You’ll have to click on the image below to watch the video, which is legitimately clever and funny. Christianity takes a few hits, but I don’t know of any Christian who can’t laugh at his or herself as long we’re not — per the usual — being singled out by cowardly satirists posing as “ballsy.”

Thankfully, that is certainly not the case here and as expected, the very same leftists who would praise the bravery of anyone trashing Christians, are now screaming “Islamophobia!”:

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Gothamist:

While Leary is probably trying to shock his fans out of their pre-holiday stupor—fueled by a never ending stream of wallpaper Christmas tunes—we had a very tough time sitting through this particularly xenophobic one-note joke.

Islamophobia Watch:

A jaw-droppingly Islamophobic video has been posted by Irish-American comedian Denis Leary on WhoSay. Some years ago Leary took a firm stand against Mel Gibson’s antisemitism. But apparently crude anti-Muslim stereotyping is fine with Leary.

Please note that neither one said anything objecting to Leary’s shots at Christianity.

Who’s the “phobe” now?

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A couple weeks ago my good friend and gifted songwriter/musician Andrew (BigDawg), Co-Founder of BigDawg Music Mafia, and I were tuned in to “America Akbar” on Radio Jihad Network, a weekly internet radio show hosted by our good friends Gadi Adelman, a counter-terrorism expert, speaker, and author; and his lovely co-host/producer Reese Ccup.  During the show, a gentleman named George called in to share some of his thoughts about 9/11 as he was one of the firefighters there that day who lost so many of his brothers when the towers collapsed and is personally suffering from health issues brought on from the Ground Zero toxins.

Reese wanted George to hear a song they often play on their show that Drew and I had written in 2009 called “A Hero’s Creed” – a tribute to all the 9/11 first responders and our military members fighting the war on terror.  There was a line in the original version that said “Eight years have passed…no attacks on our land…we owe it to those who heed the call.” Sadly, since the new administration moved into our nation’s capital, we can no longer say that.

We needed to update the song, so we did.  Somehow, however, through a slight miscommunication regarding our updating of the song, Gadi was under the impression we were working on a brand new 9/11 tribute song and would have it ready in time for his 9/11 Tribute show on 8 Sep.  We knew we had to write a new song for Gadi’s show.

YouTube "Stairs To Heaven" by Lisa Mei Norton & Andrew (BigDawg)

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It did not take long for us to come up with the concept for the song:  a young girl who lost her father – one of the 343 firefighters who died when the towers collapsed – who is now a young woman looking back with sadness on all that she lost that day and a determination to follow in her Dad’s footsteps and serve her country in uniform…knowing one day she would meet him again.

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The BBC’s entire approach to this subject is wildly dishonest. There are no problems between Muslims and non-Muslims in America. We got along just fine pre-9/11, got along just fine the day after 9/11, and get along just fine today.

The BBC:

Influential American broadcaster Katie Couric has suggested a way to change attitudes to Muslims in the US.

Pointing to the success in the 1980s and 90s of TV sitcom The Cosby Show in improving relations between African-Americans and whites, she argues that a Muslim version of the show may counter some Americans’ negative perceptions of the community.

But just across the border, in Canada, this “Muslim Cosby Show” already exists. Little Mosque on the Prairie, made in Toronto, is recording its sixth and final series. 

However…

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From the Associated Press:

NEW YORK — A frequent contributor to a jihadist website has threatened David Letterman, urging Muslim followers to “cut the tongue” of the late-night host because of a joke the comic made on his CBS show.

The Site Monitoring Service, a private intelligence organization that watches online activity, said Wednesday that the threat was posted a day earlier on the shumukh al-Islam forum, a popular Internet destination for radical Muslims.

Jihadist didn’t like his joke…

The contributor, who identified himself as Umar al-Basrawi, was reacting to what he said Letterman did after the U.S. military announced on June 5 that a drone strike in Pakistan had killed al-Qaida leader Ilyas Kashmiri.

Al-Basrawi wrote that Letterman had made reference to both Osama bin Laden and Kashmiri and said that Letterman had “put his hand on his neck and demonstrated the way of slaughter.”

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So a Marine reservist, whose odd behavior last week set off a scare at the Pentagon, has now been charged in shootings targeting military buildings that occurred last year.

