The Google logo has been blacked out today. Wikipedia, reddit, Mozilla and Twitpic are all blocking access to content.  Even Star Trek icon George Takei has blocked his site.  The moves are displays of cyber-protest against the heavy-handed and ill-conceived Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).

From a political and public relations standpoint, this has already been a complete and utter failure for Hollywood and their formerly formidable lobbying arm, the Motion Picture Association of America. Former Sen. Chris Dodd became the new CEO of the MPAA after he realized he would never be re-elected in his home state of Connecticut due to his personal scandals with Countrywide Mortgage and his involvement in the mortgage collapse at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So naturally, Hollywood hired the failed Senator as their man in Washington. Dodd has been the chief architect of SOPA, which was written with about as much subtlety and constitutional protocol as his equally disastrous Dodd-Frank banking law.

The merits of SOPA and the overall issue of online piracy is a worthy topic, and it can be argued that the federal government should have some hand in policing and enforcing piracy on behalf of private industries and artists who rely on royalties as a major part of their profit structure. These details can and should be debated here and in Washington DC. What is striking about today’s Internet blackout and the over-the-top reaction to it from Dodd is that this arrogant, befuddled and inept former Senator has finally figured out a way to unite the left and the right to focus their passion against a common enemy:  Hollywood. 

When was the last time left-leaning companies like Google aligned themselves with the Heritage Foundation? When have you seen left-wing think tanks like Demand Progress taking the same stand on an issue as Tea Party organizations? How often do you see Huffington Post columnists parrot talking points from the CATO Institute? Yet, thanks to the arrogance and ineptitude of Chris Dodd and the MPAA, these disparate groups are all aiming their ire at the Hollywood industry and the politicians who gladly take their donations and then push through ill-conceived legislation with the subtlety of an elephant in a ballet.

No matter how the SOPA legislation ends up, this episode should send a clear message to Hollywood and the elite few who share the same big government nanny-state desires embodied in the SOPA bill. Annoyance and anger at the pompous industry transcends ideological lines, and when an industry chooses a buffoon like Chris Dodd to handle what should be a nuanced and introspective regulation that polices piracy without stifling free expression, they deserve the black eye they are getting.

Face it, Hollywood: America is telling you to take a leap, and take your failure of a lobbyist with you.

I drop the movie off and get a half-assed “hello” from one of the cashiers. I take one look around and the place is dead. I can’t even remember what I came here for. I start browsing. All I can hear is the static of the old TVs playing what is probably “Schindler’s List,” but the poor quality of the sets make it look like an Ed Wood movie and the cashiers talking about what level they are in “Skyrim.” I grab my movie and head to the counter.

The college-age, bearded cashier scans my movie without much thought. Clearly, he probably wants to be somewhere else … and maybe I do, too. He’s nice enough, and I even hear the other cashier explain the plot of the movie “Super 8″ to a customer over the phone which is impressive in this day and age of the too-ironic-to-be-good-at my-minimum-wage-job attitude. I leave the store to hop in my gas-guzzling truck to head home to the cool tune of about $10 in gas ( I live two miles away – an over exaggeration, but not by much, sadly).

If I still had Netflix, my movie viewing night would have gone a little something like this: I pop open my laptop, pick the genre I want and start watching whatever I want and, if I get bored, I just stop the movie and start a new one. Hmm. Easy as pie. And we know how we all love pie! Because we are American! Hoo-ah (except meat pie — is that even real!?).

Considering you probably watch your movies through Netflix and your movie watching life is just as easy, if not more easy than what I just wrote, you’re probably laughing at my one of many Blockbuster experiences and wondering why the hell I don’t just wake up … oh, but I have. It’s time to wake you up, sirs and ma’ams.

In 2009, there was this mostly forgotten Bruce Willis starring sci-fi flick entitled “Surrogates” – forgotten by most, except me. The film was about a world where people live vicariously through robot surrogates that make them stronger, faster, etc., all done from the comfort of their own home. Meanwhile, there is a small fraction of society that prefers the real deal to what the surrogates provide (these people can be seen as an obvious reference to the Tea Party). And Bruce Willis is the guy caught in between everything. I had Netflix when the movie came out. Then I deleted it. Why would I do such a thing?

The movie reminded me of something. Film lovers will agree when I say that films provide more than just a passionate look into another world for us and a reflection of our own. Films go hand in hand with experiences that enrich us as people, storytellers, etc. Where would movies be if storytellers simply sat at home watching everything on a computer, never bothering to experience what the world and the movie viewing world has to offer, good or bad? Movies would suck. Well, movies already do suck, but there are some good ones, I declare! And we wouldn’t have those gems without the experiences of the artists behind it.

