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Now, understand that it gives me no pleasure to report that Terra Nova is off to a crappy start.  None.  Anyone living in California knows lots of people who work in the Industry, from crew to talent, who rely on production to feed their families.  We want shows to be great, to be hits, to run for years.  And none of them got up and said “I want to take an interesting idea and turn it into a hackneyed, tedious death march.” Well, maybe the writers and producers did – the vicissitudes of chance do not account for how they managed to hit every tiresome cliché and make every bad choice available every time.

The conceit of Terra Nova is that a bunch of people from 2189 are sent back in time from a polluted, fascist Earth 85 million years to restart human civilization.  They face all sorts of ferocious dinosaurs, which is cool, and that have all sorts of bitchin’ guns, which is also cool.  Steven Spielberg is involved with it, and once upon a time he made movies I actually liked.  Fox is spending a fortune on it.  It should be kinda interesting and kinda fun.

But no.

No, the premiere was a ponderous nightmare composed of the same cookie-cutter, lazy choices that have been wrecking such shows and movies for years.  Like the mega-disappointing Walking Dead, which somehow made a zombie apocalypse boring, Terra Nova has somehow done the same for another cool idea – this one being carnivorous dinosaurs. 

Terra Nova has done a lot of things wrong, though it did do a few things right.  But the premiere’s meh ratings, despite months of hype, showed that the creators better get a grip before the show joins its main attractions in extinction.  Here are some key takeaways from the endless two-hour premiere:

1. Enough of the Manufactured Family Drama:   Surprise – our hero has a family, and they spend all of their time talking about their feelings toward one another.  The father, played by Jason Mara, was in prison because the family had an extra kid and he only rejoins the family (after the world’s simplest maximum security prison breakout) as they step back in time.  So he has issues.  With his wife.  And his teen son.  And his teen daughter.  And his other daughter.  And they talk about them.  All the time.  Then they hug.  It all makes me want to projectile vomit.

Now, screenwriters, I know they teach you at screenwriting seminars that you have to create a rooting interest for the audience.  Okay, here, rooting for them to win the gunfights with the rampaging velociraptors is plenty interesting.  Interminable discussions of emotions followed by cuddling, not so much.

Why …. why …  does every show seem to have to focus on bizarre daddy issues?  I want an exciting, interesting entertainment experience, not to sit there watching you work out your personal psychodrama.  Just show me a tyrannosaurus biting a tank.

Remember 2005’s War of the Worlds?  It sounded great on paper.  You got aliens and Spielberg and special effects…it should have been awesome.  And what did we get?  We get this idiotic domestic drama with Tom Cruise arguing with a couple of urchins as they drive around the Eastern Seaboard.  Sure, he beat on Tim Robbins, which was cool, but otherwise it was like Are We There Yet? with an older, duller Maverick taking the Ice Cube role. 

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And I bet Cube would have spent less time bickering with the shorties and more time going upside some alien head.  Yeah, now that would have been the mierda.

Look.  There’s this stupid notion floating around out there in Tinseltown, promulgated by self-appointed script gurus and enforced by Hollywood suits whose only flair for creativity is within the realm of their personal debaucheries, that the focus of every story needs to be a loving family that fights then hugs.  Give me a freaking break.  That’s the same thinking that turned Super 8 into Super Suck.

Someone needs to dare to speak truth to hackery and say, “How about the story focus on something cool, like running from dinosaurs, without taking momentum-halting stops to work through abandonment issues every time something interesting is about to go down?”  Which leads us to the next point:

2. Can the Characters Not Be Idiots?  Characters doing dumb things, like going for a naked swim while Hatchet Boy is running around the abandoned summer camp, has been a cliché for decades.  In Terra Nova, it’s even more frustrating because it usually revolves around the same insane need to stop the story  every two minutes in order for a couple characters to hash out their stupid feelings. 

Someone is missing and needs to be found before darkness falls and the dinos come out to dine…what do you do?  Do you grab your rifle and join other trained warriors, moving quickly to locate and rescue the lost people, or do you get into a lengthy argument with your wife who isn’t a trained warrior but wants to come along anyway because…well, I don’t know…because fighting off carnivorous reptiles isn’t hard enough without bringing along some unarmed civilian to slow you down. 

Oh, and when you do find an injured person in the middle of nowhere, do you: A) Secure the wounded person, load her in a vehicle, and move out before the monsters come back or B) spend some time out in the open in the dark, lizard-filled forest discussing your feelings.  Well, if the answer was “A”, it would be Terra Awesome.

3. The Concept Is More Interesting Than Any Character:  Sorry folks, but I know that your gurus tell you character is everything, but this isn’t freaking Ingmar Bergman.  I’m not tuning in to delve deep into the psyche of… geez, I watched two hours of that show and already forgot the main character’s name.  Whatev.  I don’t care about the characters.  The concept is cool; if I want a character study, I’ll seek out a story that doesn’t involve time travel to the Jurassic Age.  You feel me?

Now, the concept is not just dinosaurs.  The idea of starting a civilization over could be really interesting if they started exploring issues like how society was organized, whether they would try communal living or a market, dictatorship versus democracy.  The focus on feelings overwhelmed most of it, but there were interesting hints at how this new society was forming.  Contributions seem to be made according from the ability of the colonist, while resources appear to be distributed according to his needs.  We call that communism; Hollywood people called that “Awesome…for you peasants.”

