First of all, a little history. I’m a Facebook friend of Isaiah Washington’s and added him because we were in the film “Clockers” together. I had a very small part but seeing him work I knew how dedicated and talented he was and wanted to keep up with his career. I think he has quite a few fan/friends like myself. But I’m also deeply concerned about the direction race relations are going in our country and when he posted this article on on his page I clicked through and read it with great interest.

After reading Mr. Washington’s link I posted a reply link to Bill Whittle’s  PJTV segment “The Great Liberal Narrative. The Truth about the Tyranny of Political Correctness,” and then added this note for Mr. Washington:

 A must watch if you are serious about getting both sides of a story — especially the slavery part at the middle to end of this piece.

Now here’s the bizarre exchange that followed, and I still need one very important question answered from Mr. Washington: When will he forgive his fellow Americans like he has the Sierra Leoneans?

Note:  He posted his response directly on my wall, so I feel entitled to share it with you for the sake of speaking truth to power [original unedited text]:

ISAIAH WASHINGTON: “Ok…Mr. McGruther. I just sat & watched 12:40 of a educated angry white man pontificate about how the media “narrative” should relinquish whites (in America) from “white guilt”…No Sir! You don’t get off that easy. Seeing that you have “Mc” in your last name you should already be aware of the historic rift between poor blacks and poor whites… Read More. True…African Kings enslaved their enemies for centuries as this piece sites. If YOU had really done YOUR research on ME before trying to illuminate me on my profile…”if you are serious about getting both sides of the story”–You would have found that the BBC recently did and article on my comment about “forgiving those Sierra Leoneans that sold my great-great-great-great-great grandmother for personal gain and self preservation. So please Sir…I have “lived both sides of the story” by the mere fact that I have been educated in America and abroad for 25 years. The article I posted by Dr. Rediker trumps your little PajamaTV piece”

MCGRUTHER:  ”Thank you for watching it and responding. What Bill Whittle was saying was not saying that slavery in America wasn’t wrong but that is has existed all over the world and mostly by people enslaving their own people but we never ever hear of it in our “education”. It’s been eliminated from the history books for any American who gets a public education. It’s this constant story line of only the evil white men in America that most of us learn and nothing more. I take umbrage at your wrong assumption that just because I have an MC in my name I am somehow still reeling from the awful treatment the Irish had – I don’t. And I am not Irish. In fact I am a quarter Scottish, a quarter Italian, French Canadian and Prussian Jew (on my Mom’s side) My Wife’s Filipono and Chinese mix and that makes my daughter just about as close as one can get to a citizen of the world culturally. Can you please post a link to your BBC article. I don’t understand why you would forgive the Sierra Leoneans but not your own countrymen. How one can hold a grudge with only one group is bizarre — even racist. In America everything that has gone wrong in the world shows up to be put on the big stage and then sorted out by We The People. When will you be happy? When will you forgive people like me who had absolutely nothing do to with any of the American history you refer to? Everything you may be assuming about me is wrong. It’s not about trumping someone’s article it’s about making sure that when you are looking at history you have proper context. That is why I read your article with great interest and will read anything you post or send me. Because you are so well educated you do know that MLK was a Republican right? And that George Wallace, the Democratic candidate actually ran on the platform of pro segregation? You must know that. What blows my mind is how you had no problem with MSNBC portraying someone with a gun at an Obama rally out to be white when in fact he was black.”

There are 15 comments on his post that follow and all are by private citizens who are not wealthy celebrities like Mr. Washington. But the creepiest response came from someone named Candice:

CANDICE: “No need to argue, as if someone asked me. MM it’s not about you, so don’t take this personal. It’s about your forefathers. It’s really not even about us as being African-American, except for the fact that we are STILL paying for the color of our skin. Africans did play a part in the slave trade and shame on them, but let’s put things in perspective here. It’s not about how much Isaiah knows and if he knows who had a gun at President Obama’s rally. That’s small shit that really means nothing. The world abroad that took part in the slave trade should feel ashamed of themselves. So my question is this…when did black people become inhumane people? Was it after we started to act like the people that sailed us across the Atlantic? If there is any anger in this going back and forth it is that someone should take the blame for slavery. Where is our reparations? Where is our apology?”

MCGRUTHER: “Thanks Candice. But my forefathers DID NOT have slaves ok? You have to understand that not all people with white skin are the descendants of slave owners or slave traders. How do you know who comes from which family line when you make your assumptions? By the color of their skin? Why do you choose to lump them all together in the same way racists do to people in our country all the time? Slavery would not have ended if white people did not fight this nations bloodiest war to end it. Period. The victim mentality, espoused by wealthy free Americans who would never have this life in any other part of the world is very short sighted. The MSNBC clip is very important because it’s a straight up lie meant to keep you thinking about how bad ALL white people are and you wrong.”