On one occasion, I was searching for “The Boondock Saints: All Saints Day” so I could introduce the right-wing vigilante brothers to a couple buddies of mine. While searching, I ran into a man gazing at the first film. He had the famous line “In nomine patris” tattooed on his right arm. When he saw me reach for the sequel to the beloved cult classic, we struck up an interesting conversation. He asked how I knew about the films. We must’ve talked for at least fifteen minutes. We talked about the journey of the film’s director, Troy Duffy, and what our thoughts were on vigilantes in general and what our favorite films and books were that dealt with the subject.

When I go to rent a movie, I have something to come home and write about — not just the movie but the whole experience. I run the risk of picking something bad, I run the risk of spending too much money, but so what? I also run the risk of meeting new people, encountering obstacles I may hate. I’m experiencing something intimate between me, these four walls and whatever B-grade schlock I choose to indulge on.

Why do you think filmmakers like Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Tarantino and movie critic Stephen Hunter all preferred the grindhouse theaters to the more convenient upper class theaters? Because the whole experience gave in to their wild movie watching imaginations. There is no imagination involved in sitting at a computer browsing randomly through film after film. The grindhouse feature houses were to regular movie theaters what Blockbuster is to Netflix, in a way. They provide a hand in hand experience for us.

There’s always been this fight of trying to eliminate consequences from everyday life, mistakes, but what if those are what define us as human beings? Those consequences and those mistakes are certainly what is the backdrop to most of our beloved films. So stick with your Netflix and your laptop. It’s fine. Me? Call me a dinosaur, call me a Nazi, but I think I’m going to stick to the zit-faced bearded kid behind the counter and the bad TVs and the candy and sodas and the old couple browsing through the horror section stupefied because they think this is supposed to be the comedy section. I’ll stick with all that because that’s my grindhouse. That’s my experience.

His 2010 play ‘American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose’ features a Mexican man cramming for his U.S. citizenship test who dreams of how immigrants have been mistreated over the years.

But Montoya isn’t letting Mexicans – or illegal immigrants – off the hook through his art.

“’American Night’ doesn’t cheerlead for illegal immigration. It’s a problem. I’m not supporting open immigration,” says Montoya, whose celebrated play details how Mexicans often live under the thumb of powerful drug cartels.

Montoya, an actor/playwright and founding member of the satirical comedy trio Culture Clash, includes several Tea Party characters in ‘Night’ during a faux Town Hall meeting. The situation brims with humor, but he thinks the vitriol on both sides of the immigration debate is no laughing matter.

“Issues like immigration are so frozen in amber on both sides of the issue. No one gets a chance to have a conversation about it,” he says.

So Montoya applies a liberal dose of humor to spark a dialogue he says is desperately needed. That means including a disco dancing version of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio in ‘Night.’

“That’s the satire and the weapon, the tool from my tool box. I don’t want to take a gun to the border, just a healthy sense of humor. It helps disarm the other side of the aisle,” he says. What he tries to avoid in his work is tipping the scales too heavily in his own favor.

“If every Mexican immigrant has angel wings and every Anglo is the bogeyman, that will be a disservice,” he says. “I’ve seen those plays before, and it’s bad.”

‘American Night’s’ current incarnation, running through Nov. 20 at Denver’s Ricketson Theatre, references the fledgling Occupy Wall Street movement. He admits both the Tea Party and OWS are “ripe for satire,” the latter in part for its incoherence.

Montoya recalls a conversation with singer Michelle Shocked who had recently visited one of the OWS gatherings.

“She told me, ‘I’m struggling to find the here here, the core, the center. There seems to be a lot of competition within the people camped out.’” he says.

Montoya, whose credits also include appearances in films like ‘Larry Crowne,’ ‘Falling Down’ and ‘Nacho Libre,’ is one of many left-of-center artists working in the entertainment field today. But he’s not itching for more conservatives to add balance to the arts conversation.

“The right isn’t necessarily writing plays, but they dominate the airwaves,” he says. “We need a cool medium, or left, that has a practical element to it.”

Yet Montoya has little interest in preaching to his choir.

“I know I can do the show in L.A. and my Chicano brothers and sisters will follow me. This show needs to be in places like Denver and Phoenix.” And to win over more neutral crowds, Montoya takes a lesson or two from the Right, like the need to pick oneself up by the bootstraps.