I wonder if the producers will have the guts to confront the failure of non-market economics in a way that the super-lame – and overtly fascist/socialist Star Trek: The Next Generation (Yeah, I went there Trekboys) – never did.  Probably not – Terra Nova’s executive producer Brannon Braga is a Star Trek alum.  So we’ll probably hear lots about a wonderful new world without greed or capitalism or stuff.   It’ll be a paradise, just like the pilgrims (whose name the series appropriates for the colonists) experienced in New England prior to introducing free enterprise.  Communism worked really well there, just like it has everywhere it’s been attempted.  At least, that’s what Chet the Unicorn told me.

4. There Are Hints of a Mythology Which Must Be Ruthlessly Suppressed:  Ever since Chris Carter’s The X-Files started the trend by weaving its detailed, incoherent, stupid back story into its episodes, every sci-fi/fantasy show on TV now has to have some elaborate and pointless mythology.  Mythology episodes are always death – you can tell a terrible X-File episode because it starts off with some portentous Scully monologue and inevitably ends up raising more questions and bile than it answers. 

Please don’t think we need that here.  You have man-eating dinos.  You don’t need an all-encompassing conspiracy by powerful forces that come together in a terrifying effort to occupy the imaginations of lonely 35-year old virgins with nothing better to do than think about TV shows.

5. There Are Some Good Things:  There are some things that deserve praise.  First, Stephen Lang as the dictator of the place is pretty awesome.  And his character is not what you expect – though he is on the cusp not only of a mythology plot line but one that involves his lost son.  Don’t.  Go.  There.

The dinosaurs are pretty cool, as are the rest of the special effects.  They’re not perfect, but who cares?  The set design and props are really good.  It would be nice, though, if those neat-o guns seemed to have any effect on the dinosaurs.  The characters get all Scarface on the  lizards, firing off long bursts of rounds that have about as much effect as a multi-billion Obama stimulus package.

And the politics do not (yet) make me sick.  I was busy complaining to my Hot Wife, so I missed what somebody told me was the shot showing that 2189 money had Obama’s face on the bills – that’s amusing.  I just wonder who gets his mug on the higher denomination, him or Jimmy Carter?

It’s so far not as eco-stupid as I expected.  The producers mention that “we” somehow ruined the planet, but they don’t mention or attribute it to the global warming scam, which was nice since I grilled some really tasty cheeseburgers right before and it would have been a shame to puke them up. 

Also, the fascist government that arrests people who have too many kids cannot be considered right wing – in fact, famed Chinese family planning fan and liberal fave Thomas Friedman would have approved.  So, at least for now, there was no liberal sucker punch. 

Perhaps Terra Nova will improve.  I hope so.  No one wants to see a show fail.  It certainly could be interesting.  For the viewers, it’s a cool concept and might be a fun diversion.  For the many folks on and off camera, it’s their livelihood.  This is not just a beat down for the sake of beating down an easy target.  This is a plea… to give us a fresh, exciting program that doesn’t spout the same hopeless clichés that have wrecked so many other movies and shows.  So, guys, get it together and cut the mierda.

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I was walking through Lowe’s yesterday to buy a hammer and I saw a tool kit belt that wraps around the waist. I laughed fondly as I remembered that during rehearsals, to “get into character,” I wore one of those tool belts filled with tools. Maggie could fix anything: planes, toilets, dinner – with meat hunted by her own hand.

During the filming and post-production of that episode I was unhappy with the producers, Josh Brand and John Falsey. I had to re-record the dialogue for the scene where Rick’s coffin was revealed and they continuously cut away from my face. The satellite had fused to Rick’s body, so the coffin had pieces of metal coming out of it. I wanted to show some emotion revealing that Maggie was sad that Rick had died. Thus, I had a few tears, conjured by “method acting.” (My favorite actors were all “method actors” – Dustin Hoffman, Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Jessica Lange, even Marilyn Monroe.) John and Josh were desperately trying to keep the show in the Monday night “comedy” line-up so my performance had to be restructured via sound booths and editing rooms to be “funny.” Of course, I believed that “the self same well that holds our laughter also holds our tears,” to loosely quote Khalil Gibran but.. so goes the tango and artistry of teamwork.

I remember John Falsey called me after the filming of that episode and said, “We are a comedy! Write it down!” So, “dramedy” we were – part drama, part comedy. It was tough to win in a drama acting category because I was always “funny,” through the tears, (tears that I could slip in), while other “drama” actresses were having genuine meltdowns. Throughout the years, as I watched the clips of my fellow nominees sobbing, I knew I’d never win. Their characters were having huge, dramatic, emotional breakdowns. I didn’t care. I loved the show. I loved my character. I loved the cast. I loved the creators – Josh Brand and John Falsey. Josh and John believed in me and I will always treasure them, those years, and my groundbreaking character, Maggie O’Connell.

Now it is 2011, and there seems to be a correlation between the present descending satellite and the potential descent of America. I love America and all the promise for which she stands. I want her to survive. My friend, Brent Cooper, and I were recalling the Northern Exposure satellite episode today. He said, “You’ve gone from actress to activist.” I laughed, but it is true.

I am now an activist and I have never felt more urgent sense of passion and purpose. As the satellite is making a beeline for Earth it reminds me a bit of our situation in America. We feel the impending doom: faltering economy, strangling debt, high unemployment, disenchantment, terrorism beckoning on our doorstep and a president who has blinders on and only sees 2012. Satellite? What Satellite? Ignorance is not bliss.

We are at a huge crossroads in our country. As Jackie Gingrich Cushman says in her new book, The Essential American, “It’s the desire for liberty and freedom above security and safety,” that best represents the American spirit.