To be fair to Candice, she left me a sincere and heartfelt apology and a blessing from God, which I accept with gratitude. But I’m still waiting for Mr. Washington to answer my question: When will you be happy? When will you forgive people like me who had absolutely nothing do to with any of the American history you refer to?

In this NY Times article titled “Necks Overflowing With Rivers of Metaphor,” the argument is gleefully made that the vampire genre is the perfect platform to expose the idiocy of the right and our strange repulsion against poor vampires who merely want to fuck all night and sleep all day.

You want to see an accurate portrayal of the modern day leftist liberal, using the vampire genre correctly? Watch my very first short film that I wrote, produced, directed and edited back in 2005 on pocket change, in 5 days in rural New Jersey using a digital camera and all unknown actors.

It is based on a short story by Richard Matheson titled “Drink My Red Blood” and what compelled me to make it was one scene in particular where the lead character, Jules, shares his composition in school called “My Ambition.” The movie is 15 minutes long. I broke it into two parts and uploaded it to YouTube for you to watch (NSFW).

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Jules Dracula is the perfect portrait of how leftists develop into pure evil by absolutely despising all that is good and seeking revenge against those who won’t let them simply be who they really are deep down inside; godless haters of Christian values, especially personal restraint.

Those within the industry will instantly recognize the Jules Dracula’s in their lives.  And It should be noted that I attempted to make this into a TV series called THIRST and could find no takers. I guess the truth hurts too much.

Please visit the official website built to promote the movie and those involved in making it.

Do you have a little time to sit back and examine a classic movie that will absolutely shock you when seen through the prism of now? This is not my typical short article or essay. This is my own argument that what occurs in the 1941 picture “Meet John Doe” is exactly what has come to pass in America today with the Democratic Congress and their Presidential puppet. All the players and plays are clearly represented here and I was lucky enough to find the entire movie available on YouTube in small 7-10 minute scenes. I have selected only the scenes that I feel you must watch. But please, by all means, Netflix this movie before someone bans it.

“Meet John Doe” was released in 1941, written by Robert Riskin and based upon a treatment titled “The Life and Death of John Doe,” written by Richard Connell and Robert Presnell.  The film was directed by Frank Capra. The plot of the movie clearly shows how a media conspiracy could get a President elected and use him to “turn out the lights on freedom.” The similarity between the movie’s plot and today’s political situation is surreal. Add in the fact that Gary Cooper’s “John Doe” is modeled after Jesus Christ and you’ll be even more chilled at how a power hungry, ruthless political party figures out how to use a fake version of Him for their own gain. The claim by liberals that this is the practice of the religious right will be shattered once you’ve watched all the clips posted here.

So let’s go ahead and take a look at the opening sequence where you will see a sign being changed on a newspapers building. The old stone letters “FREE PRESS” are jackhammered away and replaced with a shiny new metal sign boasting a “new era of streamlined news.” It’s important to keep in mind that the movie takes place near the end of the great depression, with layoffs and widespread hardship everywhere, including this fictional newspaper. So in a desperate attempt to save her job, ambitious female reporter Anne Mitchell (played by Barbara Stanwyck), who has been given the pink slip, fakes a sensational news story as her last submission and convinces her boss to run it in order to sell more papers.

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So just to recap some important highlights, so far we’ve learned that D.B. Norton, an oil tycoon with political ambitions buys a struggling newspaper. An ambitious reporter in a desperate attempt to save her job fakes a sensational story and convinces her boss to run it. Once the John Doe story runs it catches fire and the editor of the newspaper doesn’t learn that the letter was a fake until the end of this sequence.

I wonder if his reaction and Miss Mitchell’s (Stanwyck) sales pitch to keep up the gag for profits’ sake is similar to how things go down in some real world newsrooms?

Pass that Capra-corn please…

The next sequence is the continuation of the opening. The reason I added it is because the process by which they look for just the right fellow to play the part of their imaginary, yet highly relatable “John Doe” is similar to the passive aggressive casting process that happens in the left-leaning media world today. I’ve heard and read arguments that this movie promotes communism and I use scenes like this to counter it. What Long John Willoughby (Cooper) really needed at the time was lower taxes and less government in his life. That way he could have already had and paid for the surgery he needed to fix his throwing arm instead of allowing a newspaper to use him to lie to the public as his best option. The New Deal was a bum deal and today we conservatives know it.

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Next we’ll jump way ahead because like most of the movies made during Hollywood’s golden era this one is rich with scenes and characters unlike anything the current crop of filmmakers are capable of producing. John Doe has become nothing short of a media sensation with the public being inspired and gripped by his story of pending self-sacrifice in a cruel and unjust world. John Doe represents the common man and now has a weekly article in the newspaper (written by Stanwyck’s character) that has set off a legion of dedicated supporters.

