Today’s Variety:

“Shortly after Jon Voight addressed health care protesters on Capitol Hill last week, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed the event by saying rather glibly, ‘I’m sure there’s a Jon Voight joke in here somewhere, given he was one of the featured speakers.’

“Over the weekend, when a clip of Voight was played on ‘The Week with George Stephanopoulos,’ where the actor asked of Obama, ‘Could it be he has had 20 years of subconscious programming by Reverend Wright to damn America?’ Cokie Roberts called it a ‘cringemaking’ moment. …

“When I asked about the criticism of his speech, Voight said, ‘Listen, there’s no telling what people will say.’

“What concerned him, he says, was the notion that the protesters on Capitol Hill were being dismissed by some lawmakers. ‘It is unfortunate that people will not take seriously the response of informed citizens.’

“Of his own remarks, he said, ‘They are not taking me on in any substantive way. They are not taking on the issues I am raising. They are simply making slurs and joke or and saying I am crazy.

“‘I don’t have a lot of respect for that stuff. They want to dismiss me, just like they want to dismiss the Tea Party people.’”

Read the full article here.

–

The Mighty Jon Voight took no prisoners on the steps of the Capitol today, hitting Obama with ACORN, “corrupt” White House Czars, ObamaCare, Afghanistan and this memorable chestnut:

“Could it be he has had 20 years of subconscious programming by Rev. Wright to damn America?”  

But nothing will grate the Left more than Voight’s effusive and well-deserved praise of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.

When did artists in this country decide it was a good idea to take marching orders from the government? Did I just wake up in some third-world country from a long sleep or am I having a nightmare where I go back in time to Mao’s China, Stalin’s Russian or Hitler’s Germany? No such luck — this is actually happening here and now and some of you artists are too stupid to figure out you’re being had. Wake the $%@# up! Always question the powers that be! The only “change” that has taken place are the faces in high places. Politicians have an agenda-first, last and always — but make no mistake — these guys are worse, much worse!

Today’s liberals are the art community! From galleries, curators, critics, authors, film makers, musicians, actors, bloggers, magazines, publishers, collectors, directors of art institutions, museums and alternative art spaces to the artists themselves-most are already in lock step with the liberal ideology that has been a long standing tradition. That’s why the conference call between the White House, the NEA and the other artists was an easy call to make … literally. They invited Patrick Courrielche to sit in on the call — too bad for them but great for those of us who care.

In Hollywood, actors and others learn to keep their conservative opinions to themselves if they want to work-I get that! It’s the same thing with conservative visual artists like myself, no matter where we live. That’s why I put out my A Call To Artists video. I wanted to let my fellow artists know they are not alone. What I don’t get is how so many of these artists can be so easily swayed? Are artists truly as talented and intellectual as we have been led to believe or are we the recipients of our own praise and largess at the expense of the little guy we pretend to respect and care for so much? Who is pulling the strings? How many hoops do you have to jump through before you begin to understand that you are not an artist if you are not free to express yourself as you see fit. The artist formally known as Prince understood that and made his choice. I like his art/his music-but right now I really admire his stand.

I known first hand about wrongly being labeled and how much more difficult that makes it to earn a living. I also know what it’s like to be shunned by my peers. What I don’t get are the conservative artists who have had great success and are still hiding in the shadows. How much more money, fame, success do you need to feel safe enough to speak up and what does that say about the state of fear we already live in? What are you afraid of and where are your priorities? Here I must thank Mr. Jon Voight for having the courage to speak out. You, sir, are a man!

Have established artists not figured out that if you don’t speak out and stand up for your rights now you can kiss your freedoms goodbye, along with everything you have earned and worked for your entire life? And don’t worry about who gets what when you’ve passed on. At this rate it will belong entirely to the state. Hell, a lot of it already does!

How much more proof do you need to believe that this has been going on for a long time now — this current administration has just shifted to light speed! They’ve been watching, listening, studying and learning, especially from their mistakes. They have been patient and are now fully entrenched. They believe this is their moment and that they cannot let it get away — so anything goes!

 This is not a sparring session, this is the championship bout, the final round — winner take all and “We The People” better come out swinging!!!

Where my colleague Chris and I most disagree is with the assertion that Hollywood chooses “politically correct” or “safe” villains because Hollywood is all about the money and therefore wants to appeal to audiences who care what the villain looks like:

The film industry, like any other business, generally wants to appeal to the largest audience possible.  Picking “safe” enemies is one way to do that. 

