There is no shame in artists receiving monetary compensation to sell ideas, products or a presidential agenda. When everything is transparent and contracted aboveboard, this is called advertising. When this process is whispered into being, strategized and set into motion from the shadows of government and from behind closed doors, it is propaganda.

From Sun Tzu to Psy Ops, propaganda has won wars, toppled cultures and changed civilizations. As a self-identified enlightened and educated culture, we  thought ourselves beyond such base manipulation. We were wrong.

Where were the voices of dissent on the NEA conference call when so called “artists” were asked to further the President’s agenda?

I have danced ballets and I have done commercials; one side art, the other side business. What side were the NEA recipients on?

Art for propaganda was an essential tool of Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Mao Tse Tung. What the heck is it doing in the White House? This should outrage freethinkers, citizens and artists from every corner of America.

The National Endowment of the Arts strategy has been traced straight to Valerie Jarrett, President Obama’s policy facilitator and Grande Dame of his inner circle. As disturbing and possibly illegal as this is, it becomes truly frightening when you connect the rest of the dots:

1)      The Democrats repeated commitment to implement the Fairness Doctrine and destroy conservative talk radio.

2)      S.733: The bill that would give the President control over the internet in the event of an “emergency.”

3)      On Sept. 20, 2009, President Obama stated that he would look into bailouts for print newspapers because he is concerned that blogs will take over the world and be a threat to democracy.

Imagine that: the President of the United States is concerned free speech may be a threat to democracy. Is anybody paying attention?

Thomas Jefferson knew that a free press is essential to a free republic. Control the flow of information and you control the people. This hasn’t changed much since 1933.

Perhaps this is not as visually arresting as book burning, but the results are the same. Joseph Goebbels needed to ensure that the views of the Nazis were put forward in the most persuasive manner possible and make certain that no one in Germany could read or see anything that was damaging to the Nazi Party.

Is this that far removed from the news coverage of Honduras or the under-reporting of turnout for the 9/12 DC rally?

But I submit to you that these propaganda assaults will fail because they are lacking the one element critical to mission implementation: fear.

President Obama and his team are convinced that they are smarter than the average American citizen.  They don’t just say Middle Americans “cling to their Bibles and guns out of fear,” they truly believe it. This administration has banked on using fear to push stimulus packages, carbon taxes, bailouts and health care reform. That is their Waterloo.

Fear is not at the core of the American psyche; independence and patriotism are. And when enough Americans step back, take a breath and realize the extent of this manipulation, they awaken with a determination and that is truly frightening to those that would attempt to govern from the shadows.

The fear is now on the other foot.

The Muslim Brotherhood has long taught their operatives in the USA to attack their opponents with charges of “hate speech” and “racism” whenever they were called out to defend their positions in public. The Democrats have called out their big guns: congressmen, congresswomen and even an ex-President to do the same. Why would anyone do this if they were not “afraid” of an informed public debate?

It will not work this time. The sleeper has awakened and she sees the man behind the curtain.

Apathy can no longer be counted on as a tool for those who would seek to control the populace and erode the Constitution.

In this “Constitution Revolution,” the American people are not coming after you with guns or explosives; they are armed with truth, a desire for transparency, a desire for enlightened and informed public discourse, a demand for civic responsibility and a call to politicians to honor their oaths to the US Constitution.

Flash forward to the latest cacophony from “spoken word” Grammy winner President Obama and his Lefty Health Club Band’s radical “concept” album, A Health Dirge Night; examine a few select tracks; and, recognize the reprised promotional chicanery.

The album opens with the derivative 8-track era chestnut, With A Little Help from the Feds.  Here, President Obama’s Lefty Health Club Band warbles that a radical bill must pass – now! – because our broken health care system is in crisis.  Why?  Because they said so.  Yet, while concerned with rising costs, the vast majority of Americans believe our health care system is good or excellent, and they are satisfied with their current plans.  Why then did Obama’s band try to rush release a radical bill before the public could hear how it impacts their current health care plans?

