Sounds at though John Lennon might have grown up before his untimely death:

John Lennon was a closet Republican, who felt a little embarrassed by his former radicalism, at the time of his death – according to the tragic Beatles star’s last personal assistant.

Fred Seaman worked alongside the music legend from 1979 to Lennon’s death at the end of 1980 and he reveals the star was a Ronald Reagan fan who enjoyed arguing with left-wing radicals who reminded him of his former self.

In new documentary Beatles Stories, s thought he was while he was his assistant.

He says, “John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on (Democrat) Jimmy Carter.

“He’d met Reagan back, I think, in the 70s at some sporting event… Reagan was the guy who had ordered the National Guard, I believe, to go after the young (peace) demonstrators in Berkeley, so I think that John maybe forgot about that… He did express support for Reagan, which shocked me.

What’s crazy is that the failed president known as Barack Obama makes Jimmy Carter look like Ronald Reagan and our current crop of “stars” apparently haven’t yet woke up to that fact. Of course, they might all be in the closet like Lennon. But that would be silly. Don’t they read Patrick Goldstein at the L.A. Times? Don’t they know they have nothing to fear in Hollywood if they openly oppose Obama?

Too Big to Fail, which premieres on HBO on May 23, 2011, features a star studded cast recounting the events that led to the financial crisis and bailouts by the U.S. government in 2008. It is a mini-series packed into a 98-minute made-for-television movie where several essential characters are quickly introduced and where finance and economics are casually discussed. It may help if one has a baseline of knowledge about the crisis before watching the movie. If one doesn’t know who Henry Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Timothy Geithner are or what Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, and AIG are, it may prove slightly difficult to follow.

Although the Director, Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential, 8 Mile), was limited to telling a very long and complicated story in a very short amount of time, he was able to skillfully pull it off. Perhaps this is because the screenwriter, Peter Gould (Breaking Bad), deftly adapted Andrew Ross Sorkin’s 2009 prize winning New York Times Bestseller, Too Big to Fail.

The cast was right out of a Robert Altman film, there was a large number of well known actors including William Hurt (Paulson – Sec. Treasury), James Woods (Fuld – Lehman Bros), Paul Giamatti (Bernanke – Chair, Federal Reserve), Bill Pullman (Dimon – JPMorgan Chase), Ed Asner (Buffet – Berkshire Hathaway), Billy Crudup (Geithner – President, Federal Reserve), Matthew Modine (Thain – CIT Group), Tony Shalhoub (Mack – Morgan Stanley), Topher Grace (Wilkinson), Cynthia Nixon (Davis), and many others. They all looked and played their parts very well with the exception that there seemed to be no effort made toward sounding like the people they played. It was difficult to get past the notable voices of the actors. Paul Giamatti sounds like Paul Giamatti and nothing like Ben Bernanke. Hurt sounded nothing like Paulson. Crudup nothing like Geithner. Perfection wasn’t necessary, but it seemed as though there was little to no effort made at all by the actors to at least sound a little more like the real people they were portraying and less like themselves.

The story opens on a  shot of Ronald Reagan. It is news footage of a speech he gives on deregulation. Credits play as we see an image of Clinton signing a piece of legislation as the audio of newsmakers make mention that this is Congress’ bill being singed. Alan Greenspan is seen and states, “Don’t regulate for regulation’s sake,” which is followed by Bush proclaiming everyone should live out the American dream and own their own home. Miscellaneous clips talks of high profits and subprime loans, and then mortgage meltdown and government bailout.

At this point, I am thinking this film is going to be about blame… and that blame is going to be deregulation ushered in by Reagan, the Republican Congress during the Clinton years, Bush 43, and Reagan through Bush’s Federal Reserve appointee, Alan Greenspan.

