During his campaign for the White House President Obama said, “We have seen Afghanistan worsen, deteriorate. We need more troops there. We need more resources there… I would send two to three additional brigades to Afghanistan.”

He promised to send another ten to fifteen thousand troops to help those already there. He also declared that the war in Afghanistan was the proper front in the war against terror. Now that he is Commander-in-Chief, his vision seems to be less clear.

The military commanders gave the President four troop deployment options earlier this week but he refused all four. Not for military reasons but because of some hooey about the corruption of the government in Kabul and their inability to run a fair election. Mr. President, if our support for governments was based on whether they are corrupt or not and could run a fair election, we would have pulled federal funding from Chicago years ago. The problem with pulling out of Afghanistan, or Chicago for that matter, is that they would fall into violent anarchy. We have already seen that happen in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Current thinking on what to do in Afghanistan is based on two faulty assumptions:

The first is that wars are clear and concise events with specific outcomes and easy to find exit points. When John McCain told us the truth about how long we might be in Iraq, we didn’t want to hear it. We have been in Japan and Germany for over sixty years and in the Philippines for much longer. I wonder if back during the Spanish- American War leftist were telling the President that the Philippines were tribal islands and would never be able to be organized into a stable democratic government?

The second faulty assumption is that if we walk away from Afghanistan, simply pull all of our troops out, the war it then over. How long would it be before the Taliban was running things again and Al Qaeda was using it as a base of operations?  We will be fighting the same people again in the future, perhaps armed with nuclear weapons from Iran or Pakistan. Our national attention span has shortened to Twitter-like dimensions while our enemies think in terms of centuries.

The real problem for President Obama is that is if he deploys more troops and commits to staying, Afghanistan is no longer Bush’s war but his. Not even a year into his term and he is already worried about his legacy rather than doing what is best for the country. He is worried that his presidency will get bogged down in the battle for liberty instead of being able to focus on strengthening ACORN and the SEIU.

The left doesn’t mind waging long, costly, and non-winnable wars, so long as they are they start them themselves. Look at the war on poverty and the war on drugs. Our cities are littered with the lives ruined by those wars. We have thrown enough money into those two rat holes to finance Iraq and Afghanistan for the next fifty years and toss in twenty years of free government health care to boot. Do we have an exit strategy from the Welfare State, Mr. President?

“The mainstream Hollywood crowd, an apologist group that enjoys traveling to Taliban-run countries such as Iran spreading their holier-than-thou “cultural understanding” of rogue regimes, has been effectively censored by Moslem clerics. Filmmaker Roland Emmerich chose not to blow up the Kaaba at Mecca in his film 2012 for fear of a fatwa (death sentence issued by Moslem clerics) being placed on his head.

“Yet, in 2005, actor Sean Penn went to cover a so-called Islamic Republic “election” wanting Americans to visit Iran and become familiar with its culture. In March 2009, director Phil Alden Robinson found that Iranians were not very different; and actress Annette Bening (surely with a headscarf given Iran’s brutal enforcement of hijab) hoped her trip to Iran would jump start a bridge between the U.S. and the mullahs in Tehran.

“These frivolous, superficial entertainers turned international political experts, who cause socio-political damages beyond the limits of this article for their misguided trips to imprisoned societies, are now censored in their own free societies by the mere thought of being personally harmed. Ironically, Emmerich’s admission may actually teach Americans about mullahcracy compliments of Hollywood.”

Read the full article here.

Next week the networks will coordinate their shows’ story-lines to promote volunteerism.  At the September 10 press conference in New York announcing this unprecedented message coordination, Ashton Kutcher got his famous Twitter feed displayed on the Times Square jumbo screen.  It said:  “2Day, I activate my citizenship by participating. I Participate! Do u? www.iparticipate.org.”  (Damn he’s good at this whole “Under 14o characters” thing.)

In the press release announcing the initiative, all four network execs were positively boastful about their ability to inspire their viewers to ask “How high” when told to jump:

“The ability to both entertain and inform is one of the hallmarks of a broadcast network,” says Nina Tassler, president of CBS Entertainment.  ”Integrating messages of volunteerism and service into America’s favorite television shows can have a powerful and lasting impact that benefits both the audience and the country at large.”

NBC president Angela Bromstad agrees.  ”The week of volunteer-themed programming in October provides an opportunity for the networks to tap the power of television,” she says.

The ultimate goal, says Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Entertainment is “to get people thinking about what they can do in terms of volunteering, and then to act on that.”

“The most satisfying result for us is when our programs entertain viewers as well as inform them—and maybe even call them to action,” FOX Entertainment president Kevin Reilly points out.