Next, Being for the Benefit of Mr. Marx, features President Obama’s Lefty Hearts Club Band screeching that health care is a right.  Why?  Because they said so.  However, a cursory review of the U.S. Constitution finds no “right” to someone else’s hard-earned money and talents.  Because we are a compassionate country, America provides a social safety net to the less fortunate with the consent of the governed.  Thus, the government must not misuse this safety net to snare all Americans into the trap of socialized, government-run health care regardless of their situation and personal choice.

Seamlessly, the album segues into the “Great Society” homage, Lyndon in the Sky on Steroids, wherein President Obama’s Lefty Health Club Band bellow that only a government run health care schemes’ massive intrusion into the free-market can lower costs, increase quality and expand choices.  Why?  Because they said so.  (Stop laughing.  They’re serious.)  Nonetheless, much of the current crisis stems from government waste, fraud and abuse; and the costs of presently underfunded government health care programs are passed on to the bills of the privately insured.  Further, the outstanding liabilities of Medicare and Medicaid already stand in the trillions before Obama care’s nearly half a trillion dollar Medicare cut.  Does anyone in the sane center of American politics believe a third government-run health care program will fare better, let alone fix the other two programs?  No.  By focusing on “cost control” (i.e. rationing), the government will cut the supply of health care while inflating costs by pumping more public money into the system; thus, costs will increase, and quality and choices will decrease by government fiat and design.

Next up, Digging a Hole highlights President Obama’s Lefty Health Club Band crooning that only the radical intrusion of a government-run health care plan can fix our economy.  Why?  Because they said so.  This does not bear statistical scrutiny.  Over the years of rising health care costs, America’s economy has still grown.  Yes, everyone wants lower health care costs; however, this does not mean that absent government rationing of care the entire American economy will collapse.  In fact, we know government-run health care will add trillions in new spending to the federal deficit and debt; compel higher taxes on working families to “pay” for it; increase health care costs; reduce the quality of and choices within the health care system; and harm the American economy.

On the album’s closing medley, Good Moaning, Good Moaning/Getting Bitter/A Bray in the Strife, President Obama’s Lefty Health Club Band barks that all opposition to their radical health care bill is politically manufactured and motivated to preserve the status quo.  Why?  Because they said so.  Still, remembering that the Left ascribes its own sins to opponents, it is actually the White House and Congressional Democrats that support the status quo of big government – unless they deem making it even bigger and more intrusive as “hope” and “change.”  It is they who cut the deals with special interests to secure supportive media assaults for their radical health care scheme and, with the complicity of the Democratic National Committee, unleashed their own political astroturfers on elected officials and members of the public opposed to it.  Stunned by the spontaneous reaction of grassroots organizations that existed prior to this bill, the administration and its blank check Congress intensified their smear campaign against their opponents, perversely sinking to the gutter tactics of calling them “un-American” and accusing them of waving swastika covered flags. True, these grassroots opponents must more clearly, civilly and diversely make their voices heard; however, they are not the cause of disorder but a symptom.  The root of the moment’s madness is President Obama’s Lefty Health Club Band’s forcing their radical “concept” of health care reform on unwilling Americans.  Tone deaf to the times and public sentiment, the President is not above the fray.  He is directing it to foist a fossilized, 1970’s industrial-welfare state model governance on Americans’ health care, despite our globalized market place that empowers citizens and consumers.

Thus, unlike President Obama’s Lefty Health Club Band radical “concept” of health care reform, the issue is best addressed with prudent, targeted, multi-track reforms that use market forces to empower patients as consumers and increase the supply of health care to meet the rising demand and reduce costs.  Such initial, obvious measures include the reforming medical liability laws; expanding Health Savings Accounts; providing tax credits for purchasing private health insurance; allowing Association Health Plans; permitting health insurance purchases across state lines; encouraging individuals to insure against changes in health status; incentivizing preventative health care; applying information technology to enhance transparency and increase efficiencies.  All this can be achieved without trillions in new spending and taxes and government dictated, radical changes to Americans’ current health care plans.

For the less fortunate and most vulnerable amongst us, there must be an expansion of Federally Qualified Health Clinics, which will provide patients with preventive and routine treatment; end underserved people’s use of emergency rooms for primary health care treatments.  Doctors and other health care professionals can be incentivized to provide their services at these clinics for either immediate or future considerations; and a “Project Navigator” program attached to each FQHC can assist the underserved in accessing the health care system.  This approach is community based and will stand a greater chance of over time building true, community-based health care and empowering consumers, rather than continuing in perpetuity as dependents upon a government service.  Finally, people suffering from “orphan diseases” – rare afflictions requiring a lifetime of special care – should be compassionately assisted through our nation’s social safety net.