His name is Yonathan Melaku, and he was originally picked up while lurking inside Arlington National Cemetery.

(he was probably just planting flowers)

Anyway, for peaceful reasons i’m sure- he was carrying spent shell casings, some ammonium nitrate and a notebook containing stuff about Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

But I imagine that was just fan fiction.

[My notebooks contain reams of sketches i've made of Clive Owen. I'd show them to you, but they're personal.]

Anyway, now Feds are charging him with a bunch of stuff. But I’ve read this story around the web, and so far the only spot where his religion was noted, was on some blogs – and FNC.

Because, as you know, he’s a militant Christian.

Just kidding: he’s Muslim.

And I confess, we’re a bunch of Islamophobes for bringing it up.

And yet we have another example, of willful blindness – born out of political correctness and the fear of being labeled a bigot.

This kind of terror-based incident has happened before, also involving our military.

At Ford Hood, tragically.

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On April 21, 2010, Comedy Central aired episode “201” of South Park. The previous episode, “200,” which was a celebration of their 200th episode, sparked controversy from a radical fringe Muslim group who threatened violence on the show’s creators because of their use of the character Muhammed. After seeing the season 14 DVD of South Park, the cowards at Comedy Central continue to bow to the wishes of radical Muslims, showing that our free speech can be silenced by violence or the threat of it. Following this path, which runs contradictory to almost anything Comedy Central has done in the past, willingly provides a disturbing upper hand to any groups wanting to limit free speech and the power of our popular culture.

When a new episode of South Park airs, it is generally available for streaming shortly thereafter from South Park Studios. In the case of “201,” we got this message:

Following this message, there was a long list of people upset that the network, who has courageously stood by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone over the years, decided to cower in the corner and bleep important sections of episode “201.” In fact, Muhammed was shown in a bear suit, an obvious play on the fear of showing Muhammed on TV. Even that was censored out (important note: Comedy Central has allowed South Park to show Muhammed in the past). As the dust settled, many people (including myself) felt that the truth would be told and free speech will prevail, on some level, when the episode comes out on the season 14 DVD.

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Amazing footage, full of righteous passion and truth. The seven minutes only get better as they unspool, especially when actress Veena Malik completely turns the argument around on both the sanctimonious newsman and the downright frightening Muslim cleric.

In a word, it’s inspirational.

Looks like Pakistan has something in common with America. Like here, their women appear to be the best and bravest badass truth tellers — the biggest threat and enemies to an oppressive media, entertainment and political establishment ready to destroy and punish those who dare stray off of a certain ideological plantation.

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So Sunday, a few hundred protesters showed up in Times Square to denounce the upcoming House hearings on Radicalization in the American Muslim community.

The crowd, well-organized with professional signs that read ” ‘Today I am a Muslim Too,” targeted their ire at Peter King, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

The protest was forgettable in its predictability; but the media coverage was even worse in its report-by-numbers portrait of the “event.”

First, it was mandatory to toss the term Islamophobic at anyone in favor of the hearings. Also, you must employ the word “witchhunt” when possible.

And because he announced the hearings, King is now being compared to Senator Joe McCarthy, the bellicose anti-communist censured by the Senate in the ’50’s.

Sure, Joe’s manic zeal was toxic, but it didn’t kill tens of millions of people. I mean, if you think McCarthyism was worse than Communism, you’re a loon. But you’re also a loon if you think Peter King’s concern over Islamic radicalism is somehow worse than Islamic radicalism itself.

The fact is, they’re labeling King the “new McCarthy” to keep him from doing his job.

Which is to make us safe.

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A friend and colleague has informed me that there appears to be a groundswell of outrage among conservatives regarding last night’s episode of the ABC TV mystery series Castle. The complaint is that the episode is anti-Christian, pro-Muslim, politically correct political propaganda.

In fact, ABC’s Castle web page today opens with the following pop-up window inviting visitors to take an extensive survey regarding the episode and the show in general (which I dutifully filled out):

We would like to invite you to participate in a short survey about the episode of CASTLE that aired on 2/28/11. This episode featured Castle and Beckett rejoining Fallon’s task force, the detectives suspecting a former U.S. soldier of planning a terrorist attack, and Castle and Beckett partnering with a Syrian official to track down the bomb.

Having seen the episode, I can assure you that the story cannot be fairly characterized as bigoted or anti-Christian.

