If you know someone who graduated high school in the last 10 years, they don’t remember the Kennedys. They don’t remember what John Kennedy did to this country. They don’t remember what it was like having someone with such popular persuasion in the White House. Despite what the radical left tells people around my age, President Obama doesn’t have the charisma or the oratory skills that JFK is touted to have had. But no one my age could know that for sure without study. We’re told that Michelle Obama, who considers it chic to wear misfitted, neon-colored capris to Presidential events, is as enamoring and elegant as Jackie Kennedy. We’re told that President Kennedy was one of the great President of the 20th century. And “The Kennedys” almost wasn’t released because the institutional left and the Kennedys themselves didn’t want a picture to be painted that could possibly show otherwise.

The series demonstrates an exquisite attention to detail. The costuming is flawless and the cinematography fits with the era being portrayed. The casting and delivery not only makes the characters believable, but very enjoyable to watch. The two hour premiere shows glimpses of the road to President Kennedy being elected and gives some of the background stories from “Jack” and Joe’s childhood. As a person who currently has a close loved one deployed overseas in the War on Terror, watching any scene where a family is told about the death of a loved one lost in war is difficult. The atmosphere that was generated in the scene where the Kennedys are told of their oldest son’s death was so thick you could taste it, and the score was perfectly aligned with the all of the emotion of the moment.

While watching “The Kennedys,” it was easy for me to slip into the mode that I was watching an entertaining historical documentary. Seeing how this mini-series portrayed Joe Kennedy, the older brother who tragically died in WWII, as a man who was driven to become President, I believed it was true. For a moment, I believed that HE was truly the one that was supposed to run for President, when in fact, I personally don’t know that at all. I never studied the Kennedys in any depth. The left is always trying to shove them down my throat so I want little to do with them even though they were iconic characters in American history. But watching “The Kennedys,” seeing how easily my perception could be altered about them (in conjunction with the reviews of this series from here at Big Hollywood and Rush Limbaugh), it occurred to me that one day my children could watch a miniseries called “The Bushes” (doesn’t have quite the same ring to it).

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You had to hide it somewhere that no one would find it:  your very first record, tape, CD– whatever medium– that Mom and Dad didn’t approve of.  You had to listen to it through headphones or when they were out of the house.  You had to do this because you knew it was an act of rebellion; your parents did not want you hearing that music performed that way with those lyrics, and you decided that you wouldn’t obey them.  According to the new documentary Rockin’ The Wall, that simple moment of defiance, experienced collectively by the citizens of the Soviet Union, contributed to and may have even defined the fall of the Berlin Wall.

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Co-produced by Big Hollywood contributor Larry Schweikart, who first wrote about this issue in his book 7 Events That Made America America, and narrated by Adam Baldwin, Rockin’ the Wall gives viewers an intimate look into life in East Berlin, where citizens were restricted by a literal concrete wall from the same free enterprise and thought that their neighbors in the Western half of the city enjoyed.  Commentators in the film range from bow tie-wearing historians to shaggy-haired rock musicians, with the most interesting tidbits coming from individuals who had lived under Soviet rule in East Berlin (some of whom escaped before the wall fell).  Noting that this was the first time in history where walls were used to keep citizens in rather than invaders out, the film conveys a palpable feeling of the quiet rebellion simmering against a regime so petty as to restrict women from putting their hair in ponytails.

The film’s thesis, that rock and roll music brought down the wall, seems spurious at first.  After its fast-paced introduction, we’re treated to a montage of aged musicians opining on the nature of rock and roll, how it embodies liberty and rebellion, and we’re thinking, “Okay, but how does this relate to–” right as director Marc Leif unleashes a barrage of information that convincingly portrays rock music as the driving force of anti-Communist subversion.  We learn about Radio Free Europe, whose modern music penetrated the wall and was forbidden by the Soviets.  We learn about the black market for Western records, where demand was so high that a single LP could cost 1/10th of a week’s wages.  We learn about the conferences for young people warning them of the physical and mental dangers of rock and roll.

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On The Waterfront!

Hmmm …

As Hamlet says, mortality “must give us pause”.

Therefore, “Hmmmm ….. “

On what must be my tenth viewing of that American masterpiece, I realized how tragically prophetic it has proven to be.