“John Doe” clubs are popping up all across the nation in response to the fake John Doe’s plea for more decency and care for one another. In return for playing the part, the newspaper keeps this formally homeless man in a nice hotel with room service and pressed clothes as they groom him for even more exposure so they can ride this fake story all the way to the bank. His only true friend, still in his hobo outfit, sees through the entire sham from the start and is always tugging at John’s sleeve to break away from the “helots” before they really do him in. Now he’s slated for his first live national radio address which has been timed to coincide with the political convention that will nominate a candidate for president.

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There are two stunning revelations in the scene you just watched. While John Doe reads the speech that was written for him, Henry Connell, the newspaper editor-in-chief, realizes the potential misuse of the John Doe movement while at the same time powerful oil tycoon and newspaper owner D.B. Norton takes a sneak peek at his butlers and maids glued to the radio in their kitchen. Without either actor saying a word, Capra shows how two men in the same situation realize the same exact thing and then go in totally different directions from there. D.B. Norton realizes the power of John Doe for evil purposes, while Connell realizes that he’s allowed a sales gimmick to go to far.

Norton is cunning and realizes that he can form a coalition of votes to win by controlling the “John Doe vote” through mainstream media manipulation, the labor vote through paid off union bosses, and various other voting blocs with the promise of top political jobs. What comes next is one of the single greatest pro-America scenes in all of movies. It’s also where John learns the awful truth about his role in an evil political movement and thinks there’s something he can do about it. Boy is he wrong.

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“Lighthouses in a foggy world.” Indeed.

With the ugly truth now revealed to him, John decides to confront Norton personally and what he finds waiting for him parallels where millions of Americans are finding themselves these days; helpless, manipulated and learning the shocking truth about the sinister relationship between the nations ruling political party and the mainstream media.

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The final clip is the cliffhanger, because even with everything posted here you can still watch this movie as if you’ve never seen it. Anything more that this would ruin it for you.

Meet John Doe is a conservative film made by conservative filmmakers. Mr. Capra and Mr. Cooper were both Republicans who made this movie at the start of the New Deal. Mr. Cooper openly opposed FDR serving three terms, calling it “un-American.”  This is the kind of movie conservative Hollywood used to make. According to Wiki, Edward Arnold, who played D.B. Norton, became involved in Republican politics in the 1940’s and was mentioned as a possible GOP. candidate for the United States Senate. He lost a closely contested election for Alderman and said at the time that perhaps actors were not suited to run for political office. A staunch Conservative, he later took a strong stand against alleged communists in Hollywood while trying to protect actors from the House Un-American Activities Committee. He was also the co-founder of the “I Am An American Foundation.”

With Washington and Hollywood acting with one unified radically liberal voice for the first time in American history, it’s become crystal clear that what the Democrats really want is simply to rule the world.

It was reported recently that box office receipts rose to a record $28.1 billion with 65% of that take coming from foreign countries. Bottom line, Hollywood is all about money and no one denies that. But now that the good old U.S.A. represents the smaller market share it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the studios couldn’t care less what kind of anti-American low-brow product the town’s liberal elite continue to produce and promote.

Movies aren’t meant for us anymore.  They’re meant for the rest of the world to see and be brainwashed by, because one way to bring about social change in this country is to change the American Dream itself in the minds of those who risk everything to come here.

We’re still that Shining City on a Hill —  it’s just that our Democrat President and Congress, with the help of Hollywood, have distorted the bulb so badly that what’s illuminated and seen from a afar is a false image of what We the People, are all about. They’re showing the rest of the world what they want this country to be, not what it actually is, as defined by the vast majority of its citizens and the way in which they go about their daily lives. 

Before liberalism infiltrated and took control of our politics and entertainment, America’s true light drew men and women of courage and hope to our nation who came for the chance to prosper in a land of opportunity — to become Americans.  Immigrants like my in-laws, who came from the Philippines and were able to both find jobs and raise three kids in the heart of New York City — never seeking government hand outs, never complaining about long hours and the sometimes difficult circumstances of their journey, because the dignity that comes with providing for one’s self and family is reward enough for free men of any value. The rest is just gravy. 

But now a new story is being broadcast around the globe. The dream is no longer what it used to be. Today it’s all about the idea that less is somehow more. Use less, do less, make less, buy less, leave less of yourself behind (meaning: children) — don’t breathe if you can help it. And so the net effect of socialism on any society is the distant stare you see in the hamstrung citizen’s faces — all the opportunities missed and chances never taken because they were always just out of reach. 

I’ve been to Europe many times during Bush’s Presidency and let me assure you that no one ever gave me a hard time for being an American, and I typically break all the rules upon meeting someone new – religion and politics are the very first things out of my mouth. I have talked at length with cabbies on the way to the English countryside, artists in London, bankers in Canary Wharf – and not a one of them hates Americans or America.  Although… When I was in Japan with my wife during the Clinton/Lewinsky debacle hiking around Mt. Fuji two Japanese men stopped us in the middle of a stunning snow-covered garden and said, without any introduction whatsoever, “Bill Clinton – Hahahahahahaha.” We felt horrible that our President disgraced us that day.   