You know how folks always say: “If you don’t like what you see, just change the channel.”  Well, clearly next week that won’t be an option.  It’s going to be a full-court press… nowhere to hide.

The plan is to weave volunteerism and service into the plots of their shows and then, ultimately, encourage viewers to get up off their sofas and go to a handful of web pages that are meant to provide opportunities for service.  As we saw in the previous stories at Big Hollywood and Big Government, these seemingly benign volunteer search engines often seem to be Trojan Horses for controversial, left-wing causes.

The October 19-25 “I Participate” campaign broadcast on all four major television networks for a full week of programming will point viewers to www.iparticipate.org (as mentioned in Ashton’s tweet) and the AARP’s www.createthegood.com web sites.

If your 12 year-old hears about this volunteer initiative and follows the lead of her favorite TV star, she will go to www.createthegood.com and type in her favorite cause.  If she’s been paying attention to the news these days (or listening to the lectures from most public school teachers) she will know that “Health Care” is a big deal these days.  All she has to do is type “Health Care” into the search engine with her zip code (let’s say 90210 cause we love those adorable Beverly Hills high school kids) and she’ll get a whole host of opportunities to serve.

Go ahead… open that link and you’ll see twelve opportunities to serve.  Look at items “H”, “I” and “L.”  All are from Planned Parenthood:

“With President Obama’s focus on health-care reform, now is an exciting and crucial time for us to broaden our support and make sure that the new health-care plan includes women’s health. We’re holding a series of phone banks to identify new people who share our commitment to reproductive freedom.”

When I clicked for more info I found out that the phone bank listing was a month old, but there was a handy link for other opportunities to serve Planned Parenthood, like this one:

“Planned Parenthood Los Angeles is currently seeking adults to volunteer as our High School Speakers.”

(Make this reason #724 why I home school my kids).

While we’re looking at all those volunteer options on www.createthegood.org, we should also take a look at that really nifty video listed second from the top.  No matter where you are in the country, if you type “health care” as the subject you want to volunteer for, this video called: “How To Spread The Truth About Health Care Reform” pops up for your viewing pleasure:

–

This nifty bit of propaganda encourages you to troll on blogs and leave comments, call in to talk radio shows and generally be annoying when people discuss ObamaCare by injecting Administration talking points found on AARP’s web page under the Orwellian header ”Myths vs. Facts.” A sample of the health care “facts”:

“Health reform isn’t about rationing; it’s about giving people the peace of mind of knowing that they will be able to keep their doctors and that they will always have a choice of affordable health plans.”

Uh, huh, that doesn’t sound like a partisan talking point or anything.

Back over at www.iparticpate.org (that’s the one our pal Ashton tweeted about), if you are in, say, Virginia and want to volunteer on an environmental project, the very first opportunity you get is to volunteer as a Global Warming Ambassador.

“As an Ambassador, you will introduce NWF and global warming concepts, how it affects wildlife habitat our country as well as your state, and what persons can do on an individual level …”

And who or what is “NWF”?  NWF is National Wildlife Federation and they have a lot to say about the President’s Cap and Trade proposals.

If you are in, say, Massachusetts and are interested in Iraq, The top response you get is an opportunity to volunteer for “The Crane Project.” What is “The Crane Project?”  It seems to be a pacifist-Christo-wannabe trying to get people to fold origami cranes to represent the casualties of the Iraq War.  They are claiming deaths of over 100,000 so far.

But these two search engines are the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s and the AARP’s websites.  Surely our government search engine will be less partisan, less controversial.  Surely we will only see genuine service and volunteer opportunities over at www.serve.gov.

Here is the top result I got using a Kansas zip code as my location and “Iraq” as my search word:

“Explain to the President, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, National Security Advisor, Special Envoy, CENTCOM Commander and Ambassador the foundations of Arab society, the values of Arab people, how and why the current approach is injuring US national security, and what should be done instead. Most of the effort of this project will be aimed at getting face time with the identified individuals. Only about 45 minutes per briefing will be required to conduct actual explanations. Assume 15 hours of prep for each briefing.”

Here’s another one:

“This is an opportunity for all to learn the truth about what happened on that unfortunate day and the truth behind who is responsible. I Charlie Sheen have taken it upon myself to interview the president and this is what I have asked. I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with our 44th President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, while he was out promoting his health care reform initiative. I requested 30 minutes given the scope and detail of my inquiry; they said I could have 20. Twenty minutes, 1200 seconds, not a lot of time to question the President about one of the most important events in our nation’s history. The following is a transcript of our remarkable discussion.”