What inspired Elia Kazan  and Budd Schulberg to collaborate in recording what is still The Great American Tragedy?

On The Waterfront is clearly a heroic drama, not a tragedy, with a thrillingly courageous victory for its hero in the end.

What makes it a possible tragedy now?

The testimony Kazan gave to the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming members of the American Communist Party with which he had participated in meetings, not only branded him as a “stool pigeon”, stigmatized him like Brando’s Terry Malloy in On The Waterfront, but, in addition, has grown over the years to carry a tragic foresight within it. (more…)

[This dispatch was written by me in December 2008 in southern Afghanistan. It was never published though I recently found it in the unpublished archives. The photos came from the same period.]

Published: from Nepal on 14 October 2009

On May 25, 1961, the President of the United States of America said:

“Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take. Since early in my term, our efforts in space have been under review. With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides—time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.”

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So many big name stars, singers and sports legends have visited Washington over the years, the city is often referred to as “Hollywood on the Potomac.”  So, that’s the title of my new book (available now at Amazon, Barnes and Noble and Borders) featuring over 200 photographs and stories that detail the fascination between Hollywood stars and Washington power-players — from Presidents Truman through Obama. 

Here’s an excerpt: (more…)

“Race has no place in American life or law.” President John F. Kennedy spoke these words the evening of June 11, 1963 following the desegregation of the University of Alabama. In the speech Kennedy delivered that evening he chose not to appeal to legal arguments; rather he asked Americans to look into their collective hearts and weigh the moral question of continued racial discrimination. “The heart of the question,” said Kennedy “is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.”

This week the Arizona state legislature answered that question with a resounding, “yes!” The state legislature cleared the way to place the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative or ACRI, on the Ballot in 2010. ACRI is a constitutional amendment that would prevent the state from discriminating on the basis or race or sex in the areas of public employment, contracting or education.

The action taken by the State legislature now makes it possible for the people of Arizona to actually decide if their state (and ultimately our nation) agrees with the sentiments of former President Kennedy. (more…)

I have been a proud conservative Republican my entire life. My father and Jimmy Carter saw to that. My first vote ever was for Ronald Reagan in 1980, and I have never voted for a Democrat. Ever. Even today, the reasons for my being so have not changed, despite the media’s and liberal Democrats’ tireless efforts to discredit my belief system. Though the times may change, core principles never do. I have also served this nation proudly in uniform for six years, and don’t regret a minute of it.

In the early 1980s, my military service brought me to some of the darker corners of the world. I spent time in South Korea and Marcos’ Philippines when both countries were under martial law. Knowing I could be shot just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time really woke me up to what exactly it is we have here in America. Seeing a thousand Vietnamese Boat People pulled out of the South China Sea in one day only reinforced my belief in America, Sweet Land of Liberty.

Today, the Party of Lincoln and Reagan appears to be in political disarray, which is why I am writing this OpEd now. Yet many promising developments, along with some huge mistakes by Congress and the Obama Administration, have opened many new doors for us. If only we will enter. (more…)

“Strange…”  he blurted, on feeling that familiar pain in his lower back. “I’m just vapor and thought, and I still need a chiropractor.”

The handsome man instinctively brushed aside the hair barely hanging down on his forehead as he pressed on towards the residence portion of the house.

“Ah… I am here to see Obama” he told the secret service guard inside the residence. The guard did not react at all.  John Fitzgerald Kennedy knew right off that his presence would be seen only by his intended audience and the guard saw nothing. “Fix your tie pal.” Kennedy joked as he walked passed the oblivious sentry.

“You must be President Kennedy”, Obama sheepishly asked the figure now standing above him as he lay in bed.  ”These visits are getting quite regular, are you the last?”  (more…)

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If present-day Hollywood had their way here are five things you’d never know…

1. That JFK had way more in common with Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush than most of today’s Democrats: By modern standards, Kennedy was a fairly conservative Republican; forward-leaning on national defense and a tax cutter who may not have called it trickle-down but to improve the economy and grow the treasury he cut taxes across the board (yes, including the evil rich). Kennedy’s “tax cuts for the wealthy” not only worked but would become the starter blueprint for both the Reagan and Bush II tax cuts. (more…)