The Democrats must be kicked out of office in sweeping fashion in 2010 and 2012, or I fear that the Shining City’s light will be cranked down to a dull flicker in an ever darkening world.  I’m fearful for the day when I walk the streets of our great cities and towns and fail to see that glimmer of light and hope in my fellow citizens eyes – the look you can only get from a free man pursuing his dreams without the government on his back. 

Let’s dare to dream big again and let’s vote into power only those who legislate for lower taxes and smaller government so that we can achieve those dreams once more. Because when the American people are set free the world will be quickly reminded as to who we really are.

Register. Get active. Volunteer and spread the word and get out the vote NOW. President Obama spent two years running for office, so let’s spend three years running against him.

President Bush’s 8 years in office was like someone taking a stick to a hornets nest that nobody knew still existed. He whacked it good and then paid the price with poisonous stings all over everything he tried to do. But the rest of us out there saw how the press and mainstream media reacted to him and that is how we came to clearly see what we’re really up against in the battle for America’s future.

W. exposed the soft march of a bloodless communist revolution in America by simply being, well, your typical decent, hard working, plain spoken, self-reliant American. He didn’t fit the mold of the modern American man that had been carefully cultivated through the dull 90’s and his actions were all meant to expose the true intentions of the left and boy did his administration succeed!

The side that makes the most noise usually has the most to hide — and my ears are still ringing from the onslaught of loud misinformation that came from the left to achieve political power in America once again. Ronald Reagan may be the first actor to have become President but Barack Obama is the first President who is in fact just an actor.

I was raised by my Mother and Stepfather, both proud JFK Democrats. Much to my surprise my stubborn stepfather begrudgingly voted for a Republican for the first time in his life when he voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin. (He’s 77, a Marine who fought in the Korean War. My Mother has voted for both Republicans and Democrats) Voters like him can be found hanging around American Legions and VFW’s all across America talking about the current state of affairs and many of them know something has gone terribly wrong with their party. But because of the very situation that President Kennedy warned about and Bush brilliantly exposed, these voters were silenced by a press with an agenda that wasn’t truthful and whose main goal was to captivate an entire generation of young idealistic voters and then impress upon them a role model that was carefully crafted to fit a certain marketing demographic. 

Many of our arguments against a President Obama didn’t stick for obvious reasons. First time voters would hardly care that President Obama has never run anything before because it’s likely that they haven’t either. And having such a high opinion of one’s abilities regardless of experience is what being young is all about. “Fake it until you make it” is an awful and damaging approach but widely accepted as the way in on the left and the young that are drawn to the left all know this and put it to practice without ever graduating to real skill and craft. They lay blame on everything but themselves for the sad state of American capitalism but never stop to consider that making an effort to be a good and decent person is a big part of what makes capitalism really work.

Another way to know we’re dealing with communists again is their multi-pronged attack on the very institutions that keep people directed towards attempting good and decent behavior in the first place without the need for government intervention; your local church. 

We must unite the senior citizen vote to the young conservatives and create a silent super majority that will be unstoppable in 2010 and 2012. Imagine the parents and the children of the baby boomers all shunning the childish behavior of these spoiled brat adults who have wholeheartedly embraced what is bad about human nature and refuse to even try for what is good based on the grounds that it’s all relative. I’d like to see the baton of decency handed down from the grandparents to the grandchildren, totally bypassing the selfish parents in the middle. 

So since the Democrats brazenly hijacked the image of Lincoln as the climax in their Distort American History Tour, let’s resurrect JFK as one of our own and remind them that even though he was assassinated it didn’t mean it was OK to ignore his leadership and his call to self sacrifice and his dream for “Man to be what he was born to be — Free and independent”

Secularists don’t know that simple fact about faith and feel threatened by their own ignorance, which quickly spirals into enmity as a defense against what they deeply fear is the truth. After all, Pride is what made the Devil. And the Devil’s main goal is your total separation from any kind of relationship with God, which can easily be described as anxiety, loneliness, fear, panic attacks, suicide…anything to get you away from sincerely trying to follow God. In other words, people of faith go to church while secularists go to therapy.  

To quote C.S. Lewis, my favorite atheist convert, “Christianity has not been tried and found false — it’s been tried and found too difficult.”

Indeed.

Secularists throw their hands up and give in to “humanity” instantly, under the guise that urges and desires must be completely natural (which they are) and are therefore just fine to enjoy with wild abandon (which they are not). They do not understand that resisting is the real road to that spiritual Utopia we’re always striving for.

We Christians know all to well that we are human and that sin drives a wedge between us and God. No you’re not “going straight to hell” because you happen to sit in a hotel room with a steady diet of hookers and drugs between movie shoots. Although you may wind up in jail at the hands of your fellow Man, what that behavior will really do is gently and pleasurably separate you from knowing God. 