That’s right… It’s a TRUTHER campaign message starring Charlie Sheen! Found via a government website!

And, my personal favorite (remember, you are paying for this):

“Secular Student Alliance is an educational nonprofit for students across the nation who identify as atheist, agnostic, humanist, skeptical, and nonreligious. Our mission is to organize, unite, educate, and serve students and student communities that promote the ideals of scientific and critical inquiry, democracy, secularism, and human based ethics. We’re looking for volunteers to create videos that will bring this message to non-theistic students, and let them know that they are not alone!….  Will YOU help us mobilize, unite, and organize freethinking students for the new Enlightenment?”

It’s a support group for atheist kids!  I’m so proud to be an American.

When the NEA conference call story first broke here at Big Hollywood, the left-leaning theatre blogs were all teaming with rationalizations and sarcastic attacks claiming that the calls were innocent and benign, merely a way to encourage artists to support the www.serve.gov websites and work with the Administration in encouraging service and volunteerism.

Ashton Kutcher and his enthusiastic embrace of this week of coordinated messaging on network shows is claiming the same altruistic intent, and I have no doubt that he and most of the folks rallying behind this seemingly innocuous concept have good and even non-partisan intentions.  But as we can see, they are being lazy at best and disingenuous at worst by not seeing that these volunteer search engines they point people to are teeming with pro-Obama propaganda.  And in the case of the Planned Parenthood “volunteer opportunities,” viewers are being recruited to advocate for the left-wing side of our country’s most controversial issue.

Let me be clear:  I am not claiming that this is the ONLY kind of content you will find on these sites.  This is obvious, but I feel compelled to blunt the inevitable attacks from the left who will insist on mis-characterizing this post as claiming something to the contrary.  Here is the plain truth:  I sat for all of fifteen minutes entering search phrases having to do with health care, the environment, and the war and I chose zip codes from the West, East and Midwest.  The results above were ALL either the first result, or found on the first page of results.  No cherry-picking and no hunting expedition.

As I said, my nine-year-old daughter loves “So You Think You Can Dance.” My wife and I are very careful.  We watch the show first and record it via DVR.  Then, the next day, if any of the dances are a bit risqué’ we skip through them.  Of course we skip through the commercials because they are often too adult for her.  I suppose the week of October 19th we’re going to have to skip most of the shows lest she be encouraged to go to a website promoting an abortion clinic.

Thanks a lot, Ashton.

Also see:

PART I: LEAKED NETWORK MEMO REVEALS: Obama Controls Your Television Set

PART III: Serve.gov or Serf.dom?

MORE: List of ‘Organically’ Created iParticipate Television Programs

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: President Obama, Russia, Missile Defense, Iran, Liberal Media, Sarah Palin, NPR, Michael Moore, Barbie Movie, Anderson Cooper, and Kelly Osbourne.

As soon as I turned 18, I moved in with him.  (Note: he was not my first target; I had a terrible crush on my American History teacher in high school – another gay man – but he was partnered and I scared him off.)  Needless to say, we did not live happily ever after.

Married life brought out my true immaturity.  He was set in his ways, I had no discipline.  He liked dinner parties and lectures, I liked wearing silver lame’ pants to discos.  He had plenty of friends, gay and straight, some of whom he’d known since I was an infant.  They were very nice to me – but I was jealous of them all.  I threw tantrums.  “You love them more than you love me!” 

Finally, he made me move back home.  It was the most humiliating day of my young life.

The relationship dragged on for a couple of years after that.  Then I started to take an interest in people my own age.  He went on to marry someone his own age.  He was not a pedophile; he was a vulnerable man I happened to zero in on (at the peak of my adolescent invincibility) at the right time.  Of course, looking back, he should have known better.  What did he think he was getting involved with?  It was a very foolish – and potentially self-destructive – choice for a grown-up to make.

Then again, when writer Christopher Isherwood fell for the youthful Don Bachardy, they ended up staying together for thirty years.  But that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.  I’m not saying pedophiles don’t exist – they certainly do (and most of them are straight).  But these things happen.  At least I didn’t meet “Teach” in a rest stop.

Which brings me to the fracas over Obama czar number five hundred and… well, who’s counting.  The conservative blogosphere has been in an uproar because Kevin Jennings – the (deep breath) Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education, or “Safe School Czar” - failed, in 1988, while still a mere teacher, to advise a 15-year-old boy (according to some reports, he might have been older) to stop having sex with adult men (in particular one man the teenager had met in a public restroom).  Instead, Jennings reminded the boy to “play safe,” and use condoms.