Two of the most profitable films released this past year were “Gran Torino,” where our hero confronts black and Asian street gangs, and “Taken,” where the henchmen are Muslims and the arch-villain Middle Eastern.

With a $33 million production budget, “Torino” made nearly $270 million worldwide. On a budget of just $25 million, “Taken” made an astonishing $145 million domestically and another $79 million overseas. And before you give Hollywood credit for producing two films with politically-incorrect villains, keep in mind that both are notable exceptions; that only a Clint Eastwood could’ve made “Torino,” and “Taken” was produced in France, of all places.

To be clear, my point isn’t that international moviegoers flock to see politically-incorrect villains. My point is that is that audiences don’t care what the villain looks like and that Hollywood’s being dishonest when they say different.  

Like the mainstream media, Hollywood’s cry of being money-driven is a lie to cover an increasingly obvious Leftist political agenda. If Hollywood really is all about making money by “appealing to the largest audience,” why no follow up to one of the most profitable films of all time, “The Passion of the Christ?” Why the three-year run of A-listers starring in box-office embarrassments with the most politically correct villain of them all: Americans in the Middle East? Define these films any way you want, I define them as loss-leaders to put Democrats in office. 

Money-driven industries don’t keep making Edsels and ignore the Mustang.

Filmmakers and producers with access to Box Office Mojo know that whether politically “correct” or “incorrect,” who the villain is has nothing to do with box office. “Torino” and “Taken” were monster hits because they’re both extremely satisfying films. If there’s a single quality that made them successful that bucks the current Leftist Hollywood agenda, it’s their lack of moral equivalence. Both are straightforward good versus evil stories with a protagonist willing to sacrifice everything for something bigger than himself.

Because the human condition knows no boundaries, it’s old-fashioned heroism international audiences crave, not “safe, politically correct” villains.

“Basterds” only proves this point. “Politically correct, safe” Nazis are not what’s drawing audiences but rather the vicarious pleasure of watching something Hollywood doesn’t give us enough of: the delicious spectacle of evil receiving a reckoning at the hands of American good guys.

Both “G.I. Joe” and “Superman Returns” are all-kinds of politically correct. Neither, however, is likely to break even for years to come. “Spider-Man,” “Iron Man,” “The Dark Knight” and “300″ are a diverse mix of villains but pretty straight-forward in the good versus evil department … and all are monster hits.

Here are two other major areas of disagreement:

With the current economy, filmmakers don’t want to risk losing any potential audience.  Even when ticket sales are up, filmmakers may not want to pick sides on an issue. 

The decisions surrounding “G.I. Joe” and “Basterds” and so many politically correct others had nothing to do with the economy. They were in the works long before the recession hit. But this idea that directors keep their politics ambiguous and “not pick sides on an issue” disregards a never-ending avalanche of anti-Iraq, anti-Bush, pro-Leftist films that never stop flopping.

Hollywood doesn’t always like a clear line between good and evil, so in order to lock a distributor, a director might keep his or her politics ambiguous (especially if those politics are right of center).

On the left, I would say this is the exact opposite of what’s happening. Over the past ten years directors have become less and less politically ambiguous, and I would argue, increasingly strident with their on-screen agendas. This is why the adult drama is all but dead today. The agenda turns off a mainstream audience tired of paying ten bucks to be insulted and in turn no longer trusts Hollywood with anything other than tentpoles. Liberal audiences stay away because political stridency makes for bad filmmaking.

On the right, sympathies hidden and made ambiguous in fantasy films like “300″ and “The Dark Knight” have nothing to do with anything other than an intolerant film and media industry poised to pounce. The personal attacks leveled against a pre-drunk driving Mel Gibson before anyone had seen “The Passion,” and David Zucker and Jon Voight make clear that there’s a heavy price to pay for political apostates.

It comes down to this Gutfeld quote from the Yogerst piece:

“It is distasteful to consider a battle between good and evil if it’s happening now, because then you have to choose sides.”

For my money, mainstream Hollywood has chosen sides, and not ours. And that choice has nothing to do wanting to “appeal to the broadest audience possible.”

It’s not the economy stupid, it’s the agenda.

“Not today, hon.”

With a loud sigh of disgust she slammed the phone back into her purse and sat there in the fold-out chair and sulked. My wife’s look to me of indignant expectation (You going to put up with that?) was met by my practiced calm of everything-will-be-fine (She’s a teenager, that’s what they do). 