This prompts me to check the cast and crew to see who they support and if they are bringing their agenda to this story in their hopes to rewrite history and put Republicans in a negative light and Democrats in a positive light before the election in 2012. And, of course, the Director and the Writer are both ardent Obama supporters. All those at HBO support Obama like Co-President Eric Kessler, Co-President Richard Plepler, President of HBO entertainment Sue Naegle, President of HBO Films Len Amato and Executive Producers Paula Weinstein, Carol Fenelon, and Ezra Swerdlow. Even the Cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau and Casting Director Alexa Fogel have contributed to Obama’s 2008 campaign. And the Obama supporting list of actors is long too: Topher Grace, William Hurt, Matthew Modine, Cynthia Nixon, and Amy Carlson. As if that’s not enough, there are many other ardent left-wingers like Paul Giamatti, Bill Pullman, Tony Shalhoub, and Ed Asner.

Then the story opens on James Woods playing Dick Fuld, Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers… an ardent Democrat and Obama supporter. James Woods stands out as the political maverick in the cast. In a recent interview with New York Magazine, Woods is quoted as saying, “I’ve always said that the next Obama slogan should be, ‘Barack Obama: Putting America Out of Business,’ because that’s what he’s doing.” So I decided to turn off my bias filter and give this story a chance.

As the story unfolded, I saw that the villains in this film weren’t the Republicans, rather it was a single villain… the total and complete financial collapse of our nation, or as Bernanke puts it, “[replaying] the depression of the 1930s. Only this time… far, far worse.” So, regardless of any one American’s political affiliation watching this film, total and complete financial collapse is an enemy we can all collectively desire to defeat.

The heroes, however, that’s a little more complicated. The actual heroes of the story are Republicans Henry Paulson (Secretary of the Treasury), Ben Bernanke (Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve), and Independent Timothy Geithner (President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York). They artfully maneuver their way through the minefield of economic collapse. Bear Stearns has already collapsed, Lehman Brothers is on the brink, Merrill Lynch next, and with all this going on, AIG – the safety net for all these creditors – was in the process of imploding from its own lack of liquidity and inability to meet its obligations. If AIG falls, all the banks fall. People would pull their money out of their banks and there would be no George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) trying to stop the “run on the bank” by convincing his depositors to take only what they need from his honeymoon stash. America, as we know it, would be in ruins.

Every maneuver in their quest to stabilize the markets is met with unpredictable reactions. Once they believe they’ve averted disaster, the pundits, investors, and citizens react differently than expected. It’s a reminder of Nobel winning economist F.A. Hayek’s precept that, “The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.”

But in the end, as we all know, it was capital injections in the form of a Troubled Asset Relied Plan (TARP) that would “save the day.” In short, the plan would see the U.S. government purchase assets and equity from all financial institutions, even if they didn’t need it, in order to stabilize and strengthen the financial sector. As Bernanke put it, the upside would be stabilizing banks faster, the downside would be nationalizing a few banks. Their plan to soften the blow was that they would force private banks to participate in this plan under law, but that the government would not have a voting interest or the ability to tell the banks how they use the money injected into their coffers… leaving the question to the viewer, “They will lend it out, won’t they?”

But, was TARP the right solution? If one believes it was, then the heroes of this story are without a doubt Republicans Paulson and Bernanke. But, if one believes it wasn’t the right solution, then the Republicans are just kicking the can down the road. Regardless, the story is a quest for a private solution, according to Paulson.

As Republican public relations guru Jim Wilkson (Topher Grace) says at one point, “You just can’t hand the banks massive piles of cash. Nobody’s going to go for it. To the Republicans, it’s nationalization. To the Democrats, it’s a bailout. And the banks are going to go ballistic.”

The story is well crafted and builds suspense out of the unexciting topics of finance and economics. There were parts that bothered me, like making the Republican Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Christopher Cox, look like an immature boob, or Republican presidential candidate Senator McCain look like he is clueless on economic matters contrasted by Senator Obama’s grip on the subject, or simplistically blaming deregulation while omitting the fault of Carter’s Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, or that derivatives and subprime loans were born during Clinton’s presidency, or more importantly that in 2006 Republicans pleaded with the Democratically-controlled Congress to begin taking measures by pulling the reigns back on Fannie and Freddie to mitigate the impending economic disaster.