To be honest, I don’t see what the big deal is.  Based on his own experience, Jennings probably figured it was no use trying to convince the boy to stop seeing the man – take it from me, that would have had the exact opposite effect – so the more practical tack was to urge the kid to at least protect himself, ASAP, as Jennings did.  Let’s not forget the high suicide rate among gay youth; twenty years ago, that teenager surely needed somebody to talk to.

Don’t get me wrong: I am no fan of NAMBLA, and I don’t care if the ancient Greeks thought it was a-okay to sleep with young boys.  If I had been that kid’s father, I probably would have grabbed the nearest shotgun and gone after the offending adult myself.  That’s a natural reaction - for a parent.  Not for a teacher.  A teacher has to walk a fine line between entering into his students’ world in order to gain their trust – something most parents fail at, miserably (and kids don’t want) - while at the same time watching them like a hawk (no pun intended).

My question is: where were this boy’s parents while he was picking up men in bus station lavatories?  If Jennings should have alerted anyone, it was the teen’s family.  But, of course, then ”Lolito” would have felt deeply betrayed by the “role model” he had confided in.  So it’s a lose-lose situation.

Of more concern to me is Jennings’ s CV (as posted on KevinJennings.com).  Talk about an over-achiever: Jennings graduated magna cum laude from Harvard, won a Klingenstein Fellowship at Columbia University, holds an MBA from NYU, founded the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), was the LGBT Finance Co-Chair for Obama for America – and to top it all off, he’s published five books!

Not bad for a guy from a North Carolina trailer park.  Clearly, Jennings is no slouch – he’s Super Gay!  So where’s the red flag?

Call me cynical, but I’ve noticed too often that homosexuals who find monetary and social success in activism – “career gays” - often start to manifest the same intolerance towards others that motivated them to fight homophobia in the first place.  In other words, they become so invested in battling bigotry that they begin to view almost anyone who isn’t gay as a potential enemy, losing sight of what (one hopes) was their original intent: to bridge gaps, promote understanding between disparate groups, and enhance Americans’ freedom to enjoy love relationships with whomever they want without suffering any unfair or negative repercussions.

You know, the same thing Dick Cheney wants.

Jonathan Crutchley

But, as evidenced in the outings, threats, and blacklisting of California’s Proposition 8 supporters last fall, there’s a tendency in the LGBT community to go overboard, and confuse “approval” with “diversity,” and ”equality” with “freedom.”  As one grown man I know rejoiced when openly gay McCain supporter Jonathan Crutchley was forced to resign as chairman of the gay pickup site Manhunt – because of his politics –  ”It’s democracy in action!”

No, it’s not – it’s McCarthyism, plain and simple (and ugly).  But in the gay ghetto, it’s easy to forget that your fellow countrymen exist – so get used to it!  (To their credit, gay groups in California have since toned down the rhetoric and seem to have realized that a new approach is needed re: gay marriage.)  Meanwhile, blind adoration 0f a President who adamantly opposes same-sex marriage and bows and cow-tows to the worst anti-gay despots on earth has also become a litmus test of one’s gayness.  But hey, he’s got a “D” after his name – so who am I to ask questions?

That said, Jennings’s now-famous anti-Christian rant, part of a speech he gave at (of all places) Manhattan’s Marble Collegiate Church, nine years ago – “We have to quit being afraid of the religious right… I’m trying not to say, ‘[F-] ‘em!’ which is what I want to say, because I don’t care what they think! [audience laughter]  Drop dead!” – well, it doesn’t surprise me.  It’s typical gay knee-jerk stuff.  Tired, and uninspired.

You can bet money Mr. Jennings would never dare make the same statement in a mosque.

Christians, like Mormons, continue to be easy punching bags – they don’t go in for strap-on explosives – and putting them down gives everyone a cheap and easy thrill.  But Christians and Mormons don’t have a dangerously homophobic, 57-state voting bloc in that international club of creeps called the UN that our fearless leader has been quivering to be a part of.

I wonder when Jennings and his ilk will realize that “Christianophobia” is, well, just so forever ago.

Much has also been made of the fact that Jennings contributed to a book of essays entitled Queering Elementary Education: Advancing the Dialogue about Sexualities and Schooling (Curriculum, Cultures, and (Homo)Sexualities).  Far more dangerous than a possible dialogue about homosexuality – in an era when any eight-year-old can turn on a re-run of Will and Grace - is the tricky, academic gobbledeegook that presumes to pass as English in the “product description” on Amazon:

Queer elementary classrooms are those where parents and educators care enough about their children to trust the human capacity for understanding and their educative abilities to foster insight into the human condition… Queer teachers are those who develop curriculum and pedagogy that afford every child dignity rooted in self-worth and esteem for others.  In short, queering education happens when we look at schooling upside down and view childhood from the inside out… explore taken-for-granted assumptions about diversity, identities, childhood, and prejudice.