By “separate” I mean you will slowly not be able to tolerate anyone you meet of faith (even if they’ve never bothered you) and you will soon find yourself shaking your fist at organized religion as the root of all evil. Your mind will become incapable of accepting that there is anything bigger than your own self and all the other “selfs” you socialize with. You will be, quite literally, out on a limb with no real friends and sooner or later you will realize that, either to your great horror or sinister joy. Welcome to free will.  

Yet, even if Christ were not God, the urgency and hatred that secularists use to deny there’s any moral truth to His plainly obvious teaching of what it means to be good, is evidence enough that we’re dealing a wholly evil mindset. This isn’t Atheism. This is Devilism. 

The precise goal of a Devilish society is to get as many people away from God as possible through a steady diet of media distractions and stories and role models all meant to edify their Devilish position while tearing down ours. It’s completely harmless to us if others in society are not up for what Christianity asks of its faithful, but where we draw the line is the distorted representation of faithful people in our pop culture entertainment, a culture dominated by secularist ideals and themes.  

Look, If you want to know where all the real sinners are, go to church. You’ll see them on their knees begging for forgiveness and admitting they cherished something else in their hearts over God. But if you want to know where the real Devils are, go to Hollywood where the path to hell is paved in gold.

Just when you thought American independent cinema was dead and gobbled up by the majors, here comes two strong, new voices straight outta Brooklyn (and Queens), Matthew Bonifacio and Carmine Famiglhetti, the director and writer/star of “Amexicano,” a low budget indie feature (and I mean truly indie) that has the power to make you feel compassion where you thought you had none, and will likely make you and whomever you’re watching it with, argue about the very topic that is so central to its plot but not really what the movie is about — illegal immigration.  

Personally, I’m not one who enjoys reviews that detail every last scene, so that’s not what I am going to do here.  Roll trailer:

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The real story in “Amexicano” is the true friendship that forms between two men from different worlds with the exact same needs on the streets of present day America. Bruno, the down on his luck Italian from Queens and Ignacio, the salt of the earth Mexican from Mexico, both need work and money and all the dignity and freedom that comes along with it.

Freedom for Bruno would mean that he can finally move out of his friend’s basement and “get a life,” while freedom for Ignacio means he can make enough money to provide for himself and his family and live in the land of opportunity. They’re both after the exact same thing — though through Ignacio’s eyes the American dream still has all the mystery, excitement and sense of adventure about it — something so many have romanticized poorly in the past, yet Bonifacio actually captures through this character. 

Mr. Famiglhetti is so good as Bruno that you’re shocked when you realize he also penned the script. This is a major talent who bucked the system every step of the way and as the pic’s producer he self-released it after its run at the Tribeca Film Festival. 

Bonifacio’s deft use of the camera is a refreshing change from the bizarre out of focus “Dogme 95” style of filmmaking that became popular in the 90’s and somehow passed as art. “Amexicano” feels more like a Hal Ashby picture than it does modern day quick-cut/hard to follow indie fare. 

“Amexicano” is high quality, honest storytelling that brings back a time when American cinema wasn’t so much overtly political as it was overtly truthful and with a moral ending left to the audience. It’s well worth your time to rent or buy it as the first in a collection of new American classics that truly do represent the “New Hollywood.”

The DVD is on the shelf at WalMart and Target and available on-line through Nexflix or Amazon.com.

This is what I overheard him say: “He’s going to back us? Yes! That’s F@$%^ great! We’re going show these Republicans how we play. They’re not even going to know what hit them. We will do some serious damage because this is war now — we’re playing for keeps!” 

OK, those weren’t his exact words, but you can believe it was something like that and I cannot stress enough the tone of real hatred in his voice. I was taken aback, as I often was by the odd display of being completely unreasonable when it came to politics which seemed everywhere then.

When his conversation ended I asked him, “I guess you don’t like Republicans very much do you?” His eyes looked down on me with disgust as he realized I was not on his side — this after years of putting money in his pocket and developing his book into a film. Because he was so irked that I didn’t share his world view, we decided to agree to disagree, until a dinner a couple of months later when the “Blame Bush” mantra had taken full effect on everyone without a mind of their own.

When I asked why he was suddenly relocating to Washington D.C., his girlfriend accidentally spilled the beans by referencing some political parties he’d attended in the Hamptons. He snapped at her, “No one is supposed to know about that.” Then I, who by now had a fully awakened political mind, chimed in, “What, did you go to George Soros’ house?” I was only fishing, half-guessing based on news about Mr. Soros’ political activities. He nodded “yes” and then changed the subject back to our movie. But after more red wine and a little prodding he told me what the endeavor was. Mr. Soros had agreed to fund a liberal propaganda spin machine called Media Matters for America.