Ironically, the “entitlement Americans” who claim “security and safety” is their “right” are incapable of seeing the satellite that is going to crash and burn upon their indignation. The anomaly looming in the horizon is the collapse of our society as a whole when America can no longer pay her debts.

One thing our founding fathers knew was history, a subject that is considered irrelevant in our schools today. History, both in centuries past and decades past, proves that bad economies, high taxes, record breaking unemployment and incomprehensible debt lead to despotism and demise. Americans want both “liberty and freedom” and “security and safety.” Instead of Patrick Henry’s call, “Give me liberty or give me death!” the call of the “entitlement Americans” today is “Give me liberty and give me, give me!”

We can not have both. Our founding fathers wrote the words, ‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,” with no guarantee of happiness only the pursuit of happiness. They also made it very clear that God gave us these rights and not government. Government can simply not withstand the demand of being “sugar daddy” to everyone. Liberty cannot withstand that demand.

So, as the satellite comes tumbling toward Earth, we are all on alert. We know that it is coming. Should it not be the same with our impending doom regarding our Republic? I remember reading, The Mandarines by Simone de Beauvoir. In the book there is a passage, when after World War I a French diplomat appeals to a French leader to reach out and help another country. The French leader looked at the diplomat and said, “Don’t you understand …we can’t even help ourselves.”

I read this over 20 years ago but it is a passage that has always stuck with me. If our country falters and tumbles from the weight of debt, how can she possibly help even her own people? This is so elementary that I cannot believe that the liberal elite and the “entitlement” contingency do not see this – the implosion of a force that is heading our way.

Claire Belinsky writes in her book, There Is No Alternative, Why Margaret Thatcher Matters, about leaders who can shape destiny based upon history, “Those who matter are able to master these historical forces..they are able to shift the forces into a different outcome.” Our forefather, Patrick Henry was one of these men. His biographer, William Wirt, describes Henry as, “a spirit fitted to raise the whirlwind, as well as to ride in it.”

Henry questions the colonists’ hesitancy to take on the British for fear of Britain’s strength and the enormity of the task, “Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our back, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope.” The enormity of our task today: to bring back America to her basic thesis, to curb big government and entitlement mentalities, to educate her citizens, young and old, about the duties that imbue liberty, to demand an accountability regarding spending in Washington – to basically save America – is as daunting today as it was for the colonists to take on the biggest, most powerful country in the world, Britain. However, we must. We cannot continue to hug the “delusive phantom of hope.”

Who will accomplish this, if not the people? We must reclaim America’s promise, which is liberty, which is freedom from government and thus, the ability to pursue happiness – all on our own.

Actress tuned activists. I see the falling weight of misguided leadership. I recognize the impending doom. I want to be a woman of action, a patriot of action. I believe in Patrick Henry’s words, “Should he keep back his opinions, at a such a time, for fear of giving offense, he should consider himself guilty of treason towards his country..”

Join me in my quest. Visit my foundation, “Constituting America’s” website and get involved http://www.constitutingamerica.org/. Listen to and/or watch my radio show, The Janine Turner Radio Show, on Saturday nights on 570 KLIF or http://www.klif.com/AND starting Monday, September 26th, listen to my daily radio show on my website. Call in and let’s chat about Satellites, Northern Exposure and America’s Future.

America’s increasingly far Left academia has always been “nudging” its way into power. The first great, 20^th Century landmark for these “enlightened despots”, as Voltaire described them, came when a professor of the ordinarily Left-leaning Harvard University, Dr. Henry Kissinger, found his way into the Oval Office of Republican President Richard Nixon.

The not-so-good-doctor seemed to have literally crawled inside the soul of this undeniably insecure but ingeniously manipulative politician, also known as Tricky Dick. Their administration, as we know, came to a rather disgraceful end.

However, Red China’s oldest American friend, Henry Kissinger, knows that his influence from deep connections with Beijing is now as strong as it ever was.

Why?

His “kind”, his “fraternity” from Harvard and the University of Chicago are back!

Above you see a decidedly self-confident, Presidential manipulator, Barack Obama, surrounded by two of his favorite academicians, Samantha Power and Cass Sunstein.

Rumor has it that all three would like Israel chastened if not utterly obliterated.

That, of course, is a rather crude estimate of the true intentions that might be gleaned from these glib geniuses.

These three are, however, the “enlightened” of the same “Progressively” despotic feather as Henry Kissinger.

How so?

They have clearly “broken away” from traditional “givens” or accepted points of view within the Judeo-Christian Civilization, and, as “fellow travelers”, seek an increasingly Marxist and “fundamentally New World Order transformation” of not merely the United States but the world and humanity as a whole.

That, in brief, is a definition of what Dr. Kissinger really meant by his infamously tested “real politik”.

The “Great Nudge” which this trio wishes to inflict upon all of America is best explained here.

The author, Benjamin Wallace-Wells, has a kind of Pulitzer Prize thoroughness in his efforts to explain both Sunstein’s transformative approach to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and Sunstein’s involvement in such intentionally misty complexities as the carbon-emission threat to the environment.

The dreamy-eyed exchange between Obama and Sunstein, however, could very well support Sunstein’s certainty about human error and foibles.

The Socialist Objectives of the Obama Nation must, as Rahm Emanuel has pointed out, not only exploit all crises but make human weakness a permanent corner of the Sunstein equation for “Fundamental Change”.

My immediate observation, of course, is the moral oblivion which the Supreme Court hurtled all of America into with the Roe v Wade decision legalizing abortion.