Gee, whatever happened to milk and cookies?  Do politically-correct, post-modern nuggets of Romper Room moral relativism prevent childhood obesity?  The use of the word “queer” is certainly troublesome here.  Would black activists use the “N-word” in such classrooms?  Why does elementary education need to be “queered” anyway?  Grade school isn’t supposed to be some sort of experimental, off-Broadway art project.  Would the gay community please just call itself “gay” and be done with it already?

But I digress.

Which brings us to the infamous “Fistgate” scandal of 2000 (not Jennings’s best year).  At a conference called “Teach-Out,” sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education and Jennings’s GLSEN, students were invited to participate in “dialogues” (don’t you just love that word) about some usually unspoken (at least in polite society) aspects of homosexuality.  One workshop, “What They Didn’t Tell You About Queer Sex & Sexuality in Health Class: A Workshop for Youth Only, Ages 14-21,” encouraged students to ask questions about gay sex.

Not gay history, or literature, or art.  Gay sex.

So when a curious female student asked what “fisting” was, Margot Abels, Coordinator of the HIV/AIDS Program for the Massachusetts Department of Education, replied that the practice, well-known in S&M clubs – and to anyone who saw the movie Cruising - was simply “an experience of letting somebody into your body that you want to be that close and intimate with.”  Then, when a 16-year-old stated the unthinkable – that “fisting” didn’t sound too appealing – Abels quickly pointed out that it “often gets a really bad rap” and that it usually wasn’t about pain, “not that we’re putting that down.”  (Seinfeld, eat your heart out.)

Maybe it’s just me, but whatever happened to love?

Most young people realize they’re gay because of crushes, romantic feelings that crop up for another person of the same sex - not because of kinky fetishes.  (Those come later.)  Kids aren’t born little Roman Polanskis.  Why not focus on the similarities we all share rather than the differences?  Wouldn’t that be the best defense for gay marriage (now passed by legislative vote, as opposed to judicial decree, in at least three states)?

Harry Hay

But back to the Safe School Czar.  Much has also been made of his glowing praise for gay rights pioneer Harry Hay.  The right-wing blogosphere has its panties in a wad because Hay was a supporter of NAMBLA.  Hay was also a Communist – as a gay man, he really should have known better – and a militant hippie who founded the “Radical Faerie” movement, a group that rejected Western sex roles in favor of pseudo-Native American spirituality and paganism, with a little cross-dressing thrown in (that would have gone over real well in Mao’s China, Soviet Russia, or Cuba).

The gay couple on Desperate Housewives these guys ain’t.  No sports jerseys, football games, or suburban barbecues for them – that would be just too bourgeois.

To be blunt, the Radical Faeries were a bunch of back-to-nature, communal, moonbat kooks for whom everyday was Halloween.  So it’s not surprising that Harry Hay lent his name to NAMBLA – anything to challenge the status quo, and mock traditional sex roles (even for gay men!).  None of that who’s-the-husband /who’s-the-wife / let’s adopt a baby stuff for him.  He would have supported the San Francisco Transgendered (and Questioning) Higher Primates-Gerbil Brotherhood (SFTQHPGB) if there’d been one.

But Hay also founded the first American gay rights organization – in 1950 – way ahead of his time.  That took cojones.  Hence, he remains a hero to today’s LGBT community, a figure gays and lesbians are tacitly expected to admire.  The fact is most of us had no clue he had anything to do with NAMBLA – until now.

I had the pleasure of meeting Hay once at a party.  Getting on in years, he was polite, soft-spoken, and rather sweet – a harmless old man who had stirred up enough trouble in his day.  That said, I think Kevin Jennings would be wise to clarify which of Hay’s accomplishments he admires, and to denounce NAMBLA outright.  After all, Jennings may be a radical flack, but a Radical Faerie he definitely is not.  (In fact, he wouldn’t look so out of place on Wysteria Lane.)  Radical Faeries don’t bother working the system. 

After everything he’s accomplished in his 46 years – all the power and prestige - Kevin Jennings should be done rebelling against his Southern Baptist upbringing.  Yet I fear that he, like legions of emotionally-stunted Bush bashers, may be just another gay man who can’t let go of his anger at mommy and daddy – and God - yet can’t stop stubbornly yearning for their absolute approval.