The episode, “Countdown,” is the conclusion of a two-parter in which the show’s protagonists (NYC police detective Kate Beckett and her unpaid-consultant partner, mystery writer Richard Castle) attempt to prevent a mass murder through detonation of a nuclear “dirty bomb” in Manhattan. (Note: spoilers hereafter.)

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“Eradicating Islamophobia won’t be easy.”

The foundation of this entire skit is based on our “Daily Show” superiors’ elitist and bigoted opinion that America and Americans have some sort of prejudice towards Muslims, which is why the six minutes really don’t work. The comedy is mean-spirited towards its own audience, reeks of condescension, and simply isn’t true. And of course, Muslims aren’t made fun of, not even the divisive and controversial Ground Zero Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who’s made to look like a warm, good-humored grandfatherly-type in order to further memory-hole, well, scary stuff like this – stuff that’s truly ripe for satire once we find a satirist brave enough. 

But who does get mocked as bigoted and intolerant? Well, because we all know that each and every Muslim is a regular Phil Donahue when it comes to human rights, Stewart & Co. assemble a group of everyday Americans, a carefully cherry-picked group to represent all of us as bigots (or they’re actors assembled for the exact same purpose).

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What he had said was too volatile and I felt that his statement, which I won’t repeat, seems wrong to me because Muhammad Ali is a Muslim. Is he responsible? Is that what you’re saying, Bill, that it was him or Kareem Abdul Jabar? You mean they did that?

Whoopi Goldberg is all too happy to give fugitive director Roman Polanski the benefit of the doubt, to put an asterisk next to his raping and sodomizing of a 13 year-old girl, because in Whoopi’s world world if you can spring her from Barbara Walters’ hen-house and get her back on to a real film set, your rape and sodomy don’t quite qualify as rape and sodomy. But Bill O’Reilly is a racist devil for not hyphenating the word “Muslim” with “extremist.”

When O’Reilly said what he said the whole world knew what he meant, including Whoopi and Joy as they cluck-cluck-clucked their way off the stage. The idea was to try and tar O’Reilly as a racist and of course to feel sanctimonious about themselves…

And who knows, maybe there was an egg somewhere off-stage getting cold. (more…)

Transcript courtesy of Mediaite:

And when I say Westerner, I mean someone who believes in the values that Western people believe in that a lot of the Muslim world does not. Like separation of church and state. Like equality of the sexes. Like respect for minorities, free elections, free speech, freedom to gather. These things are not just different from cultures that don’t have them. … It’s better. … I would like to keep those values here.

We’re not sure anyone but Bill Maher could get away with telling these truths without losing their job due to a Soros-funded jihad launched by those blacklisters over at Media Matters. That’s what they did to Juan Williams, and we are curious as to why Eric Boehlert and the rest of his lotion boys have been so quiet over this.

Not to mention CAIR.

And what about Jon –meet my fatwa-loving pal Cat Stevens but can’t we all just get along — Stewart?

We don’t want to encourage any attacks on Maher, but consider this Exhibit 11,412 in the open and shut case proving their stunning but always predictable lack of principle.

So, NPR canned Juan Williams (yeah, like I wasn’t gunna do this story). If you aren’t familiar with NPR, simply imagine yourself, on a bus, sitting next to Judd Hirsch.

Anyway, it’s all due to comments Juan made on the “The O’Reilly Factor,” last Monday. There Bill asked him to respond to “The cold truth [that] jihad, aided …by some Muslim nations, is the biggest threat on the planet.”

Williams replied, “I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot….But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.”

Racist.

He also brought up the Times Square scumbag – who had no problem saying that the war with America is just beginning.

But as Slate points out, the passage quoted by NPR was a spoon-fed clip that dumps out before Williams says his worry reflects the problem of generalizing about groups of people.

I doubt Media Matters will cover that. (more…)

“I regard criticism as an art, and if in this country and in this age it is practiced with honesty, it is no more remunerative than the work of an avant-garde film artist. My dear anonymous letter writers, if you think it is so easy to be a critic, so difficult to be a poet or a painter or film experimenter, may I suggest you try both? You may discover why there are so few critics, so many poets.” - Pauline Kael

Here, Kael beautifully verbalizes the haughty arrogance of most film critics, from Peter Travers to Glenn Kenny. The subtext of their work reveals an over-inflated sense of importance. I contend that while the arrogance of film critics stems from their intense desire to believe the lie that Kael puts forth – that film criticism is difficult, as evidenced by the ratio of film critics to poets. It’s not really a lie, but a delusion: there are more poets than film critics because people actually aspire to be poets. Or filmmakers. Or rappers, or whatever – but film critic? Eh.