Apparently, at his Hampton parties, Mr. Soros gathered young disenfranchised liberals and used their displeasure with the Bush administration (intensified by the MSM, 24/7) to further his own socialist desires for America. The whole mantra of Media Matters is “correcting conservative misinformation in the media.” In other words, spinning the spin so that it’s spun back to their spin. Yeah, you read correctly — a meaningless site with no value other than to create more confusion as to what is real news and who’s telling “the truth.”

Reading news “analysis” on the site is like trying to keep your eye on the nut in a shell game. How a bunch of Harvard educated men and woman can be reduced to confusing a spin site with high brow commentary is a marvel of the left’s power to use the self-righteous to confound the rest of us.

Media Matters has been very effective, too. One of their most infamous successes was breaking the Don Imus show by focusing all their spin-spun magic on an Imus quote referencing a girls’ basketball team. The domino effect was particularly frightening when you consider that then candidate Barack Obama called for Mr. Imus to be fired for saying something disrespectful but not out of the context of liberal pop culture (unless you happen to be white and conservative).

Media Matters is only one example of how the liberal grass roots movement has been well watered and cared for by rich caretakers who use their money, power and influence to invest in a future they desire, not one that’s best for all people. The media and entertainment world quietly vets and weeds out young conservatives so that we can’t disrupt the slow browbeating of the pop-culture addicted public with entertainment of substance that may awaken their better senses.

Truth is, we conservatives have no real backing other than core beliefs we know to be universally true. Where’s our David Geffen?

I’m calling on wealthy conservatives everywhere to please step forward and donate to the grass roots of the Republican Party. Fund our version of websites like Media Matters and MoveOn.org. Let’s get a conservative movie fund going and actually produce some indie films like “Fireproof” and then self-release so we can tout their financial success as front page news. We need to set up shop outside of Hollywood and bring back the studio system in some way. We need to create our own movie stars and pop culture heroes. In short, we need to create our own free Hollywood. Sound impossible? It’s not. If we build it…

If we act now, the liberal dream machine can be brought down. When conservatives storm the pop culture battlefield, unified and financed for the fight, it will be a shock and awe to the Left that will take them generations to recover from.

We all get into show business for the right reasons — because we love entertainment and want to have a hand in creating that special magic. I don’t think anyone begins down the road to Hollywood because they feel the urgent need to inject politics into their work in order to change the world. I certainly didn’t. And I bet George Clooney wasn’t thinking that way when he was on the set of “Facts of Life” for the first time at the start of his career. 

I started young, first as an actor, and now a writer. This is the only thing I have ever pursued and I have been at it since the day I left my small town in the summer of 1991. The Reagan/Bush era was coming to a close and I voted for Bill Clinton in 92 because as a reasonable person who watched the six o’clock news I could tell we needed something fresh. It was the first year I was old enough to vote and I was very excited to do it. However, in all those years that I was booking commercials or bit parts in movies and TV, no one ever made a peep about politics. To me politics was something separate and pretty boring compared to the dream I was after. If you asked me back then which political party my friends belonged to, I couldn’t tell you who was a Republican or who was a Democrat because it just wasn’t an issue.  

Divide and Conquer

Not anymore. Now I know just about everyone’s political views and they know mine. Is this really such a bad thing? No. In fact it’s a pretty amazing and healthy development for a democracy that has had less and less of its citizens participating in the voting process over the years. I have mostly liberal friends that absolutely hate my worldview and some of them have changed the way they treat me over the past few years, much to my disappointment. But at the end of the day I look at it like this — by standing up for what I believe I’m taling one for the team. The team being my country that I love.

It’s healthy that we’re at each others throats, fighting and battling for what we think is the best future for America. This seems to have been the only thing that has brought record numbers of people to the polls and in a short amount of time re-legitimized our Democracy as one that’s worth fighting for — even if we start by fighting each other. As I see it we’re more legit for having a family fight then we have been in years. Now we have to come together and start to get along. Please.

That’s why Big Hollywood is so vital to me — it understands what’s at stake and has the power to heal this divide in an industry that ultimately is the face of the nation and should better reflect its free citizens’ values — all of them. There really is a time and place for everything. We have so many outlets for content delivery that it shouldn’t be such a big deal to a small minority of citizens with one view that their values are not the dominate ones from coast to coast. It’s false domination through strong arming and it’s killing the product. So instead of movies as an escape you get movies as indoctrination tools. 

There’s a saying that politics is show business for ugly people. But recently show business has been politics for mean people. It has to stop. I never forget that when I disagree with someone they are simply one voter and do not have the power to single handedly change things. Some of the more enraged people in show business are too blind with hate to see this in someone like me. And to them I say — I still love you.