“I’m borrowing from the other side of the aisle … Republican ideas that actually work in our favor,” he says.

Montoya is currently wrapping production on his film directorial debut based on his 2006 noir play ‘Water and Power.’ The story of two Chicano brothers – one a police officer, the other a politician – caught the attention of the Sundance Institute which commissioned him to make it into a motion picture.

“We filmed for 12 nights in Los Angeles, a harrowing and rewarding experience,” Montoya recalls, particularly when a homicide occurred not far from the film set.

Few things make Montoya happier than seeing audience members linger after one of his shows. During some performances of ‘American Night,’ patrons are encouraged to take the same citizen’s test that the main character is cramming for in the production.

It’s a serious side to his satirical work, one with direct ties to the thoughtful comedy influences of his youth – ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘Monty Python.’ He says the passage of time only enhances his ability to satirize the world around him.

“That’s one of the good things that happens with age, the satirical things get sharper and more surgical,” he says. And that comes in handy when he’s trying to nudge a few hearts or minds, as is the case with ‘American Night.’

“If you find yourself cheering a hardworking immigrant man seeking a legal path to citizenship, let your lawmaker know that,” he says.

The New York Times piece Lee refers to here is the most appalling piece of race-baiting I’ve read in years. You can read my write-up about it at Big Journalism. The reaction the Times was looking for is exactly this kind of thing from Spike Lee. They want high-profile, left-wing black Americans to take after Herman Cain. They want to toxify him as a sell-out in order to hurt his standing among black voters. The Times also wants to make damn sure Tea Party Republicans get no credit for embracing a black man. That would kill a cherished narrative the corrupt MSM has spent two years creating about us being racist.

The Times thinking is simple: racists love “minstrelsy” Black people, so by portraying Cain as such, the dishonest narrative that the Tea Party is racist lives on… in spite of Cain being our guy.

The price black people pay for being free thinkers in this country is a very, very cruel one.

Ask Clarence Thomas.

Sean Penn may have a bigger foe than Mr. Hand in the Tea Party, but, still, a rep for the conservative movement is still willing to sit down and share a pizza (or, let’s face it, more likely tea) with the man who was Jeff Spicoli. After the actor appeared on Piers Morgan Tonight Friday and called the Tea Party the “Get the N-Word Out of the White House Party,” the co-founder and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots released a statement to EW, inviting Penn to meet with members of the movement.

Said Mark Meckler: “I’m fairly certain that Sean Penn has never been to a tea party or met anyone who belongs to a local tea party. I’d be happy to sit down and speak with him if he’s ever interested in really speaking with one of us and learning what we are about instead of just slandering millions of his fellow American citizens with racist hatred. This kind of rhetoric, while protected by the First Amendment, has no place in reasonable discourse in America. Then again, no one has ever accused Sean Penn of ‘reasonable discourse.’”

Read the full article here.

Via Fox Nation:

“Samuel L. Jackson, I guess, disregards the 16.7 percent unemployment rate in the black community, a 20 percent unemployment rate for black adult males and a 45-46 percent unemployment for black teenagers,” the Florida Republican said. “I think the racism that he is talking about is coming out of the White House and this administration.”

West warned Jackson against using the tea party movement as a “scapegoat,” insisting that conservatives are trying to fix the economy and turn around the unemployment numbers in the black community.

The perfect example? Herman Cain.

West said the Republican presidential candidate “negates” the recent comments by Jackson and Freeman.

“I think that what you’re seeing with Herman Cain is someone that is against the tide. He is not a career politician, he is coming forth with common sense solutions with what is happening in our country,” he said.

More at Politico.

Late last month, Oscar winner Morgan Freeman blamed racism on the Republican party’s eagerness to see President Barack Obama defeated.

This week, Jackson told a reporter from New York Magazine (after said reporter used the scurrilous Washington Post story on Rick Perry’s so-called racist rock) that the reason Tea Partiers want Obama out because of his skin color, not his policies.

“The division of the country is not about the government having too much power. I think everything right now is geared toward getting that guy out of office, whatever that means,” he said, echoing Freeman. “It’s not politics. It is not economics. It all boils down to pretty much to race. It is a shame.”

Their collective proof is so poorly constructed even a half-asleep Chris Matthews could swat it aside without eyeballing a teleprompter.

Both claim that since the Tea Party is hell bent on removing President Obama from office it must be because he’s black.

That’s it. No swarm of protest signs at Tea Party events trumpeting racist slogans. No quotes from major Tea Party darlings like Sarah Palin that indicate hatred or disdain for people of color. No new proposals designed to specifically injure people of color.