Hoping against hope that my doubting Thomas wife was wrong and that I was right, I settled in to listen to the Memorial Day program at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.  It was May 30, 2009, and as we sat there on the lawn that cloudy morning, our little family was a whirl of dysfunction.  It had been building for some time; petty problems had ruined our peace, and small arguments and squabbling set my wife and my 16-yr-old daughter at mutual odds.  I sat there amidst the several thousand gathered feeling alone, distant, isolated.  And completely alienated from my family.  How could three so close seem suddenly so distant? 

Speaking to honor our fallen war heroes that day were several Hollywood notables including John Voight and Robert Davi.  They were reading letters sent home from distant battlefields and different wars.  Sent to loved ones by men they would never see again. 

As the program proceeded, a miracle happened.  It happened within our family – but I think it was happening everywhere that day, all across America really.  We forgot our petty differences for a moment.  We forgot to text.  We forgot who was on “American Idol” that week.  We forgot ‘it’s all about me’.

We remembered the soldier.

There were tears wept openly that day as these heart-rending letters were read.  A glowing warmth of pride descended upon this crowd as we sat there together and considered the people who were willing to serve to preserve our freedom. 

My daughter’s truculence had dissipated and been replaced with a sweet reverence.  After the program we wandered through the cemetery reading the headstones of veterans who had passed.  My daughter wandered off by herself, reading the names, fully engrossed in reverie for these heroes of past wars.  My wife nodded at her, squeezed my hand, and we watched her in quiet repose.  This was something new I was witnessing.  My daughter got it.

This recent Memorial Day was a good time for America.  And it was definitely a good day for my family.

I thought of times in our history when brave men in uniform demonstrated their courage.  And by ‘brave’ I mean – scared sh*tless, disoriented, fiercely committed, praying for help, screaming death and venom at evil, blasting away at the enemy, and…basically doing exactly what a soldier is expected to do.  Put himself in the line of fire to win the battle.

The 101st Airborne at Bastogne. The Marines at Chosin Reservoir.  Normandy.  Iwo Jima.  Saigon.  Fallujah, Iraq. Hindu-Kush, Afghanistan. The examples of American Military heroism are endless.

Jesus told us in the Bible that “no greater love hath a man that that would lay down his life for another.”  A prescient truth foretelling true self-sacrifice, as reflected in the Cross — our Lord’s final act of love on this earth.  Consider the love and selfless courage it would take for a G.I. in combat to throw himself onto a live grenade to save his fellow squad members.  Yet this has happened time and time again by our courageous troops, most recently, in Ramadi, Iraq by a young Navy SEAL Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor. 

These acts of heroism are common, but seldom widely reported.  More often than not, they are buried beneath apparently more urgent stories like who won a talent contest or basketball championship. 

The many efforts of the Left to disparage and denigrate our servicemen are all too widespread.   Our troops are constantly being maligned as intellectually inferior and naively gullible. Ironically, the exact opposite is true.  In fact, the very highest of all human ideals and attributes is to be found by the men and women who serve in our military. 

My teenage daughter got it on May 30th.  She got that her carefree life of texting her friends and going to the mall and riding her horse is all made possible by the sacrifices our military men and women are willing to make on a daily basis.  They don’t demand our respect – but they are certainly worthy of it.

So the next time you hear some arrogant, pseudo-intellectual dipstick running his mouth about how our military is a bunch of ignorant, thug rednecks…step up to the Cretin and set him straight.  Idiocy, if tolerated, has a habit of turning into a cultural mindset…and pretty soon you have one of those ‘Zeitgeist’ things happening.  That’s how Political Correctness got started.  (And, not coincidentally, the Third Reich.) 

It’s time to cut that garbage off at the knees.  Educate yourself, America.  Re-examine our roots and our heritage and our history.  Contrary to what the America-hating revisionists want you to believe, America has a proud past of building from nothing a nation that is the contemporary cornerstone of freedom for all mankind.  We haven’t been perfect…but we’ve become the best the world has ever seen.  Build up a fire in your belly for America and all that she stands for, and stand up and shout your love of country and honor for the flag from the rooftops. 

If you’re not spitting out blood… you’re just not yelling loud enough.

Thought I’d post the entirety of Jon Voight’s extremely important speech last night at the 2009 Republican Senate-House Dinner.

What Jon is doing is extremely important.

Jon was once lauded for toeing the liberal Hollywood line.  He is showing that his peers can speak out as a Hollywood conservative and as an apostate — and survive. “Do not tell me it can’t be done,” he begins.  The left will flail as they attempt to marginalize him and diminish his stellar reputation and award-winning career.