Newsflash: 100% of the world is never going to love you.  Isn’t it enough that some people do – and that the entire mainstream media’s got your back?  Sooner or later, you have to fess up to the fact that Utopian notions of ”equality” don’t mesh with actual human capability.  Nor do they bring happiness.  Rather, it’s our differences that make us interesting - and our ability to accept them that make us strong. 

In four fast decades, gay and lesbian Americans have gone from being shadow people afraid to speak out to the absolute monarchs of the popular culture.  If you don’t believe me, just look at Rachel Maddow.  (And we wonder why the rest of the world still hates us.)  What worked for the gay vanguard of the 1970s doesn’t work anymore, not in colorful, mixed-up, religious/progressive America - where most companies now offer same-sex benefits and law enforcement workers must undergo extensive, mandatory sensitivity training. 

Did we learn nothing from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? 

It’s high time that gays changed their strategy and started thinking of themselves not as some kind of LGBT Special Victims Unit, but first and foremost as Americans.  We’ve been given so much, the ball’s in our court to reach across the proverbial aisle (as The One is so fond of saying), and not just demand our worth – but prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt.

It’s called give and take (as opposed to just take).

Yes, there are still old-time anti-sodomy laws on the books in many states - making America, in theory, the bigoted backwater of intolerance that the grievance-mongers (D) love (because it keeps them in power).  But in day-to-day reality, gay life in the USA is full of possibility, and palpable hope.

With our failing dollar, our PC-handicapped President – and a globe full of ruthless, homophobic, homicidal totalitarian enemies - now more than ever, we who live in this massive melting pot of honest-to-God diversity need to stick together.  As the Democrats like to say, do it “for the children” – so that future generations of Lolitas and Lolitos can live, freely, without having to look for love in bus station toilets.

Oh, one last thing: why do we need a “Safe School Czar” again?

You know… kind of like when Bush was trying win a war in Iraq – and all those left wingers stood behind him.

And that’s my first point: The right has every right to gloat over Obama’s humiliation, because, thankfully, NO ONE DIED. Unlike, say during the Iraq war, where, whenever there was a roadside bombing, the progressives did their own special victory dance – using the consequences of war to gloat over an embattled president and an unpopular country. I didn’t hear much of the smarmy press calling them out.

So, if I take pleasure in watching Obama’s big fail, it’s only because it proved a point I made before he was elected: that being likeable, in and of itself, does nothing for America. To protect our nation and further our interests, our leader must reject the need to be loved by the world, and embrace being feared, even hated. I know that’s hard for our guy. Being a self-proclaimed “citizen of the world,” he enjoys the accolades of Libya, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba and Russia. With friends like that, who needs enemies.

But hey – screw the Olympics. Maybe Obama should now focus on bringing the World’s Fair back to Chicago. If there’s one thing that could make dictators like us more, it would be temporary structures filled with stuff from other countries. They look positively magical, even if they’re flimsy and fall apart in a strong wind.

Which sounds familiar.

And if you disagree with me, then you’re probably a racist.

Tonight we’ve got Jim Norton, S.E. Cupp, Mark Prindle and Ron Geraci!

So the U.S. and Iran just had what’s been called “significant” talks concerning Tehran’s nuclear plans. The goal for us, was two fold: to get Iran to “shift course,” and to prove President Bush was an idiot for not negotiating with a gentleman who denies the Holocaust and wants to wipe Israel off the map.

So how tough have we been so far?

Well, while administration officials said that gaining access to Iran’s uranium enrichment facility is super important, we sure as heck won’t walk away from the table if they refuse (which they haven’t). And let’s not go too fast on those sanctions either.

That’s just rude.

So essentially, we’ve not only met with Iran without preconditions, but also, without any measurable objectives. Meaning, we’re okay leaving the table with less than what we arrived with. Well, if you wanted to show a sharp break from the days of old, giving in is a sure bet.

Could you imagine using this logic in a playground? Imagine surrendering the reigns of leadership of a grade school, just so you can chat with the most weaponized, belligerent bully. “Look, we don’t like you threatening to kill the Jewish kids, or your continued work on your massive numchuk factory – but we’re pleased you’re here to listen. More punch? It’s the kind you like! Sharkleberry fin!”

The good news is – these talks only lasted one day. If they’d gone on any longer, we probably would have returned the Louisiana Purchase.

(Iran had it originally, right?)

Lastly, the state department warns against making a snap judgment – for we should “evaluate the willingness of Iran to engage on these issues.”

Which leads me to my final thought: how come no one ever questions our willingness to engage?

Tonight, we’ve got the great actor Robert Carlyle! Also Diana Falzone, Clayton Morris and Jonathan Hoenig. Other stuff, too!