Those criticisms, however, were offset by so many of the lines delivered by Topher Grace’s character, Jim Wilkson, who best resembled the attitudes and feelings of most Americans during this time. At one point, it is suggested that the government purchases up the toxic assets of the banks, to which he responds, “Ohhh, call it cash for trash,” he also calls nationalization “the N-word” and that it is un-American, and he suggests that the government running the banks would be like the government running the Post Office, which they “run like a dream.” Another character addresses the issue that the government having the ability to dictate compensation would be the biggest “brain drain this country has ever seen.” And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is characterized as something like the head of the Mafia. Her character comes across as an elitist snob, which I particularly enjoyed.

The movie was a surprise. Although it wasn’t 100 percent balanced, it was enough for this right-winger to actually enjoy it. And the filmmakers did a pretty decent job packing in a lot of characters and a lot of story into a short amount of time. If Obama-loving HBO can pull off the upcoming Sarah Palin story, Game Change, and the Dick Cheney movie, Angler, with the same deftness and fairness, I will be pleasantly surprised.  Better yet… I will be astonished.

Only one problem: last week she proved that not only was she a raging blacklister, she proved that she was an ignoramus.

—–

It all went down on last Thursday night’s show.  Maddow decided to “debunk” Mike Huckabee’s “Learn Our History” program, a rethinking of the American journey from the conservative point of view.  Specifically, Maddow had a problem with Huckabee’s “new and improved past, a revised American history carefully constructed to make you feel more comfortable than you might otherwise feel about our national history.”  She then picked out one specific example – the left’s favorite example: “You may remember the House Un-American Activities Committee.  Part of that was Senator Joe McCarthy red-baiting the living heck out of the entertainment industry … In 1947, Ronald Reagan testified before that committee as a friendly witness, as the president of the Screen Actors Guild.  And in 2011, Mike Huckabee reimagines all of this as six words in his animated hagiography of Ronald Reagan for kids: … ‘He worked against Communism in Hollywood.’”  She then proceeded to attempt to blacklist the company that did the animation for the Learn Our History series, explaining, “If you know who brought this amazing animated sauce to life, please get in touch with us.  We would like to know.”

Whoa there, missy.  Let’s start from the beginning here: in ripping Huckabee, Maddow ignores the fact that Huckabee’s history is actually right, and hers is dramatically wrong.  First off, Senator Joe McCarthy had nothing to do with HUAC – a fact she should have realized since he was a Senator while HUAC was a House committee (in doing so, by the way, she missed out on nailing Richard Nixon, a fact that will surely have her bitching out her producers).

Second, and more importantly, Reagan did fight communism in Hollywood.  Despite the left’s constant insistence that communism was never a threat to Hollywood, every single piece of contemporary evidence demonstrates the contrary.  Reagan had belonged to probably two communist front organizations in Hollywood, the Hollywood Independent Committee of Arts, Sciences and Professions, and the American Veterans’ Committee.  As soon as he found out what they were, he quit.  As SAG President, Reagan had to carry a gun on him because his life was threatened by communists in the industry.  Communists in Hollywood attempted to shut down the industry on October 5, 1945, when they initiated the “Battle of Hollywood,” a strike called by the Conference of Studio Unions, headed by communist Herb Sorrell.  Big Peace’s own Peter Schweizer, in his beautiful biography, Reagan’s War, quotes the People’s Daily World, a Communist newspaper of the time: “Hollywood is often called the land of Make-Believe, but there is nothing make-believe about the Battle of Hollywood being waged today …. The prize will be complete control of the greatest medium of communication in history.”  The war wasn’t make-believe – communists threw firebombs and rocks at anyone attempting to enter the Warner Bros. lot.  Kirk Douglas said, “Thousands of people fought in the middle of the street with knives, clubs, battery cables, brass knuckles and chains.”  Reagan, who opposed the communist strike, refused to sneak onto the lot – instead, he rode a bus, sitting tall (against the advice of the studio’s security chief).

Furthermore, Reagan was no blind McCarthy advocate.  He condemned McCarthy, stating that he “used a shotgun when a rifle was needed, injuring the innocent along with the guilty.”  In those HUAC hearings, he refused to name names, and according to biographer Dinesh D’Souza, “testified in 1947 that he opposed government legislation from Washington that would make membership in communist groups or the espousal of communist views illegal.”  The proof is in the pudding – at the urging of famed director Mervyn LeRoy, Reagan worked to get an unknown actress named Nancy Davis off the blacklist (she had been mistakenly placed on it).  She later became Nancy Reagan.