And where were Jackson and Freeman when President George W. Bush called the White House home? The entertainment industry was obsessed with removing him from office. We saw a film detailing Bush’s assassination, read fiction tackling similar themes and watched documentary after documentary imploring us to vote for anyone but Bush.

Was that about race, or did Bush’s critics simply want someone else leading the country?

So, that puts the ball squarely in the media’s court. They’ve got a hot story to work with, one that’s topical and touches on the third rail of our culture – race. And they’ve got two actors ready and willing to plug their latest projects. Freeman is out promoting the surprise hit “Dolphin Tale,” while Jackson is making his Broadway this month in “The Mountaintop.”

Here’s betting both are up for a press phoner or two, maybe more. Will any intrepid reporter ask them to back up their claims? How about asking either fine actor their thoughts on comedian George Lopez calling black Tea Party favorite Hermain Cain “whiter” on the inside?

Via Tea Party Brew:

Dear Mr. Freeman,

My name is Ali Akbar. I’m a 26 year-old African-American small business owner and a tea party activist. I’m not writing to rake you over the coals in the way that many conservatives have done in the last 48 hours. Heck, I wrote a passionate open-letter refuting many of your claims already, but this is not that. This is an honest and standing invitation. I do believe that you are wrong in what you said about the tea party, but I would rather prove it to you than castigate you for your comments.

I also understand that your reflexive comments came from experience. You grew up in a different America than the one that I was blessed to be born into. We both grew up in the south, but I never saw ‘White Only’ signs. I’ve been called a name or two in my three decades, but racism has always been the exception in my life, not the rule, as it probably was in your youth. I understand your suspicion of conservative political movements. It is rooted in pain and fear and memory, and though I never saw the horrors of segregation that you did, we share that cultural heritage.

I’ve been a fan of yours all my life. From “Driving Miss Daisy” to “Lean on Me” to “The Shawshank Redemption,” I idolized you as a boy. Growing up without a father, you were one of the strong black men in my life who gave me a model to follow. Each of the characters you played had dignity and confidence. I tried to emulate the strength you projected. While many of my friends headed down the all-too-familiar path of drugs, unwed pregnancies and crime, I’ve striven to live a life with dignity, be an example for my brothers and make my mother proud.

My favorite of your movies was “The Power of One.” I must’ve watched it a hundred times, crying every time when your character Geel Piet was killed by the racist South African. Geel Piet was brave and heroic, even in the face of death, because he knew that the hate that killed him was a trifle in comparison to the love that PK’s anti-apartheid movement was spreading. It is with that spirit that I’m writing to you this morning.

I’ve attended dozens of tea party events. I’ve helped organize them, and I’ve even spoken at a few. The tea party is not what is often depicted in the news. It is people of all colors who are terribly concerned about the direction that America is heading. We don’t trust big government to make decisions for us. And we fear that the present administration’s spending is going to lead our country down a path to insolvency, much like what Greece is currently facing.

Read full piece here.

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On last night’s Dancing With The Stars, funny guy Kressley hit the screen wearing a gorilla mask. Taking it off he snarked, “It still smells like a Tea Party.”

So, what are we to make of this nonsense? Is Kressley saying that Tea Party activists smell like gorillas?

Are we supposed to be laughing at that, now?

So, what do Democrats smell like? Maybe Europeans? How about reds?

I wonder what dance partner Anna Trebunskaya, who was born in Russia, thinks about that? I wonder how ABC will take attacking so much of its audience?

Whatever Anna or ABC thinks of it the bigger questions is, what do you Tea Partiers think?

Maybe you can ask ABC yourself?

Don’t they wish.

On October 8, from 2-4PM, several 9/12, TEA Party, and conservative/patriot organizations will unite in an “unprecedented” show of support for one of this country’s great American companies, Gibson Guitars at a “We Stand With Gibson” rally at the Scoreboard Bar & Grill parking lot in Nashville, TN.

For those who don’t tune in to Fox News Channel, read conservative blogs, or listen to conservative talk radio, chances are you are not even aware of what happened to Gibson Guitars last month when Federal agents raided their offices and factories in Nashville and Memphis, semi-automatic weapons drawn, clearing out all employees and confiscating guitars, supplies, files, computers, etc.

What was their alleged crime, you ask?  Using “illegal” wood in their products.   Isn’t it odd how nobody has even been indicted on any charges?

