayed by tv. And because they never had strong opinions before, their current emotional state must be manufactured. Unlike, of course, their more sophisticated offspring – who are young, pragmatic and smart. Pop’s just cranky, old and reactionary.

And of course, the blogger must bring up the Tuscon shooting. Yep, maybe you should worry about mom and dad, since, “passion is the enemy of clear thought and…the prerequisite for mob rule.”

Man, what a dumb thing to say about the folks who gave you life and raised you.

And who might also drop you from the will.

And if you disagree with me, you sir are worse than Woodrow Wilson.

Tonight:

 Mike Baker

Jonah Goldberg

Angela Maglowan

Even more impressive; they didn’t even get a copy of our internal memo on the operation. They just noted that Breitbart was in Madison and noted that conservative news outlets did the reporting of the ‘fake notes’ scandal. It was a brilliant piece of deduction.

So, it is probably only a matter of time before they learn the full truth. The doctor sting, in fact, was only an afterthought, dreamed up by our research lemur after a tequila binge with Retracto. It was profoundly simple too. The lemur pulled the whole thing off after only about 15 minutes on Gchat.

I’m coming clean: Breitbart staged the entire union protest in Madison. All of it. The Walker proposal, the union protest and the counter protest. Everything. Let me explain.

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been trading coded messages with the Kochs, trying to find that final nail to put into the coffin of the middle class. (The exact code is a bit complicated, but it is based on the spacing of letters around certain phrases in Glenn Beck monologues. Think “cloward-piven” etc.) The orders from the Kochs finally came back, “take out public sector unions.”

We retired to the top floor of the gleaming Breitbart tower to plot strategy. I’m saving most of this for my book, but we ultimately settled on using the budget crisis to propose very small changes in public union’s compensation and then, this was the tricky part, getting the unions to so overact that they would lose all public sympathy.

“But, this isn’t some third-world banana republic,” I cautioned. “Its America, even public unions will realize the need for shared sacrifice to get out of this budget mess.”

There was silence for a while. Then, Andrew had another eureka moment, “We don’t use real union members. We’ll hire fake ones.”

“But, that would take, like, thousands of people to pull off,” I again cautioned.

Andrew shot back, “Have you seen the unemployment numbers.”

Once we realized we could just hire fake protesters, the ideas started flowing. “Really big puppets”, I threw out. “Interpretive dances,” thundered Stage Right. “No, I got it,” shrieked Dana, “have so many teachers call in sick that schools have to close. Parents will hate that shit.”

Brilliant.

“Okay, but,” I said, “we still need someone to propose this. You know, a place with a legislature, where this proposal can actually be voted on. Which of the 49 states can we get to do this?”

Several minutes of silence broken again by Andrew, “Let’s just make up a state! I always thought there should be fifty. We’ll just convince people there’s a 50th state where this is happening. We can call it Wisconsin, in honor of our first Alpaca.”

Nolte chimed in, “Well, if its a fake state, we can even have Democrat legislators ‘fleeing the state’ so they don’t have to vote. I know real legislators wouldn’t do that…but if we are making it up its no-holds-bar. I know Hollywood, we can, like, so totally pull this off.”

“Okay,” I said, “but that is some serious brainwashing we’re gonna need. Its one thing to say a guy in chinos is wearing a pimp costume. You’re talking about convincing people there is a whole new state. I don’t think even the Kochs and all their CGI studios can pull that off.”

“Right,” Andrew said. He turned and bellowed into his phone, “Get me the Hungarian.”

Of course, there is more to the story…especially the funny bit about how Trumpka almost blew the whole thing. But, as I said, I’m saving that for my book.

Soros is also bankrolling a documentary that celebrates left-wing terrorists who plotted to napalm Republicans at the 2008 GOP convention in Minnesota. Even worse, you too are bankrolling the film through your taxes.

A trailer for the left-wing film Better This World suggests that it depicts David Guy McKay and Bradley Neil Crowder as idealistic activists who, according to the official blurb, “set out to prove the strength of their political convictions to themselves and their mentor.” In fact McKay and Crowder are convicted domestic terrorists who manufactured instruments of death calculated to inflict maximum pain and bodily harm on people whose political views they disagreed with.

You can be sure that if it was right-wing terrorists who were plotting to attack the Democratic National Convention, whoever foiled the conspiracy would be immortalized in film, literature and song as a savior of democracy.

“If you flip the equation around and it had been a group of conservatives threatening to use force to prevent those on the Left from meeting, everyone would expect the government to infiltrate them and they would also expect the FBI to stop them and charge them with crimes,” said Brandon Darby, who helped the FBI thwart the planned attack. (Darby’s essay on political violence appeared on Big Government over the past weekend. Read it here.)

The movie, which is expected to be released this year, attacks Darby, a true American hero who undermined the conspiracy by alerting the FBI. Filmmakers Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega twist the facts to argue that Darby, a former revolutionary activist, manipulated McKay and Crowder into becoming would-be mass murderers.

It’s an easily disproved lie. During sentencing, U.S. District Judge Michael Davis went out of his way to make a specific legal finding that McKay obstructed justice by falsely accusing Darby of inducing him to manufacture the incendiary devices.

