I pray for those who lost so much on September 11, 2001. We are still not able to openly say “Radical Islam is our enemy,” and therefore I fear for our country.  There is this illusion that we are “too big to fail,” and yet we are more vulnerable than we have ever been in our very brief history. I only hope that those who gave “the last full measure of devotion” will not curse us from the grave!  God bless America.

Many people have asked if I am supporting “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” tomorrow, May 20th.  I am and two of the most moving arguments of why you should too come from the Huffington Post and Reason Magazine. 

In response to Islamic reaction over the movie Fitna, which juxtaposes images of Muslim violence with passages from the Qur’an (the same passages Islamic terrorists cite as justification for their violence), writer Sam Harris at the Huffington Post penned one of the best critiques of Islam (and our refusal to engage it) I have ever read: Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks.  In it, Harris rightly points out: 

The controversy over Fitna, like all such controversies, renders one fact about our world especially salient: Muslims appear to be far more concerned about perceived slights to their religion than about the atrocities committed daily in its name. Our accommodation of this psychopathic skewing of priorities has, more and more, taken the form of craven and blinkered acquiescence. 

There is an uncanny irony here that many have noticed. The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn’t, we will kill you. Of course, the truth is often more nuanced, but this is about as nuanced as it ever gets: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn’t, we peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for what our less peaceful brothers and sisters do. When they burn your embassies or kidnap and slaughter your journalists, know that we will hold you primarily responsible and will spend the bulk of our energies criticizing you for “racism” and “Islamophobia.” 

Our capitulations in the face of these threats have had what is often called “a chilling effect” on our exercise of free speech. 

In Mark Goldblatt’s Reason Magazine article this week The Poet Versus the Prophet he expands on many of Harris’ arguments and states:  (more…)

Okay, here’s my favorite headline of the day – no, make that year.

Take a look-see, for yourself, see.

Yes, the AP headline reads: “NY car bomb suspect cooperates, but motive mystery.”

Yeah it’s only a mystery if you’re in the media, and really stupid. Everyone else pretty much understands why the terrorist left a fuel bomb in an area filled with families.

He hates us. He hate our country, our culture. He wants you dead.

But the media – an entity full of fragile egos and bubble-encased boobs – just can’t see that. In fact, it’s kinda awesome how huge and gaping their blind spot toward radical Islamic fundamentalism is. If only there could be other motives for the mayhem, so they’d never having to place blame on anything (except America, of course).

So I thought I’d help them out, and find motives the media could be comfortable with.

So why did Faisal Shahzad try to blow up Time Square? (more…)

Fresh and innovative, Patrol Base Jaker  is a captivating retelling of the remarkable history of Afghanistan from the Russian invasion to the current U.S. counterinsurgency operation. Walk in the boots of the Marine combat and civil affairs teams in Helmand Province, Afghanistan as they fight to turn the tide against a resurgent Taliban and Al Qaeda. Travel to the front lines where U.S. Marines stand at a wicked intersection of war, radical Islam, international drug trade, reconstruction, and a counterinsurgency strategy designed to reestablish the rule of law in Afghanistan.

vimeo Patrol Base Jaker

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Did you ever hear Jimmy Carter sound like a war hawk? Neither had we. Until we saw Patrol Base Jaker. Seriously, check out the trailer and you won’t believe your ears. And this is no Michael Moore hatchet job either…piecing together sound bytes to create some sort of Franken-statement. It’s all authentic Jimmy.

But aside from the shockingly pro-military statements from Carter (and Obama, by the way) what we really loved about PBJ is the fact that it documents a tremendous US military success story in Afghanistan…the kind you’ll never find in the pages of the New York Times or on any of the so-called “mainstream” news networks. (more…)

Dhimmitude: an attitude of concession, surrender and appeasement towards Islamic demands.

South Park, equal opportunity satirists, have finally met their match.

No, not the Islamist barbarians who have issued an indirect fatwa against South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the unforgivable crime of satirizing the notion of Muhammed’s appearance.

The veiled threat posted on a jihadist website, is, I’m afraid, totally expected.

It is Hollywood itself that has betrayed Parker and Stone. 

In the episode—I viewed the original before it was censored—Muhammed was shown inside a U-haul, inside a mascot’s uniform, and finally as a child’s stick figure drawing.

It was hilarious.

And deadly. (more…)

Skillfully written screenplays are frequently structured around a series of setups and payoffs.

The most rudimentary example is, of course, the pistol in the desk drawer: revealed in Act I, and then in Act II, the gun is used to kill someone.

For an intensive workshop in cinematic setups and payoffs you should screen the Back to the Future series, where setup and payoff are elevated to an entirely new level.

It’s kind of fascinating, watching Obama construct the setup for his Afghanistan policy. He follows a familiar dramatic structure:

1. Anguished self-reflection, all quite public in order to display nobility of character. (more…)