So, too, “The Wizard of Oz”—released 70 years ago today—is, perhaps, the best film ever made.  

Or, at least, the most quintessentially American—in terms of our struggles, hopes, aspirations, dreams, and, ultimately, unshakable confidence, that “somewhere over the rainbow… dreams… really do come true.”

MGM had purchased this highly popular and imaginative children’s book written by L. Frank Baum, and published in 1900, for $75,000, specifically for Judy.  During development, the silver shoes became ruby, thus undercutting Baum’s apparent allegory to “bimetallism”—currency backed by silver, replacing “the gold standard” and favoring rural farmers; in contrast to the worthless “greenbacks” some say Emerald City represents. 

We all know the story. 

Dorothy, an orphan, living with her aunt and uncle on their Kansas farm, is always getting into trouble, especially with cantankerous Miss Elmira Gulch, who is trying to destroy her dog, Toto.  So, Auntie Em counsels Dorothy to “find a place where you won’t get into any trouble,” which Dorothy envisions in “Over the Rainbow.”

Running away, she encounters Professor Marvel, who perceives Auntie Em’s broken heart in his crystal ball, sending Dorothy scurrying back home but not in time to secure underground shelter safe from the coming tornado, now sealed shut. Barely making it inside the farmhouse, her bedroom window immediately blows loose, knocking out Dorothy and transporting her to the strange and enchanting Land of Oz—“over the rainbow”—where she meets memorable friends and foes, starting with beautiful Glinda, “Good Witch of the North,” whom the Munchkins have called after Dorothy’s house crushed their nemesis. 

The Munchkins, she said, “are happy because you have freed them from the Wicked Witch of the East.”  But, Glinda informs Dorothy she has made a “bad enemy” because the “Wicked Witch of the West,” who has no power over Glinda, wants revenge for the death of her sister. 

After Glinda reminds the Wicked Witch of the West about her sister’s shoes, she immediately tries to seize them; whereupon they disappear, the dead witch’s feet curling up—and Dorothy suddenly finds herself wearing the prized sparkling ruby slippers.  

Glinda counsels Dorothy, “Keep tight inside of them.  Their magic must be very powerful.  Or she wouldn’t want them so badly.” 

She also counsels her to seek out the “the great and wonderful Wizard of Oz” for help returning to Kansas, noting he’s “very good and very mysterious” and lives in Emerald City.  To get there, she counsels Dorothy to “start at the beginning” and “just follow the Yellow Brick Road.” 

“And, remember,” Glinda says, “never let those ruby slippers off your feet for a moment, or you will be at the mercy of the Wicked Witch of the West.” 

So begins her memorable journey down the Yellow Brick Road.  

Dorothy soon meets her three traveling companions—the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion—during which they battle all manner of evil forces.  Finally meeting the Wizard, he says he will help only if they bring him the Wicked Witch of the West’s broom.  Incredibly they manage this fete only to discover the Wizard’s powers are limited to wise counsel about the power that resides within oneself—a power that Dorothy channels, at Glinda’s direction, by clicking her ruby shoes three times and repeating “There’s no place like home.” 

Of course, “The Wizard of Oz” is more than a fairy tale.  For, Baum and his illustrator, WW Denslow—both active in politics in the 1890s—utilized the same long-standing images editorial cartoonists used to portray American politicians.  Their work, scholars argue, is a metaphor for political, economic, and social currents of the day, especially bitter management/labor clashes; the hardships of rural life; the debate over the currency standard at the heart of populism; and, the prevailing “power of positive thinking”—Dorothy’s ticket home.

The Tornado of 1939; the Coming Tornado of 2009 

Yet, apart from its original allegorical intent, far more fascinating is the meaning “The Wizard of Oz” acquires in the context of world events the year of its release, when Hitler’s stated desire for “annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe” played out. 

Parallels that continue, eerily so, in 2009—down to the Empire State Building being lit green during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinjead’s visit, as part of a “Wizard of Oz” 70^th Anniversary celebration.

                                                                                                          Reuters

At the time, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was pursuing a policy of appeasement based on his belief that the Allies had badly treated Germany after its defeat in World War I.  This only fueled Hitler’s aggression—leading to Germany’s occupation of Austria on March 13, 1938, and union with Germany (the Anschluss), explicitly forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles. 

Several Members of Parliament including Anthony Eden, who had resigned as Chamberlain’s Foreign Secretary, and Winston Churchill, now called on Chamberlain to take action against Hitler and his Nazi government. 