McKay and Crowder had made homemade riot shields and were ready to use them in St. Paul to help demonstrators block streets near the Xcel Energy Center. The goal was to shut down the democratic process by preventing GOP delegates from participating in the convention. The shields were discovered and confiscated.

During a search of a residence, police found gas masks, slingshots, helmets, knee pads and eight Molotov cocktails consisting of bottles filled with gasoline with attached wicks made from tampons. “They mixed gasoline with oil so it would stick to clothing and skin and burn longer,” Darby said.

Thanks to Darby’s cooperation with the FBI, the two aspiring bomb throwers are now languishing in prison. McKay entered a “guilty” plea and was sentenced in May 2009 to 48 months in prison plus three years of supervised release for possession of an unregistered “firearm,” illegal manufacture of a firearm and possession of a firearm with no serial number. A week before, Crowder cut a deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to 24 months in prison for possession of an unregistered firearm. McKay received the stiffer sentence in part because he fabricated the tall tale about Darby’s involvement in the plot.

Of course, it should surprise no one that Hollywood loves this kind of story with its anti-American overtones. HBO gave a grant to the filmmakers to produce their pro-terrorist propaganda. So did the Soros-funded Sundance Institute. After Soros’s foundation, the Open Society Institute (OSI), gave Sundance’s Documentary Film Program $4.6 million in 2002, it gave the institute another $5 million in 2009.

Taxpayers also underwrite Sundance’s adventures in social justice indoctrination. According to nonprofit tax returns (known as IRS Form 990s), the Sundance Institute has taken in $11,240,081 in government grants since 1997. It is unclear which governments made the grants because the 990 forms lump all the grant-making governments together.

The federal government has given $1,350,000 to the institute since 2000, according to USAspending.gov. All but $5,000 of the money was from the National Endowment for the Arts. (The $5,000 grant was from the State Department.) It’s not clear if the $1,350,000 is part of the $11 million-plus figure for all government grants.

Upon receiving the most recent OSI grant, Sundance founder Robert Redford obediently genuflected before Soros. “Sundance Institute has supported documentary storytellers since its beginning,” said Redford. “The recognition of that history by George Soros and the Open Society Institute, and the continuation of our relationship over time, speaks to our shared belief that culture—in this case documentary film—is having a profound impact in shaping progressive change.”

Soros himself has acknowledged he is interested in the movies because “[d]ocumentary films raise awareness and inspire action.” He hails cinema for its power to manipulate audiences. OSI has been underwriting “social justice” documentaries since 1996. In 2001 Soros let Redford’s Sundance Institute take over management of his Soros Documentary Fund, which has since rechristened the Soros/Sundance Documentary Fund. (See Foundation Watch, March 2008).

In 2005 Soros acquired 2.6 million shares of the huge diversified media company Time Warner. In 2006 his companies, Soros Strategic Partners and Dune Capital Management, paid $900 million to buy the DreamWorks SKG film library from Viacom, a move that gave Soros the DVD and rebroadcasting rights to films such as Saving Private Ryan (1998), Gladiator (2000), and American Beauty (1999). As James Hirsen noted, the transaction gives Soros “some highly desirable film rights at a time when the marketing and distribution model is changing to video on demand, video iPods and other forms of digital distribution.” But more importantly, it gives Soros “a presence in Hollywood where likeminded libs are ready, willing and able to collaborate in cinematic social engineering.”

Soros is also venturing into media overseas. In 2008 Soros Fund Management plunked down $100 million for 3% of India’s Reliance Entertainment, a $3 billion conglomerate that aims to provide Internet-based TV programs in India. Reliance also churns out movies and owns movie houses, radio stations and social networking websites in the country with one of the fastest growing economies in the world. When in the 1980s Soros set up offices in Eastern Europe for OSI, he helped to finance publishers, independent TV and radio outlets, and political parties.

As writer Rondi Adamson observed, “most of the documentaries that receive Sundance funding are highly critical of some aspect of American life, capitalism or Western culture. The projects generally share Soros’s worldview that America is a troubling if not sinister influence in the world, that the War on Terror is a fraud and terrorists are misunderstood freedom fighters, and that markets are fundamentally unjust.”

The 2009 Sundance Film Festival screened the documentary Disturbing the Universe. The recently deceased Communist historian Howard Zinn described the movie about radical anti-American lawyer William Kunstler as “a wonderful, inspiring film.”

Putting America in its Place

Undermining America and promoting radicalism is what Soros is all about.

Soros seems to want Communist China to become a superpower, throwing its weight around on the world stage. Weeks before President Obama’s visit to China a year ago the Financial Times asked Soros, “What sort of a financial deal should Obama be seeking to strike when he travels to China next month?” He replied:

I think this would be time because you really need to bring China into the creation of a new world order, a financial world order. They are kind of reluctant members of the IMF. They play along, but they don’t make much of a contribution because it’s not their institution. Their share is not commensurate, their voting rights are not commensurate to their weight, so I think you need a new world order that China has to be part of the process of creating it and they have to buy in. [emphasis added]

In November 2010 Soros praised China effusively. “Today China has not only a more vigorous economy, but actually a better functioning government than the United States,” he said.

It’s all in a day’s work for George Soros. And now he’s trying to control the media in America.

(Parts one and two of this comprehensive series can be read at Big Government)

(The full article appears in the January 2011 issue of Organization Trends, a monthly publication of Capital Research Center.)