Of course, such ideas are muted beneath the present political circus’ din; however, one true note rings out:   on A Health Dirge Night, President Obama’s Lefty Hearts Club Band’s radical “concept” of health care reform “doesn’t go anywhere,” except down the tracks of higher costs, lower quality, fewer choices and lost jobs; its stale redistributionist tenets could fit on any nineteenth century socialist handbill; and, no matter how vehemently they says otherwise, it isn’t needed by and won’t work for Americans.

United States Representative Thaddeus G. McCotter (MI) is Chair of the Republican House Policy Committee and a Lester Bangs Wannabe

Thanks to Dave Konig for addressing the topic of gay marriage here on Big Hollywood the other day. As he pointed out, the issue itself might not cause most to lose sleep, come what may. But perhaps it should.

As a nation we’re at a crossroads, no question. Our banking industry scrambles to escape quasi-nationalization, our auto industry is in the process of being nationalized, and we have instituted, of all things, a Car Czar (note: it took Russia roughly 300 years to stack up so many czars). If that isn’t bad enough, nationalized health care is on the table again.

So as the Republic devolves and those with the means contemplate hightailing it to the Caymans, it’s probably time to ask ourselves what it is to be “conservative.”

One need only read the comments on this site to know that there are two fundamental schools of thought here. Some of us believe that to be conservative is to defend freedom, preserve individual liberty, and keep government small. Others believe that being conservative is about electing a government that will defend and enforce “traditional” values.

For our purposes here, a list of those values isn’t relevant. But if you place yourself in this camp, consider whether you truly want a government that will enforce your personal values at gunpoint (this is what all laws effectively do). And if you surrender such power to the government — power to defend not your life or your property, mind you, but your values — can you live with the consequences when your officials are no longer in power and you are staring down the business end of that barrel? Could you live with mandatory government schooling, for instance? (I could not). When you find yourself in a minority, as everyone does at some point, what protections do you imagine that you will have, other than our Constitution? One of the beauties of that document is that no citizen can undermine it without eventually putting his own interests in peril.

In the context of this debate, it is impossible to overemphasize that this is the same inspired, carefully considered document that protects the religious freedom we hold dear.

Looked at from this perspective, gay marriage isn’t a complex issue. Science aside, one needn’t believe that homosexuality is moral in order to understand that nowhere does the Constitution give the federal government the right to regulate marriage.

The Republican Party has made a huge mistake in advocating a kind of Cafeteria Constitutionalism. (I’ll take some guns, no helmet laws, please, a free market, and…yuck, hold the gay marriage!). One can’t legitimately invoke the Constitution to oppose federally mandated sex education, and then use the federal government to impose school prayer. Leave that fair-weather-federalism to the Left.

It’s not a state secret that the Democrat Party has become little more than a loose coalition of special interest groups with few or no coherent philosophical underpinnings. It’s also apparent that the Republicans are equally lost philosophically and couldn’t even manage to nominate a presidential candidate with the fiscal good sense to oppose corporate bailouts. Now here we are: face to face with an opportunity to take stock, recalibrate, and decide what we want from our political leaders.

Me, I implore the Republicans to become — once and for all — the party of freedom. The true moral highground is there to seize. Our Constitution was created as a shield against government encroachment on our personal lives. Conservatives should be the last people who would dare turn this document into a weapon.

As luck would have it, the first week of the show’s run concluded on Sunday September 10th. The next morning, I slept in, then awoke to find an answering machine message from my wife, who’d driven off to a breakfast date. “Turn on the TV,” her breathless voice said. “New York City has been bombed.” I spent the rest of the day, like most of the country, glued to my set, unable to believe what I was seeing or hearing.