The reason that those like Maddow can’t stand Reagan’s SAG presidency is because it gives the lie to the liberal notion that conservatives hate culture.  Maddow wants to depict all Republicans as evil (even though Reagan was a Democrat at the time), even as she attempts the same McCarthy tactics with regard to Huckabee’s animator as McCarthy did with regard to communists.  The only difference is that McCarthy actually had reason to try blacklisting communists – there were communists in Hollywood.  Maddow has no reason to target these animators.  It’s just another example of how the left tries to run anybody out of the entertainment business who disagrees with their fallacious take on history – even as they openly screw up history themselves.

Not Ray Stevens.

The man behind smashes like “The Streak” and “Everything is Beautiful” can’t stop recording, and he often does it with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Consider Stevens’ latest song, “The Skies Ain’t Friendly Anymore,” a swipe at the current security measures making life rough for today’s travelers.

I took off my shoes, my rings and watch

Then a guy said I need to check your crotch

And I’ll need to see all your liquid toiletries

He gave me a grope, a squeeze, and a pat

And I’ll tell you friends when I go to the vet

They treat my old bird dog with more dignity

“It’s a funny song, first and foremost,” Stevens tells Big Hollywood. “We gotta have security, but they’re going about it the wrong way. There needs to be a little more common sense used when we’re screening passengers.”

A simple song won’t change the world, but the conservative singer thinks songs can be a stealth weapon against societal ills.

“The human brain is a funny thing, it’s very susceptible to tempo and melody,” he says. “You put the right words to it and it becomes very influential.”

Stevens hasn’t flown since the latest batch of security measures hit the scene, but he’s heard enough stories to give the song his signature bite. He’ll take to the air this week to appear at CPAC.

“I plan on wearing a cup,” he jokes.

The Nashville-based Stevens isn’t just an award-winning crooner. He’s a shrewd businessman able to tap into the latest marketing trends. He’s sold more than 25 million records the traditional way but also turned to direct marketing and the Web in order to promote his products.

Today, he’s right at home online even if the medium leaves him ambivalent.

“It’ll get you out there, but it can diminish your income,” he says of the Web. “The inclination of the public is to steal [music] … it is what it is.“

Stevens’ remarkable career is a testament, in part, to an ability to embrace the latest trends. His “We the People” YouTube video has been played more than four million times.

“I enjoy being informed and keeping up with what’s going on. I’ve been very lucky to parlay that into success in what I do as my business,“ he says.

In recent months, Stevens has poured his support into the Tea Party movement, joining the grass roots effort in both body and song.

“It’s just good people who are worried about the country, and legitimately so,” he says. Stevens doesn’t mince words about President Obama or his administration, either.  “The people in charge of the government right now hate America,” he charges. “They want to bring down America, and the method they’re using, and it’s working, is to break the bank, break us economically.“

Stevens, 72, is celebrating 50 years in the entertainment industry, and he shows little sign of slowing down. Stevens just shot a video for “Skies,” which should go online soon, and is putting the finishing touches on a new 11-track disc of patriotic songs called “Spirit of ‘76.” It’s a companion piece to his recent record, “We the People.”

And then there’s his upcoming project tentatively called “The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music,” an epic endeavor which could spread over as many as eight CDs, he says.

When Stevens thinks of his country, his thoughts often go back to President Ronald Reagan and how he turned the nation around following the late ‘70s malaise of the Carter administration. Stevens lived in Georgia, a short distance from former President Jimmy Carter, but he reserves his admiration for the man who took over for him in 1980.

“He’s always been a hero of mine,” he says of Reagan.

——

A beautiful, heartfelt speech, eloquently delivered with nothing divisive that would turn off those fans of his who might not share a similar affection for President Ronald Reagan. There really is a way for big stars to thread a political needle without alienating half their audience, and Sunday morning at the Reagan Library, Gary Sinise showed the way. 