I can guarantee you that we will have a Republican president in office again. When one party loses it’s never the end for the other — it’s the new beginning. And this country elects only two types of leaders — hand shakers and butt kickers. So let’s get over our totalitarian dreams of winning this political battle forever because it’s not going to happen and it really would be the death of America to not have opposing points of view ultimately working in harmony.

Rounding Home

We don’t go to the movies to see how bad we are. We go to see how good we can be. To lift up the spirit and remind ourselves that the drama of our lives are shared by our neighbors. 

Until the climate in Hollywood has changed and all sides are free to express themselves, there ought to be a new sign added just underneath the Hollywood one that warns all dreamers; “George Bailey wasn’t born here”

Greg Gutfeld is posting his wondrous inanities and many pointed yet not vitriolic salvos have been launched against the intransigent Hollywood left and vital ones aimed at the right — for forfeiting culture to the opposition. Movie and television reviews and historical treatises abound, and we’re even breaking news.

John Ziegler launched a massive story where Sarah Palin unleashed on the media for treating her so unfairly. It is easily the mainstream news media story of the week. Big Hollywood is the site to go to for the inside scoop on Ziegler’s forthcoming documentary, “Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected“.

Actor-singer-songwriter Joe Lima in a timely fashion came to bury Guevara, but also put usually reliable director Steven Soderbergh in his place for wasting so much studio money and movie watchers’ time with the execrable, “Che.”

I have been media whoring it to get the word out. On Friday I did The O’Reilly Factor, the Rusty Humphries Show and earlier in the day I spoke with fellow crusader Laura Ingraham, as well as Fox Business Channel’s Stuart Varney. Earlier in the week: Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld, the Dennis Miller Show as well as my weekly appearance with talk radio’s long distance runner, Lars Larson. My mind is numb right now I can’t think of the rest.

I am deeply grateful to all the new contributors of Big Hollywood and all the ridiculously articulate and insightful commenters — some who are now contributors (Bill Willingham, Stage Right and James Hudnall). I know of few sites with as literate and knowledgeable a readership. (So far!) I must even praise the dissenters in our midst. For the most part the lefties have been thoughtful and not simply drive-by rabblerousers.

Tell me Gary Graham didn’t say what was needed on day one. He broke the ice and history will prove that. (FTS!) He’s still doing radio interviews over his day one: “One Angry Dude.” Move over, Paddy Chayefsky. Gary had the guts to put his name behind what many think, but are afraid to write.

We are blessed to have box office guru Steve Mason posting predictions and raw numbers of what movies are doing throughout the week. Because Steve is ahead of the competition and a newsie madman extraordinaire even Hollywood’s leftiest executives, actors and directors will be bookmarking Big Hollywood to stay ahead of the curve.

My father-in-law Orson Bean hearkened to a time when the film industry inspired people even in the bleakest of times. Bill Whittle showed off his effortless brilliant writing skills. (I’ll challenge anyone at the Huffington Post to a writer’s duel: Bill versus the best you got. The winner gets $1000 in carbon credits.)

Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) wrote a most creative call to arms for Hollywood’s closeted conservatives. And former congressman and Fox News host John Kasich sent word he and his wife are stoked that “24″ is about to start up again. California Assemblyman and huge history buff Chuck Devore gave two thumbs up for “Valkyrie.” More elected officials and aspiring candidates to come. Love it or hate Hollywood, even politicians are consumers.

Comedian and author Evan Sayet had the courage to write a piece that will surely piss off his music idol, Bruce Springsteen. Fellow comedian Rodney Lee Conover also went after sacred ground, Opie Cunningham. Stand up comedian Tom Shillue stood up twice in week one for what is right. Groundlings vet and reality TV producer Melanie Graham did a drive-by on day one, too. Apparently, she finds Hollywood taxing. (Ned Rice, come out to plaaay!)

Libertarians like Reason’s Nick Gillespie and film producer Maura Flynn picked a debate with the social conservatives with their more libertine and permissive attitudes toward adult material on television. (What do you think, Dallas Jenkins?)

Sorry, prigs, prudes and hyper-moralists, this site is open to the entirety of views from the center-right-libertarian spectrum. Shhh, I lean in the libertarian direction on content. (My favorite comedy of recent years is “Grandma’s Boy” and I can’t wait until my sons are old enough to watch it with me.) Except I wouldn’t have cited Dan Savage as a valued critical voice like Maura did. Yeesh.

We even had esteemed screenwriter and self-confessed “flaming liberal” John Ridley debunk the notion that “Three Kings” was crafted as a neo-con critique of the first Gulf War. John is a mensch for coming into “enemy territory.” Accomplished conservative screenwriters Robert J. Avrech, Michael McGruther and Andrew Klavan (thanks for kicking things off, Drew) set high writing standards for Big Hollywood on week one. And for that I am eternally grateful.

What do nationally syndicated columnists Ben Shapiro and Debbie Schlussel do when they aren’t fiercely taking on radical Islamists? Apparently watching film and television with a very critical eye. Entertainment reporter Rebecca Cusey is also looking out for our collective welfare. Now I really don’t need the New York Times anymore.