1776 was, as scheduled, dark that night, and the management cancelled the following night’s performance. America was in a state of shock. On Wednesday the 13th, we re-opened. The theater was packed but the reaction from the crowd was strangely muted. The laughs which usually accompanied the comic by-play between Franklin and John Adams were missing. But as the show concluded, the bells rang and the actors froze in the famous patriotic tableau, cheers and audible sobs erupted. People actually cried out, “God bless America.” The performers remained on stage after the curtain calls and asked for donations for the Firemen’s Relief Fund. In the five days following 9-11, in our smallish theater in Los Angeles, we raised just under twenty five thousand dollars. People were dying to do something… anything… to help. The president went on the tube and urged us to go about our lives as if nothing had happened; the people felt otherwise.

The patriotic fervor lasted for the best part of a year. Every ball game opened with “God Bless America.” It was a terrifying but in many ways exhilarating time. I’d lived through World War II and hadn’t been able to wait to join the army as soon as I turned 18. I’d loved my country then and I loved it still. But, as we all know, the euphoria didn’t last. Patriotic feelings waned and blame-America became fashionable again. “War Is Not the Answer” stickers bloomed on the bumpers of Saabs and Volvos, replacing the small American flags which had briefly flown from cars across the country.

In ‘08, Barrack Obama was famously elected president. Even though I’d supported McCain and dreaded what I feared Barrack might do, I felt a surge of elation when the networks announced he’d won. I really hadn’t thought the U.S. would go for an African-American for a decade or so. The elation didn’t last, as Obama kept one after another of his campaign promises. The millions of centrists and disgruntled conservatives who’d swallowed hard, joined the left and voted Democrat began to wonder about what they’d wrought. Rush Limbaugh’s ratings soared; so did those of Fox News. 

And so did the ratings of Mark Levin. When my friend Larry Elder had been taken off the air suddenly some months ago, the innocent victim of the collapse of a bankrupt radio syndicate, he’d been replaced, here in L. A. by Mr. Levin. I’d heard of him, of course, hadn’t read his best-seller “Men In Black.” I tuned in, resentful at first on behalf of poor Larry but was soon hooked by Levin’s wit and erudition. 

Nothing prepared me, though, for the brilliance of his new book, “Liberty and Tyranny.” The title is taken from a quote of Abraham Lincoln’s, which he features on the book’s back cover. What knocked me out though, was the sub-title: “A Conservative Manifesto.” I’d never heard the word used apart from Marx’s Communist Manifesto. (Well, there was the Uni-bomber.) 

Levin’s book is the equivalent of a popular college course in conservatism. Strict adherence to the Founding Fathers’ words are necessary, in his view, to be able to call oneself an genuine conservative. He has withering scorn for neo-conservatives, whom he regards as wolves in sheep’s clothing. His word for the liberal is Statist, a term he uses over and over until it begins to sound like an ugly epithet. “The state will take care of me,” is the mantra of the leftist, as Levin describes him, but as a bronco once broken discovers, there’s a heavy price to be paid. 

The book is divided into sections: In On Prudence and Progress, he begs conservatives to be wary of the sort of imprudent change the Statist insists upon. “For the Statist,” Levin writes, “liberty is not a blessing but the enemy. (The Statist) believes it is not possible to achieve Utopia if individuals are free to go their own way.” In On Faith And The Founding, he asserts that the founding fathers clearly believed in Natural Law as divined by God.  In On The Constitution, he declares that the Constitution is not “a living, breathing document” that may be altered at will, but a set of immutable laws to be strictly adhered to.

On Federalism deals with states’ rights vs federal intervention. I learned something I hadn’t known here: in the nineteenth century, northern states had laws on their books which created legal obstacles to the deportation of escaped slaves back to the south. The federal Supreme Court sought to rule these laws unconstitutional. It also held, in Dred Scott in 1857, that no slave or descendant of a slave could be a U.S. citizen. 

In On The Free Market, Levin quotes Abraham Lincoln: “Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.”

From On The Welfare State: “Barbara Wagner… was diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer. Her doctors recommended a specific drug… However, Barbara is a resident of Oregon… the state refused Barbara’s request for the drug, since it does not cover drugs that are meant to prolong the life of individuals with advanced cancer… But Oregon also has legalized assisted suicide and in an unsigned letter from the state, Barbara was informed that the health plan would pay to cover the costs of a doctor to help her kill herself.”