America’s somnambulant response to legalized murder for the 38 years of Roe v Wade’s existence is quite a revelation of weakness on a homicidal level. This American weakness for legalized abortion, of course, is precisely what Cass Sunstein and indeed the entire Obama Nation see as something to build on.

What I call America’s moral blindness is, for the Obama Nation, the very open door through which they can administer a blitzkrieg “transformation of the United States”.

If Americans cannot see the cold-blooded murder involved in abortion, then what other legislation might the Czars of the Obama Nation slip by not only Congress but the American people as well?

Here, from the NY Times article, is a peek into the Sunstein team’s optimism about their “fundamental transformation of the United States of America:

“ …. in the real world, Sunstein and Thaler argue, people are subject to all sorts of biases and quirks. They also argue that this human quality, which some would call irrationality, can be predicted and — this is the controversial part — that if the social environment can be changed, people might be nudged into more rational behavior.”

Glenn Beck, of course, has been “all over” the Sunstein Agenda. “The most dangerous guy out there” is how Beck describes Sunstein.

Nudging the human race, America particularly, into decisions that “just must be made.”

The “Nudge” routine would almost be the “hook” for a situation comedy script if the Obama Nation weren’t also engaged in fiercer tactics and connected to organizations with violent reputations.

These “fellow travelers” in power need their “back-up”, a “fist” to go with an open hand and, of course, being “fellow travelers” they cannot depend yet upon the armed forces of their still-backward and unenlightened nation.

They say they will need a “citizen army”.

When you connect such a concept to worldwide Marxist affiliations and the International Communist Party, you have an ideological police force of the world.

What does Samantha Power’s “Responsibility to Protect” really mean if she and her “fellow travelers” are actually protecting not people but ideology?

What stands most formidably in the way of a Marxist ideology? The entire, millenniums-old, Judeo-Christian Civilization.

Judeo-Christianity is no longer an ideology. It is a two to five thousand year-old fact. That is certainly one thing that both Hitler and Stalin shared in common: their main enemy ended up being, yes, the entire Judeo-Christian Civilization. Rather than conquering Israel and Rome, both Nazism and Stalinism have been eternally branded as tyrannies.

Why does The Progressive New World Order think it has a better chance than Fascism and Soviet Communism did?

Will no one will see Karl Marx behind The New World Order’s increasingly Iron Curtain?

That would be like not seeing Henry Kissinger trying to hide behind Michelle Obama.

Both Kissinger and Marx have grown too fat and too famous for that.

Are the Marxist Trinity of Obama, Power and Sunstein fully aware of how influential the Holy Bible has, can and will be for centuries to come?

No, I don’t think so.

Somehow the entire, worldwide “Progressive” Movement feels that Karl Marx’s analysis of Judeo-Christianity as “yesterday’s news” will more than suffice to insure Nikita Khrushchev’s prophecy that Communism will “bury” America.

Of course, with the “Progressive” help of Americans in the White House, a great deal of damage to America and Americans can, indeed, be done.

Already has been inflicted actually.

The “back-up” or, as I prefer to call it, “the eternal fist” of the Judeo-Christian Civilization and its Holy Bible, however, will prove tenaciously un-burnable if not literally indestructible, both in History and in the hearts, minds and souls of the human race.

Marx’s Communist Manifesto, the likes of SEIU, the Black Panthers, the Progressive Trinity of Obama, Power and Sunstein, plus their Citizen Army? Will this be sufficient to erase America, let alone Communism’s most successful enemy, the Catholic Church? The Far Left’s hope is to invade and “nudge”, invade and “nudge”, invade and “nudge”? No one has ever liked a “Nudge” for that long.

As for the imperious dreams of Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong?

Red China is looking awfully strong these days.

However, the Judeo-Christian Civilization has so invaded and “nudged” the Communist Chinese that … well … their extravaganzas now look like a Radio City Music Hall creation in a film by Busby Berkeley.

Who “nudges” more successfully?

The Progressive/Communist Elite?

Or what the Reds call “American Cultural Imperialism”?

My money is on The Rockettes.

As for what the ladies playing all those mandolins are sitting on?

Is it the mysterious Orient or Shimsi of Las Vegas?

The Three Wizards of the Obama Nation have the same magic act. Their defiance of economic and historical reality is mesmerizing. How do they get away with it? Marxist smoke and mirrors … and the intellectual likes of Maynard Keynes to declare it reality.

Check the debate out here in continuing chapters.

What do Progressives amount to?

Marxists with a Keynesian mask who increasingly win the Nobel Prize. Why? The Nobel Prize Committee are Marxist Magicians as well.

No one knows “Marxist Magic” more profoundly nor with more serpentine slime to grease the wheels with than Cass Sunstein.

Four more years of the Obama Nation and America is no longer America. By 2016 Obama’s fundamentally Marxist “transformation of the United States” will have been “nudged”, “pushes”, “shoved” and “forced” into place.

It is everything that Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Sarah Palin have dreaded.

The Free World Resistance to the Progressive New World Order is Sarah Palin’s inheritance. May God sweep her into the White House for 8 years and then Allen West for another 8. It will take at least sixteen, traditionally American years for the United States to disenthrall most of the human race from Marxist Magic.

The top finishers in the Power Line Prize competition are being posted around the web. Number seven, called “Fiscal Child Abuse,” is a video submitted by the Independence Institute in Colorado. It features three young girls who want to start a lawsuit; it is funny, and is one of my favorites in the competition. Roger Simon of Pajamas Media has posted the video. …

Number five was submitted by the Young Cons, two rappers (and basketball players) from Dartmouth. Their video features lots of quick cuts as they interview students and a soldier. The cons themselves take the stage at the end. It is an impressive piece of work that rivets your attention even though it was one of the longer videos in the competition.