His analysis of how President Obama got elected will eventually be the accepted truth once sober and dispassionate journalists reenter the mainstream media. And he is also to be praised for his steadfast support of the Jewish people and Israel.
I predict there will be more Jon Voight’s in the next election cycle thanks to his courageous trailblazing spirit.

Thanks, Jon. You are a great patriot and wonderful friend.

An impressive commitment was shown to keeping the message of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” as a battle cry for our youths’ participation in protecting Mother Earth from global warming and pollution. My children were enthusiastic. I was confused. Something bothered me, and I could not put my finger on why – until Memorial Day weekend.

It started on Saturday morning, when I took my 8-year-old son, Nicholas, who is a Cub Scout, to the Los Angeles National Cemetery. About 2,700 Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, from Cub to Eagle, convened to place flags on more than 84,000 gravesites of America’s finest. It was a moving, profound experience.

One would expect a lot of running and playing among these youngsters as they performed their task. But, no. At each site, they stood at attention, recited the name of the service member and then saluted. Within two hours, 84,000 flags proudly waved in the gentle breeze.

I have passed this cemetery for years and wondered who placed those flags, and how, from a sea of white stones, the Stars and Stripes overnight come and beautifully decorate this hallowed ground. All across this great nation, I picture the same scene and the beauty of these young boys and girls honoring those who have protected the privilege of our magnificent democracy and freedoms.

This Memorial Day, I had the honor of being part of the program at this cemetery. joining Robert Forster, Jon Voight, David Horowitz, Bill Sachs and Maj. Gen. JamesW. Comstock. The general had asked all to remember the first time he or she understood or felt patriotic. As I sat waiting my turn to speak, I reflected on mine. My father was a Navy gunner on a merchant marine ship during World War II. His ship was torpedoed in the Pacific, and he was in the water for three days. He lost some of his close friends and was awarded the Purple Heart.

My earliest recollections of my dad were that on every Memorial Day, Veterans Day and Independence Day until the day he died at age 57, he wore his Navy uniform and raised the flag in our front yard. I remember his solemn pride on those days. He also upset my mother a bit because he still fit in his uniform and had not gained any weight over the years. And, well, she had.

My father often talked of the pride he had for his father, who had come from Sicily and enlisted in the Infantry during World War I. His father also had been awarded the Purple Heart and the Oak Leaf Cluster, which is bestowed on military awards when exceptional conduct is recognized.

Looking out at the sea of faces on Memorial Day, the great beautiful faces of those who understand sacrifice and love our country, I could not help but think of the millions of families connected to the military either by serving or through family history. By contrast, neither President Obama nor Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. had a parent in the military.

In no way do I suggest that such a connection is a criterion for love of country, but it certainly can affect how one might feel about the military and its history. Certainly, the vice president does have the experience of having a son who is serving.

Interestingly, Mr. Obama’s maternal grandfather fought in World War II, but Mr. Obama often dismisses his grandfather’s beliefs in his book “Dreams From My Father,” saying his grandparents knew nothing of the real violence in the world. He wrote that his grandfather had never seen “real combat” and had a “tendency to rewrite history to conform to the image he wished for himself.”

During the election, however, many media outlets, including the New Republic, Time magazine and the Huffington Post, fawned over Mr. Obama’s “military pedigree” and “World War II connection,” though Mr. Obama himself casually dismissed his grandfather’s service.

Our fathers and mothers have a great deal of influence over our thinking. We must use their meaningful history and pride to appeal to the Hollywood community, to Nickelodeon, Disney, Universal, Paramount, Warner Bros. and others.

We should have the same unifying message for our youth today and educate them on the love, honor, sacrifice, pride and patriotism of the military with as much vim and vigor as on Earth Day and in the Big Green Help campaign.

We need a call to arms, like that of the Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Awards, and spend from 10:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. with programming that would excite our children with the stirring message of our nation’s heroes and their powerful stories of honor and sacrifice.

They know enough about “going green,” so why not go red, white and blue for future Memorial Days? Let’s start on July Fourth, Independence Day, so that by next Memorial Day, perhaps Nickelodeon will heed our call and put together a program that will bring education, encouragement and patriotism to our youth.

Let’s make it as cool to plug-in to patriotism as it is to unplug to save energy.

Robert Davi is an actor-director best known for his roles in “Die Hard,” “License to Kill,” “The Goonies,” “Predator 2,” the series “Profiler” and “Stargate Atlantis” and his directorial debut of the award-winning film “The Dukes.” His new film, “Magic,” will be in theaters later this year.

Here are the bad people:  President’s Daughter, Janice (!), Jon Voight.  Pretty much everybody else is in the way.

Try to follow in comments…