The sense of self-importance that permeates much of film criticism feels to me like the ravings of outsiders with a case of a mass inferiority complex. Too many critics demonstrate a need to show how smart they really are, which leads them to insert political and social commentary into their reviews. Too often they review the business, when they have no real idea how the business works. Or the rating system, and how it favors the studios. No one personifies this more than Roger Ebert. His weapon of choice is hyperbole, which he uses to disparage Republicans and the great unwashed in general. If a few minorities get unintentionally infantilized in the process, oh well. (more…)

Iranian director Jafar Panahi and his clashes with the Islamist mullahs are causing another stir in the international film world. His short film “The Accordion” was scheduled last week to open this year’s Venice Film Festival, but the Iranian government would not let him leave the country to attend. Earlier this year, Panahi was kept in jail during the Cannes Film Festival where he had been invited to sit on the jury. The still-pending charges surround trying to make an anti-government film.

He is not taking it lying down, either, telling Agence France-Presse in Tehran that the mullahs “have a problem with me personally.”Panahi also told AFP that even though he had been released on bail shortly after Cannes, he had been officially banned from making films and traveling abroad, which just makes the whole country one big jail. “When a filmmaker is not allowed to make films, it is as if his mind was still imprisoned. Maybe he is not locked up in a small cell, but he keeps wandering in a much bigger jail,” he said.

Unlike some political martyrs, though, Panahi is worth celebrating and getting to know on artistic grounds, by conservatives and other Americans, even those who don’t often go to or rent foreign or “art” films. He is no talentless provocateur or a mere stick with which to beat the mullahs (justifiably, do I need to add?) about their rhetorical heads. He has won major prizes at the world’s three most prestigious juried festivals – Berlin, Cannes and Venice. He makes accessible and generally entertaining films about the mullahs’ treatment of women. Perhaps worse yet in the eyes of Ahmadinejad and Co., Panahi portrays ordinary Iranians and even sometimes the regime’s enforcers as just unenthusiastically going along to get along. Through such surface subjects as a child’s desire for a goldfish, some women’s efforts to see a soccer game, and a man’s hopes to prove himself worthy of marrying his love, he makes powerful films about frustration in the face of official corruption and social indifference. (more…)

***UPDATE: In an effort to give Mr. Ebert a chance to reply to my article, I posted a link to it in the comment section of his blog. To his credit, he published it. Regrettably, his entire reply was, “Yeah, that’s big regular assignment”. Mr. Ebert chose to respond to my rebuttal with a petty personal insult (with poor grammar, at that). It’s typical Liberal elitism, of course, and not entirely unexpected. It’s also the hallmark of Liberal argumentation strategy: when called out, change the subject. — LM

It breaks my heart to write this article.  Roger Ebert has been a part of my love for cinema since I was eleven years old.  When I was in the hospital for two months at age 19, I devoured his entire book of movie reviews.  I even met him at the 2002 Conference on World Affairs when he dissected David Lynch’s masterpiece Mulholland Drive (though I thought he needlessly threw in the towel regarding the film’s meaning).   I don’t need to expound on his contributions to film education and his championing of truly great movies.

Nevertheless, I don’t know the man. I only know his words. Yet I have to wonder if the physical and mental trauma Roger has endured has taken a toll on his mind.  He always seemed apolitical to me.  He just wrote great movie reviews.  However, he started a political journal on his website in the past year.  It’s full of the same clap-trap expected from those on the Left: false premises, poorly constructed arguments, and replies to comments which dodge legitimate challenges.

What really concerns me, though, is that it actually makes less sense than the normal clap-trap.  It’s nonsense.   Suddenly, all the great analysis directed at thousands of films — obviously pouring forth from a great intellect — has vanished.  Is it because Mr. Ebert shuts his mind off when discussing politics?  Is it because the anger he must have concerning his condition is being projected onto the Right? After all, the journal started after all the physical damage had been done to his appearance.