And here is number five:

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Visit our friends at Power Line for links to more runner ups and the upcoming announcement of the $100k grand prize winner.

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Where is reason?

But the constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is sacredly obligatory to all.

George Washington, in his Farewell Address, speaks to us about the obligation we have, as citizens, to the United States Constitution. Obligation. Americans, we the people, who live in America, we the people, who reap from her spirit, her resources, her goodness, her history of independence and equality, should be obliged to live by and honor our Constitution.

But do we? How can we, if we do not know it?

Americans love football. How would we ever expect a football player to play the game, if he did not know the rules? Similarly, how do we expect to maintain our republic if we do not know the rules, the laws, of our intended government?

Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty.

George Washington states that we should respect the Constitution’s authority, comply with its laws, acquiesce to its measures.

How can America’s citizens sacredly oblige, respect, comply and acquiesce to the measures in the Constitution, if we do not know it? How can we sustain our Republic, a form of government where the people rule through their representatives by electing leaders, congressmen and women and selecting judges to protect our liberties, if we know not from where these liberties are borne and maintained?

Is this not reasonable? Where is reason?

Reason, a caveat in all things brilliant and everlasting, a mental attribute our founding fathers understood, leads us to a fundamental conclusion.

Is it not reasonable, that we as adults fully comprehend the foundation of our government? Is it not reasonable that we dedicate as much time educating our children about the founding principles of our country as we do taking them to soccer practice and ballet school, the science fair and math labs?

But, where is reason in America?

I will never forget a recent experience I had when I was a guest on someone’s radio show. As we were discussing the importance of the Constitution, he said, “I don’t agree with it.” I was awestruck. He didn’t “agree with it?” What was his reasoning for such a blatantly, broad and ignorant statement?”

It reminded me of the great line in the movie Amadeus. After a beautiful, sumptuous Opera, the king walks up to Mozart and comments, prompted by his faction, that there were “Simply, too many notes.” A flabbergasted Mozart asked the king to describe to him exactly which notes. The king was at a loss for words.

The same applies to a broad comment regarding the Constitution such as, “I don’t agree with it.” I wondered to myself, which part? Reason led me to question whether this person had ever read the Constitution or studied it. If he didn’t agree with it, which implies the whole of it, then was I to suppose that he didn’t agree with the separation of powers, the checks and balances, the genius of Articles 1, 2 and 3?

Did he not agree with the bicameral Congress – one for the people, one for the states? Did he not agree that the President’s Cabinet has to be approved by the Senate? Did he not agree that the President is prohibited from declaring war without the consent of the Congress? Did he not agree that the House of Representatives, the people’s house, holds the purse strings for the war thus empowering the people, through their vote, to end the war at any time? Did he not agree that the President cannot appoint a Supreme Court Justice but can only nominate one, and that the nominee has to be confirmed by the Senate? Did he not agree that a bill vetoed by the President can be overridden by a two thirds majority of the Congress?

Did he not agree with the 13th Amendment, that gave slaves freedom, the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote, or the Bill of Rights, the first ten Amendments, which includes freedom of speech – the freedom of speech which gave him his right to voice his blasphemous opinion – that he didn’t agree with the Constitution?

Where is reason?

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachments tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.

Is this not happening today? The executive branch is encroaching on the legislative branch by appointing unelected officials and Czars thus blatantly disregarding the Constitution. This encroachment has a residual effect on the liberties of the people, the resiliency of industry and the inspiration of free enterprise. This can only happen if we the people are ignorant to the proceedings, the true intent of our government.
Thus, the bias against the Constitution and against the people who revere it, propels the purpose of the perpetrator – to intimidate the desire of a civic yearning and learning which thus allows the government to insidiously overstep its bounds.

All obstructions to the executions of the laws are ….. of fatal tendency.

Where is Reason?

Well, I reasoned, if this gentleman didn’t agree with the Constitution of the United States, then he could move to another country, a, or b, if he could ever define the part with which he didn’t agree, he could start a movement for an amendment.

If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it corrected by an amendment in the way the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation… it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.

Broad and unsubstantiated statements such as, “ I don’t agree with it” are by products of the proponents of faction. Faction is like a wildfire that rips through an innocent land. It breeds contempt, discord, division distrust and eventually the demise of our Republic, but more on faction next week.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetuated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. …sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of liberty.

Part one can be read here.

Like many Americans, on October 3, 2008 my world changed. That afternoon, Congress had passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, also known as the Wall Street Bailout.  Like many Americans, I had written Congress, had called the Congressional switchboard, had done everything I could to let my voice be heard. But my government had not listened. I grew up in the 80s, at a time when kids were still taught America was a good idea, because we were a free people with a voice. That Friday I discovered, along with many other Americans, that I no longer had a voice in my government. Somehow, now I was no longer a member of We The People. On paper I was, but in the unwritten evolving “Constitution” of Congressional precedent, Wall Street and special interests were The People who mattered now. Standing there in my kitchen, washing my dishes, watching my kids play in the dwindling daylight, I felt small before the face of my government, and I felt a deep solidarity with all those people who had called the Congressional switchboard with me.

But unlike many Americans, I happen to be a college professor who researches how to understand and model complex systems. My doctoral work dealt with how metaphor and narrative model complexity in economics and neuroscience. All very wonkish to be sure. This work earned me an invitation to research and lecture at the Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk VA, on how military commanders can lead, understand, and model complex operational environments in real time.