He’s also absolutely correct about the library, a must-visit for anyone’s bucket list. I’ve been there four or five times now and am always struck by the majestic setting and the quiet humility of the place. Sinise’s video tour goes a long way towards capturing much of what’s so unique and beautiful, but you really do have to see for yourself.

Hollie McKay over at Fox News:

President Ronald Reagan is getting a lot of attention across the United States this week, including a special video tribute during the Super Bowl, as the country honors the centennial of his birth.

In conjunction with the commemorations, Eugene Jarecki’s new documentary “Reagan,” which explores the “glamorous leading man with the common touch,” debuts on HBO Monday night. Jarecki told FOX411 that most Americans will probably be surprised to learn about the “real” Ronald Reagan, a man he feels is quite different from the one portrayed by the media and history books. …

—–

“One of the great myths about Reagan was that he was an amicable dunce – a guy that floated his years throughout the White House and was just the puppet of smarter men. That could not be farther from the truth from what I saw in getting to know Reagan very intimately through the footage and interviews that I did with people who knew and loved him and worked with him, and also people who were very critical of him,” Jarecki said. “He was a shrewd thinker in many ways, and far smarter than people gave him credit for. He was also a man with blind spots and shortcomings. But the idea that he was just a figurehead and not the driving force of his presidency is to not understand that he was really the driving force of a massive life that began with small town roots and ended up in the most powerful office in the world and arguably one of the greatest presidential legacies in the world. That did not happen by accident.”

Interestingly, Jarecki also told FOX411 he didn’t think doesn’t Reagan, an advocate of limited government, would necessarily approve of the Tea Party, a vocal proponent of limited government. Why? Namely, the issue of immigration.

“The Tea Party is very strongly anti-immigration, and Ronald Reagan was the complete opposite of that,” Jarecki said. “Reagan publicly declared his support for amnesty, I have clips of it in my film, and while doing so, he also signed a bill that gave 2.6 million immigrants amnesty while he was in office.”

Much more at Fox News.

—–

This via a press release from the Young America’s Foundation (YAF). Reagan paraphrases a bit of scripture in the preview below, “I look to the hills, from whence cometh my strength.” Reads the actual scripture, “I lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Divine; Maker of heaven and earth.”

SANTA BARBRA, CA – Young America’s Foundation announced today that their inaugural film production, Still Point in a Turning World: Ronald and his Ranch, will premier at the conclusion of the Foundation’s Reagan 100 Gala with Vice President Dick Cheney. The dinner banquet will be held at the Reagan Ranch Center on Saturday night. The film, written and directed by Stephen K. Bannon, is the definitive examination of Ronald Reagan’s beloved ranch and its personification of his philosophy and values. Ronald Reagan’s Rancho del Cielo, the “‘Ranch in the Sky,” was not just a respite from the chaotic world that his Presidency encountered, but also a living embodiment of the values he held dear. The Ranch was where hard work and self-reliance showed themselves in the principles he championed for all Americans: Freedom, Prosperity, Victory.

The thought of an homage to Reagan’s Ranch left me thinking about Sarah Palin’s recent travelogue from Alaska, which some in the establishment viewed as un-presidential. Somehow I doubt they would dare say the same thing about former President Reagan drawing strength from his ranch. It’s also worth noting how his Crawford ranch played such a significant role in the presidency of George Bush. The theme of a rugged outdoorsman, or perhaps one day a woman, and the American spirit, and even the presidency, goes all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt, if not further.

YAF has a section dedicated to the ranch at its website. There’s also a photo gallery and information on the documentary, which comes from filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon (Generation Zero, Fire From the Heartland). A ranch as context for an optimistic America based upon rugged individualism, or self-reliance, stands in stark contrast to the current occupant of the White House, a community organizer, who perhaps sees America and Americans as more in need of help from the government, than able to go it alone with only a more genuine liberty as their companion. If there are two competing political Americas today, perhaps those two concepts embody them best.

Certainly, both views see some role for both charity and the strength of the individual. But which view is dominant within each of the competing ideologies, Left versus Right? The answer to that question may be obvious; however, which view America embraces in 2012 and going forward is open to question. The answer to that second question may determine the course of America for some time to come. Personally, I’d take life on a ranch, over that in some government housing project, or planned community any day of the week.