Or has Roger Ebert actually lost his mind?

His bizarre screed from September 1 stems entirely from, “a Harris poll in which 57 percent of [GOP] party members believe he is a Muslim, 22% believe he “wants the terrorists to win,” and 24% believe he is the Antichrist”. (more…)

The Islamists mean to censor us one way or another: if not from fear of retaliation, then by retaliation. Shut your mouth, still your pens, stop thinking, or we will do it for you. Permanently.

Molly Norris, mild-mannered cartoonist, started a fire she cannot put out. As Rick Santelli’s “rant” on TV from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade fueled the Tea Party, Norris inspired thousands revolt against Islam. In a desiderative whim, she drew innocuous, refrigerator-door magnet caliber pictures which she claimed were images of Mohammad: a spool of thread, a teacup, a spoon, and other mundane things. Overall, they looked more like idle doodles than passionate expressions of the freedom of speech. She posted them in protest of Viacom’s Comedy Central forbidding its cartoon show, “South Park,“ to depict Mohammad in a bear suit.

That spawned the immensely popular “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!” on Facebook. And thousands did draw. It is interesting to note that one can invite people to “draw Lincoln,” and we would see images of Lincoln ranging from good to unrecognizable. But how does one draw an image of a person whose face has never been seen, except in imagination? Imagination took hold.

Numerous responses have appeared on Facebook where artists comment, “We have reached 50,000 members. As the news of the rebellion against the attacks to our liberties are heard, brave people join the campaign to stave of those who would annihilate that which we believe in, freedom. Thomas Jefferson’s quote is also on the Facebook page. “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”

Americans and their friends across the globe responded en masse. The defiance was overwhelming, producing more cartoons than the Danish could draw, many of them ingenious. For a while, everyone was a Guy Fawkes, or a Paul Revere, or a Joan of Arc. (more…)

[Ed. Note: "Unthinkable" went straight-to-DVD and hits stores tomorrow. Here's a sneak peek so you know better what you're spending your hard-earned money on.]

I’ve only been in “Hollywood” the past few years. My experience is limited to a couple of TV writing credits, serving as the technical advisor for two series, consulting on several projects, and pitching a spec pilot around town. I’ve found a little more success in having two books published: a recently released thriller and a true-crime autobiography of my undercover work in the FBI. But even with my limited experience, I realize what you read in a script is not necessarily what makes it to the big screen. All this to say, I have not seen “Unthinkable” starring Samuel L. Jackson, but I have read a late version of London-born and British-educated Peter Woodward’s script. 

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I always hated it in high school English when the teacher wanted to know the poet’s intent for a particular verse. I never saw any deeper meaning than he wanted the words to rhyme, so I don’t pretend to question why this script was written or produced. The screenplay has a lot of action and will probably stimulate controversy on both sides of the aisle. It asks the question “to what length do we go to obtain information which will potentially save hundreds possibly thousands of lives?” 

Maybe as a caveat before reading any further I should tell you: my son is a Marine; I have no problem with the enhanced interrogation techniques as employed by the Bush administration; there is a lot I would do to save the lives of our servicemen and women who risk their lives daily because our nation asked; I have fired my service weapon in the heat of battle; and have absolutely no issue with defending myself or others who are in grave physical danger.  (more…)

The newly formed Citizens Against Religious Bigotry launched a pre-emptive strike against Comedy Central today. The coalition formally announced its opposition to “JC,” a new animated comedy in the planning stages at the network.

Comedy Central’s own statement on the show describes it as the story of “JC (Jesus Christ) wanting to escape his father’s enormous shadow and to live life in NYC as a regular guy … meanwhile his all-powerful yet apathetic father would rather be playing video games than listening to JC recount his life in the city.”

The group held a teleconference earlier today to urge advertisers not to support inflammatory programming and let it be known the show won’t go through the production process without a stiff fight.

Media Research Center president Brent Bozell says the project is “designed to mock and ridicule” Christianity.

“This is a deliberate attempt by Comedy Central to be as offensive as they can,” Bozell says, adding a petition aimed at stopping the show before it begins drew 93,000 signatures in just one week. “You don’t have to be Christian to be offended by this.”

Bozell says the network’s “glaring” double standard regarding the treatment of religion has been apparent for quite some time. (more…)

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