It was my days working in development and movie production in Indie Hollywood that first convinced me of the power of narrative. Narrative is not only found in literature books, or movies themselves, but in days on set, in the hundreds of production details, in shot choices, in schedules, in actor issues, and all financial decisions that go into making a feature film. Complex systems are understood through narrative.

During the week that followed the passage of TARP, I reviewed the news coverage of the Bailout and sensed parts of the story were missing. DC and the media all said that TARP was necessary, but was it? Really? Why had TARP encountered so much opposition in the House when all the power brokers supported it? Why had the Bailout failed on the Monday vote? Why did it pass so easily in the Senate? What changed the minds of those who flipped their votes to support it? Who were the people on the inside who were actually fighting the bill? What did the power brokers do to stop them? And why aren’t those who fought the Bailout getting to tell their side of the story?

The more I researched the data, spoke with eyewitnesses, and reflected on what I know of the way complex systems behave, the more a conviction arose in me that a complex political battle had been fought inside Congress, one that did not easily fit parties or political organizations. In an atmosphere of great panic, a powerful few, with much to lose, used the system of American government to save themselves. Those who fought them were actually taking the stand that we, so many of us, were asking them to take.  Given my background in both film production and complex systems, I realized I had the available resources to understand this battle and work with other filmmakers to bring the inside story of this monumental event to the big screen.

Now, after two years of extensive research, including off-the-record interviews with the eyewitness congressman, staff members, and other witness, my production company is partnering with Advent Film Group, a Virginia based production company, to produce RED SEPTEMBER, a theatrical feature film recounting the inside story of the fight against the 2008 Bailout of Wall Street. As George Escobar, founder of Advent Film Group explains, “Other movies about the Bailout are focused on Wall Street. RED SEPTEMBER is the only film centered on Congress. It shows clearly how Congress, not Wall Street, caused the financial crisis. Going into the 2012 election year, this movie will be a powerful rallying cry for voters who seek to rein in Congress and the President.”

Consistently, in off-the-record interviews, I heard the fight against this bill was the most bi-partisan cause that Congressmen could remember. RED SEPTEMBER tells the story of this great bi-partisan fight for our country. Current polls show that the debt is the most important issue on the minds of 2012 voters. Recently Democrat and Republican leadership negotiated to cut 38 billion dollars from the budget, but it turned out that actual cuts, without the funny math, amounted to only a few hundred million. Another budget cutting proposal currently offered by Republicans will cut 6 trillion from the budget, but that 6 trillion is only from what President Obama wants to spend over the next ten years, not from the actual budget. Given the looming debt crisis, many are wondering why the government is not taking decisive action to get its financial house in order. Even Standard & Poors is threatening to downgrade the rating on US sovereign debt. After watching RED SEPTEMBER and seeing how many of these officials behave under pressure behind closed doors, the current political absurdities will make a lot more sense.

The production of RED SEPTEMBER will be fashioned after two classic films: APOLLO 13, depicting the intensity of a crisis, and MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON, demonstrating the courage necessary in doing what’s right for the people and by the people.

My partners and I expect RED SEPTEMBER to resonate with the Tea Party and many independents. We’ve been careful not to water down the economics of the Bailout or the financial crisis. Like the recent film INCEPTION, RED SEPTEMBER respects the intelligence of the audience. Some in the media have popularized a caricature of the Tea Party as an anti-intellectual, anti-academic, hick movement, but the concerns of the Tea Party are far more intellectually defensible, and I think the film will show that.

Michael Snyder, Advent co-founder, has said, “This story is critical because the Bailout gave rise to the Tea Party. The Bailout is also widely recognized as America’s watershed moment toward overt socialism. It opened the door to trillion dollar deficits that now plague our economic future. RED SEPTEMBER shows what we must do to reverse our course.”

Nevertheless, this project has caught the attention of conservative activists, actors, and investors. They’re attracted to RED SEPTEMBER because it shows the solution and the choice for the next generation: either restore America to what the forefathers intended for their children, or sell it and enslave them. “Investors have been calling even as the final offering paperwork is still being finalized,” Snyder explains. “We’re on a fast-track schedule to get funding in place for a summer 2011 production start. We want RED SEPTEMBER to be a tipping point for electing true leaders in 2012 who will defy the corrupt forces of Washington and defend American liberty.”

The 19th Century political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville wrote, “A democracy cannot get at the truth without experience, and many nations perish for lack of the time to discover their mistakes.” What Tocqueville observed almost two hundred years ago is equally true today. When democracy forgets its experience, it forgets the truth it discovered. The ramming of the 2008 Bailout of Wall Street through Congress, against the loud protests of the American people, slap-startled American democracy to the reality that Washington no longer represents the People. Rather, it steals from them. This knowledge led to protests and a change in the balance of power in Congress in 2010. But the momentum toward corruption, big government, entitlements, bailouts, etc, is so great, that only the concentrated effort of the American people over time can change that momentum. But democracy can forget its experience. If it does, no matter the party in power, momentum against these evils will halt, and America will return to her self destructive course. To sustain a long war, we must remember why we fight.

We need leadership.

Who in our government has the courage to look directly upon the festering face of our debt crisis? Upon the complex vascular structure of political issues that feed it? Who has the courage to lead us clear of it? America has had great leaders before. What would that kind of leadership look like today?

The first step is to remember our history. This is why I believe RED SEPTEMBER is so important at this moment in our history.