Adam McKay wearing Aaron Sorkin’s glasses and his little sister’s scarf…

On the pages of the Huffington Post, the uber-wealthy “Anchorman” director tries to hide his class warfare (something only wealthy liberals can afford to wage because the rest of us count on the “rich” to hire us and buy our goods) as some sort of concern over the federal deficit, which is the very definition of disingenuous:

As disappointing as Obama has turned out to be I think he still knows that $110 billion more added to the deficit in the next two years is a bad idea.

And yet McKay registered no righteous HuffPo indignation, not a peep of HuffPo hand-wringing over what ObamaCare and the $800 billion union/bureaucrat giveaway we now call The Failed Stimulus would do to the deficit. In fact, over at McKay’s “Funny or Die,” Big Movie Star support for the budget-busting ObamaCare bill (that makes $110 billion look like piggy bank shakings) was everywhere.

Adam McKay cares about the deficit like I care about the upcoming “Tron” sequel.

McKay and the legions of dishonest Leftists like him only care about the deficit when such a posture works as convenient propaganda in order to sound like fiscal hawks and further their socialist agenda. McKay doesn’t even care how silly and hypocritical he looks because the shame gene is non-existent in these folks. Reading the likes of McKay fret over a $130 billion deficit increase is like watching the Little Dutch Boy put his finger in the dyke after its burst and then stand there with a smug look that says, “I am selfless and amazing.”

And let us never forget that McKay is a proud and well-loved member of an entertainment industry that constantly has its filthy, greedy hands grasping out and its powerful lobbyists swarming throughout this great nation of ours in a quest for more of our money. This is an industry that chases corporate welfare and tax breaks for its rich self like hobos chase dollar bills tied to fishing string. The argument is that Hollywood needs those tax cuts to create jobs. Well, duh; and whether they’re hiring or purchasing, so do those making over $250,000 a year.

Why does Hollywood only believe in trickle-down Reaganomics when they’re the ones receiving the tax breaks.

That, my friends, is a rhetorical question.

I’m not rich, have never been close to being rich and now that I’m on the darkside of 40, I doubt I ever will be rich. I lack the brains, I lack the ambition, and as long as my pretty wife is healthy and my TV is working what more does a fella need? But I do understand how the world works. I watched firsthand as Reagan’s massive across-the-board tax cuts not only spurred 30 years of unprecedented prosperity (interrupted only by two shallow recessions) and — and this is important – DOUBLED TREASURY REVENUES in just a few years. And guess who also believed in the exact same economic principles as Reagan and got the exact same results? President Kennedy.

It’s also worth mentioning that while the percentage of the income the wealthy were paying in taxes went down, the wealthy’s overall tax burden increased substantially. For example, between 1981 and 1988 the top ten percent saw their burden increase by 48%.

Maybe this is what McKay and his selfish ilk are really worried about?

If Obama’s epic fail of a stimulus has taught us anything it’s that money in the hands of the government is at best useless in spurring the economy, while Reagan and Kennedy taught us that money in the hands of the American  people will always bring a sputtering economy roaring back to life and in turn raise treasury revenues.

Let’s review:

• Tax increases don’t increase tax revenues.
• A good economy increases tax revenues.
• If you want a good economy, decrease taxes.
• This isn’t rocket science.
• This is good for America.
• This is why the Left hates it so.

But here’s my message to McKay and all Hollywood lefties suddenly concerned with the deficit…

Lead. By. Example.

You won’t do it with Global Cooling Global Warming Climate Change, but maybe you will here.

NEWSFLASH: You don’t need to run around in some helpless puppy-dog circle waiting for the government to raise your taxes.

Raise your own damn taxes in three easy steps:

1. To help federal and state deficits, refuse all production tax breaks, credits, etc.

2. Increase your own personal income and business taxes by simply doing the math and making a donation to…

Gifts to the United States
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Credit Accounting Branch
3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D
Hyattsville, MD 20782

3. Until steps one and two are completed, please stop embarrassing your hypocrite, socialist selves.

—–

“It’s beyond what you can think of as bankruptcy,” says documentary filmmaker Ray Griggs of the current state of U.S. debt. “In our world, you go bankrupt. In the government world, they just keep writing checks.”