As I discussed in my last BigDawg spotlight piece on fellow BigDawg’er, Nathan Picard, seems the only real “crime” here is Gibson’s CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, is a Republican donor.  The feds have basically told Mr. Juszkiewicz that all of this “would go away” if they outsource their jobs to Madagascar.  Say what?

Meanwhile, POTUS is making the rounds touting his so-called “jobs bill”…demanding Congress “pass this bill” (90 times in 5 speeches)…. But do keep sending those jobs overseas.

If this doesn’t smack of gestapo-like tactics, y’all are still asleep.  It’s time to wake up and smell the tyranny.

How can you get involved?  Hop on a plane, train, or automobile, head to Nashville, and let this administration know that we say “NO YOU CAN’T” bully us into submission.  Rally organizers have stated the following:

The government’s actions impact not only Gibson but all related businesses working with Gibson products. This abuse of federal power must not go unanswered. We, the citizens who grant government its power and authority, MUST act to hold government accountable when that power is abused. Please join us October 8 in Nashville to Stand with Gibson.

We are asking you to do the following to show your support for Gibson:

1) Attend the rally (Directions);
2) Sign up for email updates on the rally. New information is coming out daily;
3) Tell your family and friends about the rally and encourage them to attend, as well;
4) Visit the Rally’s FaceBook page and “Like” it;
5) Share on your FaceBook and Twitter accounts. The Twitter hashtag is #GibsonRally;
6) Visit Grassfire Nation and sign the petition in support of Gibson (the plan is to present this to Gibson live at the event)

When we first learned about this rally less than a week ago, we contacted the organizers immediately and offered to help out in any way we could.  Considering a large number of our culture warriors at our site are right-leaning, liberty-loving artists/musicians, how could we NOT support a company that produces such great, American-made guitars?

As fate would have it, that very same day that we learned about the rally, one of our BigDawg Brigade members, Ms. Reese Ccup, shared a YouTube video with us of a gentleman named Steve Bryant (who just joined our site) singing an original song he’d written about the Gibson raid called “Keep Your Hands Off Our Wood”.  It was perfect!  Not only were the lyrics spot on, but he played the song on a vintage Gibson Blue Ridge acoustic guitar about which he had this to say:

Growing up, I always wanted a Gibson Guitar. My father played with the big bands and played a big old L-5. He died when I was 2 and my Mother had to sell his guitar before I was old enough to appreciate it.

As a pre-teen and teenager, I was fascinated with puppets. I studied puppetry and even operated a marionette on a syndicated TV show when I was 13. I also had my own troupe of puppets and did shows for birthday parties and events, even did “adult puppet shows” when I was a later teen. As a musician, I wrote and performed original music for the shows.

I saw this Gibson Blue Ridge in a South Jersey music store in 1969 (I was 18). It was love at first sight. I had saved almost the entire price of the guitar from the money I made doing puppet shows and my Mother gave me the last $50. As a lifelong hard working single Mom, I still don’t know how she was able to do it.

I took that guitar to Woodstock and the Isle of Wight in 1969 along with many other music festivals in the 70’s. The guitar went to college with me and when I became a QVC host, it traveled all over America and Europe. I was lucky enough to play it on TV with Tom Paxton, Richie Havens, Glen Campbell and many other artists. I was the primary musical and entertainment on-air host at QVC for over 15 years.

Now that I’m a talk radio host, I use my Blue Ridge to write and perform original songs and song parodies about pop culture and politics. She sounds better every year!

We had offered to do a promo video for the rally organizers and just had to ask Steve for permission to use his song for the video, which he was gracious enough to grant us.  Let’s just hope the feds don’t show up to confiscate all the “contraband” from the Gibson guitar-wielding musicians that show up, including Steve!

As of the writing of this article, there are 51 sponsor organizations for this rally including ours.  Confirmed speakers include Gibson Chairman and CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz;  Congressman Marsha Blackburn; Talk Radio Hosts: Steve Gill, Phil Valentine, and Mark Skoda; and Chairman, Tea Party Express, Amy Kremer.

Confirmed artists for this two-hour event include Eric Lee Beddingfield, and Grant Austin Taylor, who will “Rock the House with his rendition of the National Anthem on his Gibson Electric Guitar”.

Be sure to check the official event site regularly for updates as the sponsor list is growing by the hour and additional speakers and entertainers will be posted once confirmed.  This is an event you won’t want to miss!

Several BigDawg Music Mafia artists will be there to show our support.  Do stop by our booth and say hello.  We just might talk you into joining the culture revolution while you’re there and twist your arm into hitting the karaoke bars with us later in the evening!