Historical fact supports that George Washington was a great leader. We need not be suspicious of that even though we live in a cynical age. There really are great women and men. If we want great leaders, we must be faithful to remember the faithfulness of great leaders who have gone before us. Especially given the cultural importance of history and of accurately remembering our history. History is a story, and our history is our story. Because our history is a story, and because our current reality flows out of our real past, it is vitally important that we tell it right.

This is because values are meaningless without stories.

Courage. Justice. Sacrifice. Faithfulness.

Without stories, all virtues are just words. Look at them. To see them each on a page, followed by a period, makes the eye stumble. Each is nothing without a person acting, and a person acting with courage, or faithfulness, is part of a story. Values are not intelligible without stories. To destroy our nation’s values, an adversary must change our traditions and history, and, specifically, make our citizens either forget our history or believe the values of our forefathers no longer apply.

Those who would undo and overtake our nation are doing both. It’s not enough to preserve the memory of our history. Cynicism in the present will make us treat our true past as mere legend.

In September 2008, America learned irrefutably that we no longer have a government by the people and for the people, and we will live with the consequences of that month for years to come, as this film illuminates. But what America doesn’t know, is that in that great struggle, we did have leaders with the character of our forefathers. Leaders who were willing to put their security and sacred honor on the line for the People.  The nation needs to see that our national character is not a legendary folk story. There are people like that today. And if we are faithful, we can be that nation again. But we need to see what that character looks like in the 21st Century.

And there were people who demonstrated that character in real recent history. If we want to be a nation of people with this kind of character, we must remember with esteem those people who demonstrate the values and character of our founders. And if we who love America, and the values of our founders, do not call “honorable” those who live out those values, who will?

Those who name win.

If we cannot name this kind of virtue and character as “honorable” in our present day, we by our silence cede the initiative to those who want to “change… our history….” If we let our values only be the stuff of legend, we rob them of their power to give a spine to our next generation, and we make men without chests. As C.S. Lewis writes, “We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst.” It goes without saying that honor is worthy of praise. But when many shame what is honorable, noble character is all the more praiseworthy.

Motion pictures are irrefutably the most vivid way to mass-communicate narrative. And narrative (history) establishes values. If we want to have people like the founders, like Washington, in the future, we need to show our nation, especially our young people, in the way that resonates with our culture, what that kind of moral character factually looks like in the present, and that it’s possible to lead as that kind of character-driven leader in the real world.

If you want America to have those kinds of leaders then believe in RED SEPTEMBER.

To learn more or for interviews, visit: www.RedSeptemberMovie.com or contact Michael Collender at 626-214-8920, or email producer@3-r-productions.com. Mike Snyder can be reached at 540-338-8023, or email mike.advent@gmail.com.

The next day I began seeing headlines like this one in my RSS reader and I felt a pang of regret, a missed opportunity to stand up for someone. His quotes?

On abortion: “I really don’t believe in abortion. I think [an embryo] is a human. It’s like killing a baby.”

On abortion in cases of rape: “Um. Well, I think that’s really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I don’t know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”

This kid, I thought, is going to be devoured.

Here Is the Abortion Conversation Justin Bieber Will Be Apologizing for Tomorrow

Craft your own publicist-approved clarification and apology in the comments!

Why exactly would he feel the need to apologize for this tomorrow? Is the concept of having the balls to stand up for what you believe such a foreign concept to Hollywood that they feel the need to expect a PR-crafted spin on the truth the moment it’s uttered? Why the hell is Rolling Stone grilling him about policy that they themselves don’t even understand? He’s a teenager. Touring the world and selling boatloads of albums, but a teenager, nonetheless. Sure, many would disagree with his remarks (which seeemed facetiously made) on health care – though to his credit, he himself admits that he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, more than the poseurs scripting the article will admit, the same folks who will try to ensnare him with his own remarks the following day.

I tell you one sure way to make your ideology unattractive: freak out as exampled above over a teenager’s answer. In a culture that gave us “Skins” and the rehashed, second coming of Ace of Base/Grace Jones/ Madonna, celebrate the little things as a step in the opposite direction of that. I’d hate to see people make a bigger deal over his non-understanding of health care rather than his remarks on life. The latter is huge. He’s a teenager. Give him a break.

Life isn’t like the complexity of nationalized health care where “free” isn’t free; life is a simple issue: you want choice, go to Walmart and choose your brand of condom, diaphragm, lube, et al. Considering that the majority of abortions are obtained solely as a form of birth control, it’s hardly any sort of women’s rights issue – oh, unless the woman in question is the female in utero. And considering worldwide that the female sex is the one obliterated by “choice,” I’d only call it a “women’s rights” issue with extreme sarcasm.

So congratulations to Bieber who is, at the tender age of 16, more of a man than most of the scrubs in Hollywood. The cool thing is that he’s not alone: many of his exact demographic feel the same way.

Shame on the media for trying to paint a target on a 16-year-old. In a world of self-aggrandizing, plasticine brands, it’s refreshing to see a glimmer of something real. When you see that, speak up for it. Loudly.

According to YouTube, the video below is from an appearance earlier this month in Indianapolis to benefit the USO and Toys for Tots, one of my personal favorite charities started by Marine reservists in 1947 to collect Christmas toys for needy children in Los Angeles. Over the last 60 years it’s  grown into one of the most respected charities in the world, delivering hundreds of millions of toys to tens of millions of kids.

Enjoy the video. Ermey obviously knows his audience for they ate up every word of it. The good stuff starts at right around the 1:30 mark and there’s a transcript below the fold.

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R. Lee Ermey: I got to tell you folks, we’re having a big problem this year. The economy really sucks. Now I hate to point fingers at anybody but the present administration probably had a lot to do with that. And the way I see it, they’re not going to quit doing it until they bring this country to its knees; so I think we should all rise up and we should stop this administration from what they’re doing because they’re destroying this country.