In his new documentary, I Want Your Money , which opens nationwide in more than 400 theaters on October 15, Griggs examines the fiscal crisis the U.S. faces today by comparing two iconic presidents—Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan—and their views on the proper role of government.

Griggs talked with Reason.tv’s Ted Balaker about our nation’s mounting debt, his controversial iPhone app, Bobble Rep , and the difficulties he faced making a conservative documentary in Hollywood.

Run time approximately 7:30 minutes.

Interview by Ted Balaker. Shot by Alex Manning, Paul Detrick, and Zach Weissmueller. Edited by Weissmueller.

Visit Reason.tv for downloadable HD, iPod and audio versions of this video and subscribe to Reason.tv’s Youtube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

In this excerpt, pilots from the People’s Liberation Army Air Force serving as “volunteer” supporters for an Islamic uprising in Tunisia engage Italian F-104s, and are engaged by Lieutenant Renee Patterson and Commander Marissa O’Malley. 

DRAGON ONE 

Chin closed in on the Italian fighter. It would be his third kill of the night. He forced himself to remain calm as he waited for radar lock. This had been much easier than he had anticipated. The Americans had not responded yet. 

He thumbed the laser range-finder in his IRST, and smiled. He waited for a radar lock. These were hardly worthy opponents for him and his Flanker, but he had to destroy them nonetheless. 

Chin took a deep breath, and when the tone signaling he had a radar lock sounded in his earphone, he smiled.

 Then he pulled the trigger on his stick. 

The J-11 had a single GSh-301 cannon mounted on the right side of its fuselage. The gun fired for two seconds, sending twenty-five rounds towards its target.

Fifteen of the rounds hit, drawing a brief line from the F-104’s starboard wing and into the fuselage of the Italian fighter, causing an explosion as the external tank on the wing exploded, and crippled the aging aircraft. 

The fighter now was a sitting duck, unable to make a sharp turn or anything. It began a very slow, wide turn to the east, trying to close the distance to Sicily.

 Chin could not allow that. 

RED ONE 

The pilot struggled to maintain control of the fighter. He looked back. The Su-27 was behind him, closing in like a predator hunting a crippled deer. He didn’t even really go over his failure. He’d have enough time for that after he died. 

“Gipper, this is Red One. They’ve torn us apart. Protect the Sentry,” he said. He hoped his aircraft would hold together long enough to allow the Americans to get the bastards who had ripped half his squadron apart… 

“Red One, this is Champ 301,” a pilot said. “We’ll be there in two minutes.” 

The Italian colonel heard Red Four scream and turned to see the last vestiges of a fireball. He was all that was left, now. Against six Flankers, his life would be measured in seconds – minutes if he was lucky. 

“Forget about me.  Protect the Sentry,” he ordered. He had to keep leading the enemy away from the E-3. It was all he could do. He’d failed his men, but perhaps, there was a chance he’d carry out his mission of protecting the Sentry after all. It provided him some small comfort as he counted the seconds, knowing he would die… 

CHAMP 304 

Renee had seen the battle take place on her display. In the distance, she could see two aircraft, one behind the other. She couldn’t believe it had been that one-sided. But it had, and now, the Sentry was in trouble. The first group of Starfighters had been blown away, and the second group wouldn’t fare any better… 

Renee’s ESM system picked up the signals from the Flash Dance radar – it was still not quite able to detect the low-observable F/A-18E. That was good news. The bastards didn’t know the cavalry was that close. Which meant she could take a few of them out and extract some serious payback. 

At the same time, she found herself wishing she had a Phoenix to use. But she didn’t, and she could do nothing for another two minutes. 

“Red One, break right! Break right!” Renee heard O’Malley yell over the radio. She knew, however, it was not going to make any difference. 

OVER THE MED — NORTH OF TUNISIA

 The J-11 had flown into perfect firing position on the Italian fighter, and it didn’t really matter if O’Malley had called out the warning or not. 