I owe National Review’s Jonah Goldberg and Kathryn Jean Lopez steaks and drinks for bringing their thoughts and mass following to the site on week one. (Jonah deserves the assist for bringing in contributors Willingham and Hudnall. They were commenting on his Watchmen thread when other commenters recognized their familiar names in the Industry.)

S.T. Karnick popped in to remind us of a less politically correct time — 35 years ago — when Charles Bronson’s “Death Wish” debuted on the big screen.

Thanks to Roger L. Simon for offering an exclusive peak at his new book, “Blacklisting Myself: A Hollywood Apostate in an Age of Terror.” Simon’s is a cautionary tale that in leftist Hollywood it’s bad to be a conservative or a Republican. But it’s worse to be an ideological turncoat.

Burt Prelutsky has been at this game longer than most of us and has alienated himself from the majority who he considered friends while writing for “M*A*S*H”. We’re proud to have you here, Burt.

Established bloggers, journalists and my travel companions like Jamie Kirchick (Azerbaijan), Michael van der Galien (Azerbaijan), Scott Johnson (Israel), Andrew Leigh (the Starbucks at the corner of San Vicente and Barrington) and Ace of Spades (numerous bars) also brought their guts, know-how and audiences to the Big Hollywood fold. Paging Pat Dollard!

American Thinker editor Thomas Lifson and classical musician Endre Balogh both took big stabs at figuring out how to fix the broken entertainment industry. I think we’re building an army that is willing to follow your prescriptions. Thanks for the blueprints, guys.

Filmmaker Michael Wilson (”Michael Moore Hates America”) clearly learned his lessons well as he tells conservatives the solution is in our hands. Not in only complaining.

My #1 pick to hit is Alphonzo Rachel. He is the conservative movement’s one-stop spoken word-musician-actor-commentator billion dollar baby.

If I can ask a favor of those commenting: Please post in your true name. I won’t hold you to it, but it really makes for a better experience for everyone. It also helps diminish the drive-by morons who use anonymity as their weapon — like the angry commuters who give you the finger and call you an a@#$#$ when they pass you in traffic. (So what if I like playing Tetris on my Blackberry while stuck in gridlock.) If you are going to use anonymity to save your career (like the politically incorrect Veritas Obviam), then try and come up with a handle that sticks and represents where you’re coming from — like “Stage Right,” for instance.

Speaking of… Thanks J.R. Head for serving our country and serving this mission. Too bad things are so bad in Hollywood you don’t feel safe using your real name. Guess fighting a war is tougher than Hollywood these days.

And to get into the spirit of the awards season, I’d also like to thank Darren Rush and Alex Marlow for working their butts off to make this site rock. And to Larry Solov, my business partner and Oscar Zeta Acosta, for allowing us to be so merciless to the liberalism he holds dear. (Just read Gutfeld’s stuff and your head won’t spin so much.)

Weirdly, for a guy who is obsessed with the intersection of pop culture and politics, I am not immersed enough in film and TV to confidently weigh in. I burned out watching repeats of Alice in the ’80s. (I still have recurring dreams: What happened to Tommy Hyatt’s basketball career?) So I’ve brought in John Nolte, a sincere and principled consumer of the product. I consider his opinion on a movie now more important than the LA TIMES, NY TIMES and all the alt weeklies combined. I like to play John off MTV’s Kurt Loder and the Washington Times Christian Toto, as well as checking in with Rotten Tomatoes before I invest a few hours in something.

I made a New Year’s resolution to see more movies and watch more TV in 2009. I want to start paying attention a little bit closer. A couple of nights ago I even went to see the premiere of My Bloody Valentine 3D. I can’t tell you how guilty I was for having enjoyed it. And I got to see Tom Atkins on screen again. I love all the older actors. Character actors (the “regular Joes” of Hollywood) especially. I’ve gotten to meet a ton of them recently, too. Many are regular people. Some are even conservatives and Republicans, they’ll quietly tell you. It shouldn’t be an issue. But it is. And that’s why Big Hollywood’s here now.

I feel it is my obligation at Big Hollywood to help introduce as many new quality voices as possible to show America that this country is not going to give up without a fight. The left has done an amazing job to convince people like us that we are a goofy, evil and stupid minority. That we are jingoistic. That we represent outdated ideas. It’s simply not true. They’ve insulted our intelligence. Called us names. And done so while overseeing the crapification of what should be America’s proudest export: our entertainment product.

We’ve only dipped a little into the (R)olodex. There are tons more names and surprises coming. Rush Limbaugh and Mark Steyn approve of what we’re up to. They’re even talking about us overseas. The water is warm. It’s time to come in and frolic.

This week we stopped a little bit of the totalitarianism. Next week let’s stop a little bit more.