Enviro-Statism (global warming). Here, Levin quotes a list of calamities predicted in news reports which hilariously include: Antarctic ice growing, Antarctic ice melting, Atlantic Ocean less salty, Atlantic Ocean saltier, crocodile sex (?) and itchier poison ivy. This reminded me of a Harvard Lampoon send-up of how various publications would handle the end of the world. Washington Post headline: WORLD ENDS TOMORROW: Women, Minorities Hardest Hit.

Levin concludes his book with an epilogue: A Conservative manifesto. “So distant is America today from its founding principles,” he writes, “that it is difficult to precisely describe the nature of American government… If the bulk of the people reject the civil society for the Statist’s Utopia, preferring subjugation to citizenship, then the end is near…”

Like Tom Paine before him, Levin is a brilliant pamphleteer. Anyone who wants a thorough understanding of the difference between right and left in this country needs to read this book. A college credit should come with it.

Orson Bean’s new book, M@il For Mikey, is published by Barricade Books

I’ve yet to meet anyone in my generational sphere who doesn’t have a fondness for and owe a certain mnemonic debt to the old Schoolhouse Rock videos, which aired between Saturday morning cartoons back in the day (1973-1986, and less frequently after that). Honestly, I can’t even think of the preamble to the Constitution without singing it in my head.

According to Wikipedia:

Schoolhouse Rock! began as a commercial advertising venture by David McCall. The idea came to McCall when he noticed one of his sons, who was having trouble in school remembering the multiplication tables, knew the lyrics to many current rock songs. The first song recorded was “Three Is a Magic Number,” written by Bob Dorough. It tested well, so a children’s record was compiled and released. Tom Yohe listened to the first song, and began to doodle pictures to go with the lyrics. He told McCall that the songs would make good animation.

The resulting videos were generally brilliant and the series is still one of the most insanely effective uses of pop culture for educational purposes. True to the “Schoolhouse” theme, the videos helped reinforce important facts and lessons about grammar, arithmetic, science and history…what could go wrong?

I must warn you that the following clips are not suitable for children. And I’ll suggest, (as they always do in the great old films, when bad news is on the way), that you sit down, and pour a stiff drink before viewing:

Promo here:

Carbon Footprint here:

Oh, and that’s but a taste.

Personally, I was particularly saddened by what became of Mr. Morton — the lonely man who taught me about predicates.  Granted the original video is dated (note the antique typewriter), but it’s possible to modernize without trashing content. I’m all for updating and the Skee-Lo rap version of this tune is smart and catchy.  Do listen! But now, thanks to Disney, the already tortured Mr. Morton has lost his mind ENTIRELY, not to mention his charm.

I’m hardly against addressing environmental issues, but bumper-sticker-inspired campfire songs are no substitute for facts. Our society, in which countless children struggle to keep up on the basics, is now making a complete mockery of education. Are the government schools doing such a bang-up job that anyone in a position to educate can waste time instructing children in the fine art of sorting garbage?  Disney seems to think so.

What’s evident and terrifying is that this is exactly what passes for education now, both in and out of the classroom. Schoolhouse Rock, indeed!

These videos become available March 31st.

1.  Anyone who goes to college at 16 and graduates Summa Cum Laude is clearly not smart.

2. Even though he is 24-years-old, and that SOUNDS cool, it’s not.  Ask yourself, is Jack Bauer a callow youth?  Don’t the young hotshots always go down hard when they’re around him?

3. Having happily posed for a picture with him, Kiefer Sutherland is expecting a little LOYALTY, thank you very much.

4. Ben has a very full head of hair, Jack Bauer does not.  Someone in that last sentence cannot fully understand the struggles Jack endures every day to simply make the right decision at every juncture.

5. Jack Bauer protects things, while Ben is trying to convince us that Jack Bauer is only a fictional character, thereby endangering us all.

6.  He probably learned the Constitution from Laurence Tribe while at Haahhhrvard Law School.

7.  He clearly has disrespect for the people of Sengala.  You can’t just imagine away a country, Ben.  Haven’t you visited the UN?

8.  I need help keeping this Johnny-Come-Lately live-blog alive, and Ben has not helped.

9.  I come to praise ‘24,’ not to bury it.

Forthwith, we will make fun of the show and each other.  Come on in – three’s not a crowd!