The AA-11 Archer leapt off the pylon, and closed in rapidly on the crippled aircraft. When it struck, the 7.4-kilogram expanding-rod warhead detonated, causing the on-board fuel to explode. The Italian pilot had no chance to eject before the F-104S became little more than a cloud of debris. 

With that done, the Flanker turned to the north, closing in on the E-3, and its group of escorts. 

USS RONALD REAGAN 

Bradshaw and the controller watched as the Flankers turned north towards the Sentry. The second group of Italian Starfighters fired their Aspide missiles at the Flankers, who responded with missiles of their own. 

This exchange was just as one-sided. Three of the blue blips representing the Italian pilots blinked out of existence. 

“Champ flight is in range,” the controller said. 

“Tell them weapons free and good hunting,” Bradshaw said. 

“Yes, sir,” the controller said. 

CHAMP 304 

Renee had already locked on one of the Su-27s in the middle of the group. The better to break up the attack, and split off the Flankers. She had radar lock – hoping that the APG-73 would be able to track the target before the Su-27 knew she was there… 

She looked over the display and smiled. Perfect lock-on. She pressed the button on her stick. 

“Champ 304, Fox One.” 

The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, known as the AMRAAM, dropped off the pylon. Its rocket motor ignited, quickly sending the missile to Mach 4. In the display, Renee could see O’Malley’s AMRAAM also closing in on its target. 

Good, she thought, they had not double-targeted. Of course, it would have been hard given the three-to-one odds Renee and O’Malley were flying against. 

With that, she began to maneuver her F/A-18E, and allowed the AMRAAM’s inertial guidance to take over. She was going to have at least one kill tonight. After this slaughter, she wanted more than that. 

USS RONALD REAGAN 

Bradshaw watched as the F/A-18Es closed in after their first attack. 

“What’s the status on the alert fighters?” he asked. 

The controller took a brief glance. “We’ve got two F-14s up and on the way. Two S-3s will be up to serve as tankers, and then we’re going to put up four Eighteen-Charlies to cover the E-3.” 

Bradshaw nodded, and lit another cigarette, his sixth of the evening. Damn, this was not going to make the flight surgeon happy, he thought. 

But that would have to be handled later. 

“Fifteen seconds…” the controller said. The Slammers should be going active now, Bradshaw thought. 

He hoped that Patterson and O’Malley could take out a couple of those Flankers, and get out with no problems. They were outnumbered, and the F/A-18Es were not stealthy, just low-observable. It meant they could be detected – albeit it would take a shorter range. And their jammers were going at full-tilt boogie, making the task even harder for the enemy fighters. 

DRAGON ONE 

Chin banked hard right to evade the incoming missile that had just gone active. How had the Americans come this close? 

He punched chaff, and dodged. “Dragon Flight! Incoming missiles from the east!” 

The good news was that he had not been targeted. The bad news was that both planes that had been targeted were hit and destroyed. Neither of the pilots had any chance to eject. 

Damn the Americans! He was getting some contact, but the Americans were proving hard to track with all the jamming. Of course, he told himself, their new Hornets are semi-stealthy. We cannot lock on to them as far away as we could with the Italian planes. 

The American fighter radars were back on. But were they the same fighters, or was this another pair of aircraft? Chin did not know, and as a result, he had to assume the worst. 

USS RONALD REAGAN 

Bradshaw watched the display as two of the Su-27 blips vanished. Two hard kills, he told himself. That’s the first installment of payback. 

Still, it was not time to press his luck just yet. He’d already had one nasty surprise this evening, and God only knew what else his opponents planned. It was a lot tougher than he’d expected, although the OPFOR in the JTFEX four months back had been better. 

“Tell Champ Flight to pull back,” Bradshaw said. “There’s been enough for one night.” 

The controller nodded. He was madder than hell. It was just an evacuation of non-combatants. Civilians, really. And somebody wanted to prevent that from happening. That meant they wanted hostages. 

But while anger motivated a desire to strike, he knew that Bradshaw was right. It was time to pull back and to face the enemy on the strike group’s terms, NOT the on IFT’s. 

“Champ flight, this is Gipper. Pull back, I repeat, pull back,” he said. 

—–

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