Next, Hitler demanded the Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia for Germany, a crisis heads of Germany, Britain, France and Italy “solved” while meeting in Munich, exactly a year before the “Wizard of Oz’s release,” on September 29, 1938, leading to the “Munich Agreement,” which transferred to Germany this fortified frontier region that contained a large German-speaking population. Czechoslovakia’s head of state, protesting this decision, was told Britain would be unwilling to go to war over the issue of the Sudetenland. 

Churchill and Eden likewise attacked the otherwise popular agreement asserting the British government behaved dishonorably and had lost the support of Czech Army, one of Europe’s best. 

It was only in March, 1939, when the German Army seized the rest of Czechoslovakia, breaking the Munich Agreement, that British Prime Minister Chamberlain finally realized Hitler could not be trusted. 

Sound familiar? 

On September 1, 1939, the month “The Wizard of Oz” was released, Hitler invaded Poland with over 2 million troops from Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and Slovakia (a small contingent)—marking the beginning of World War II. 

The “Polish September Campaign” began one week after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (Germany-Soviet agreement pledging non-aggression if either was attacked by a third party), and ended October 6, 1939, with Germany and the Soviet Union dividing and annexing the whole of Poland. 

Poland, 10% of which was Jewish, subsequently became the Nazi’s dumping ground for European Jews whom Hitler isolated in urban ghettos, the largest being the Warsaw Ghetto—where 300,000-400,000 people were densely packed, many of whom died due to rampant disease and starvation under the Nazi SS; many dying at Treblinka extermination camp—254,000-300,000 alone during a two months-long operation in 1942; tens of thousands more dying during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943, protesting deportations to Treblinka—the largest single revolt by the Jews during the Holocaust. 

By the end of the World War II about three million Polish Jews had died; only 50,000-70,000 survived. 

Now, seventy years after the release of “The Wizard of Oz,” a parallel global situation is playing out where dishonest, or perhaps hopelessly deluded, Islamic extremist leaders are singling out the Jewish people, seeking, for now, to exterminate their memory by denying the Holocaust, most notably in the case of the Iranian President; or asserting, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, “Jews have no history in the city of Jerusalem: They have never lived there, the Temple never existed, and Israeli archaeologists have admitted as much. Those who deny this are simply liars. Or so says Sheik Tayseer Rajab Tamimi, chief Islamic judge of the Palestinian Authority.”

                                                                                                  Associated Press

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vigorously protested the United Nation’s giving a forum to the Iranian Holocaust-denying President, saying it was “a disgrace of the U.N. charter.”  (The Iranian delegation did not bother to attend the Israeli leader’s speech presenting the historical record.) 

Mr. Netanyahu held up copies of minutes of the meeting of Nazi officials in 1942 planning the extermination of the Jews at Treblinka, as well as construction plans for Nazi concentration camps—documents he obtained on a recent visit to Berlin, including to a villa, called Wannsee, where the extermination plans were drawn up.  

Villa in Wannsee where “Final Solution” conference was held on January 20, 1942

 “Are these protocols lies?” he said, holding them up. “Are the successive German governments that have kept these documents for posterity all liars?” 

Mr. Ahmadinejad had told a rally in Tehran, the week prior, that, “After the Second World War, [Jews] created the story of Holocaust… and then they made hundreds of films and wrote hundreds of books to argue they have suffered and need a home…. This is a myth, and Zionists are criminals.” 

Mr. Netanyahu, while praising those who had walked out or had stayed away, castigated delegates who had remained in the General Assembly Hall to listen to Mr. Ahmadinejad, saying “… to those who gave this Holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?” 

“Yesterday the president of Iran stood at this very podium and spewed his anti-Semitic rants,” he said. “Just a few days earlier he claimed that the Holocaust was a lie.  Perhaps some of you think this man and his odious regime only threaten the Jews. Well, if you think that, you are wrong, dead wrong. What starts as attacks on Jews always ends up engulfing others. … This regime embodies the extremes of Islamic fundamentalism.” 

Drawing exact parallels to World War II’s carnage, Mr. Netanyahu said the “assault on truth” threatens a repeat of this bloody war and cited Winston Churchill’s warnings about metastasizing threats in the war’s run-up.  “The question facing the international community,” he said, “is whether it is prepared to confront these forces or just accommodate them.” 

Indeed, will the world community have the confidence to reach within itself, like Dorothy, to confront the evil that threatens its arrival in a place where “dreams… really do come true”—where the peoples of the Middle East finally learn to live in peace by acknowledging and respecting each other’s cultural and religious differences.

In this episode, “NewsBusted” covers: President Obama, Iran, The United Nations, Missle Defense, Jimmy Carter, Robert Gibbs, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Shower Heads, Gary Busey, Levi Johnston, and Ryan Seacrest.