They’re driving us into bankruptcy so they can impose socialism on us. That’s exactly what they’re doing, and I’m sick and damn tired of it and I know you are too.

But I know the Marine Corps will be here forever. This administration won’t. Semper Fi. God bless you all.

Let’s see if we can predict the likely reaction from The Vast Left-Wing Blacklist Machine sure to rise up over this clip.

1. Patrick Goldstein of the L.A. Times will write something that attempts to diminish Ermey and his resume into nothing more than a disgruntled has-been/never-was with an ax to grind:

Some right-wing actor who once did voice work on a failed cartoon series….

2. Most film sites will declare Ermey crazy, unglued, addled, unhinged… You get the idea. We’ve seen it all before.

3. MSNBC will run the clip and paint Ermey’s call to “rise up” as a Tea Party-ish call for violence.

4. Mediate will run the clip and still find a way to turn it into an anti-Palin story.

The good news is that with Ermey and Adam Baldwin we now have two of the stars of “Full Metal Jacket” on our side. Though I suggest you don’t hold your breath for Matthew Modine or Vincent D’onofrio.

“Dog Day Afternoon”: This Sidney Lumet film starring Al Pacino ranks as one of the best, and actually does comes with pizza and soda. When Sonny robs a bank to pay for his boyfriend’s sex change operation, things go horribly wrong and the first-time robber ends up with a bank full of hostages (Democrats).

This film is the perfect framework for Democrats to work their victim identity while trying to sneak in a pork-barrel project that gives members who lost in the last election a sex change before heading home for the holidays.

“Die Hard”: The first “Die Hard” film is also one of the best action films of all time and full of holiday hostages. Detective John McLane single-handedly saves a tower full of captives at his wife’s Christmas party from thirteen Euro-trash thieves trying to steel $640 million in bearer bonds.

Democrats will love this one because it’ll give them more ideas about robbing Wall Street to feed their base with food stamps and no income, no asset, home loans. It gives Republicans the chance to show Democrats what life would be like if they behaved like European socialist.

“Speed”: A great film that should have never had a sequel. A bus hurdling through Los Angeles unable to go below 55 mph or all the hostages go boom!

This is a Democrat favorite because of its earth-friendly-mass-transit theme and melting pot of Americans riding a bus while a disturbed white guy threatens their lives. In this film Democrats will most relate to the bus driver/hostages because they fight on the side of big unions to raise pay, health care benefits and pensions for government workers that make things go forward, backward, left, and right. Republicans hate this one because they drive cars.

“Misery”: “Misery” is one of the most eerie portrayals of forced captivity in a psychological hostage thriller. Famed author Paul Sheldon’s car drives off the road, and sweetie nurse Annie Wilkes (“his #1 fan”) takes him in. Anne, clearly off her meds hobbles her hostage to keep him from leaving.

Democrats will not identify with the hostage in this film because he’s rich, and writes books, not tax laws. However, “Misery” will send Republicans cringing at the memory of voting for Bush’s Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, because the crazy bitch in this film has gone off her free meds and left them with a hobbled economy.

“Air Force One”: Bad guys know they’re in trouble when their target is played by Harrison Ford, not Will Smith, and their hostages are his wife and kids, not fellow Scientologist. In “Air Force One” President James Marshall (Ford) defeats Russian Terrorists mid-air, disarms a bomb, and exclaims, “Give me back my plane.”

This film is a Democratic wet dream because the terrorists are white Russians not Iranian Muslims holding their President hostage. Republicans relate to this one because they know Reagan would have sent missiles into Iran if they’d not let our hostages go 20 minutes after Jimmy Carter left for Palestine.

So if you open your door this holiday season and spot miserable carolers getting out of a bus shouting, “Attica, Attica, Attica!” instead of singing “Silent Night, Holly Night,” you know Democrats have been set free  from the Republican tower and they’ve come to say “Give me back my money!”

There you could experience a sad moment in history – when East Germany existed (if you could call it an existence).

The museum offers the visitor a typical day in socialism, featuring real artifacts from clothes to coffee. You can sort through closets, walk through a concrete slab living room, fiddle with a lonely pressure cooker on a stove.

Imagine crawling through Sean Penn’s brain.

You can steer an actual Trabant, possibly the worst car ever made. Legend has it, that there was no such thing as a new Trabant. A dead one was just patched back up and sent out on the road. Like Joan Rivers.

And of course, there’s GDR’s first and only attempt at creating a microchip. It cost 100 times more than ours, which was already an antique by then. East German leaders beamed with pride over the prototype, while the actual chip NEVER got made.

The museum is worth the long flight, for it is not simply a wry commentary on life without aspirations, but a salute to capitalism, a salute to us. From every corner of the museum, the displays told the viewer why their economy failed, why nothing worked, and how a desperate people dreamed of western goods.

Who was at fault? The culprits are obvious – but the big one here? Unions. The big lie of socialism: it’s about the worker, when it’s really about power. And the government kept control of the people through the bullying power of unions. In return, for stifling dissent, the unions had their own power. And with it, they did nothing but engage in slothful incompetence. In the end, you had a country with piles of worthless money, and no goods to spend it on.

But what was most strange, was how vastly entertained the museum visitors were by this grim world. They looked at it like a carnival freak show – you know – the two headed rabbit, the bearded lady, the lizard-skinned man, Joy Behar.

I might say that socialism belongs among that menagerie, except those other freaks never killed anyone.