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We have met the enemy, and according to Peggy Noonan, it is us!

COLUMN Character AssassinationHollywood Kills Off the Movie HeroInterview with Barbara Nicolosiby Bobby Maddex In Salvo 7, we asked our resident film critic Barbara Nicolosi about the essential elements of good storytelling, as well as the egregious manner in which contemporary filmmakers tell their stories. What we didn’t get to discuss was the importance of character. Specifically, we failed to explore the concept of the hero and speculate on why the franchise hero has all but disappeared from Hollywood. Can you start by identifying the qualities of a hero? What attributes must a hero possess? I’m going to defer to Aristotle...

By now, most have probably heard this news. Rush Limbaugh is expected to be dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, according to three NFL sources. Dave Checketts, chairman of the NHL's St. Louis Blues and the point man in the Limbaugh group attempting to buy the Rams, realizes he must remove the controversial conservative radio host from his potential role as a minority member in the group in order to get approval from other NFL owners, the sources said.

I were a visitor from another planet I’d wonder how a nation filled with so many weak minded fools managed to achieve the greatness that grabbed my attention in the first place. Certainly I would never have expected that people that visited the moon would have so many flat earthers when it comes to believing the lie called anthropomorphic climate change. These same fools that attack the concept of God on a daily basis have accepted the laughable premise that the CO2 we expel as part of our respiratory process, the same CO2 that plants need to grow and thrive,...

Maybe DVD Sales Collapsed Because Movies SuckPosted By John Nolte On October 13, 2009 @ 2:31 pm In Entertainment, News | 163 Comments Everyone seems to have an opinion as to why DVD sales have cratered since hitting their peak in 2006, but no one’s looking at the obvious answer. Plunging sales have been blamed on piracy [1], competing technologies such as video games [2]and low-priced rental outlets like Redbox [3]… everything but the quality of the actual films. First and foremost, I’m a movie lover. Nothing competes for my attention in this regard, including dollar rentals and the like. But...

The six year old who brought his Boy Scout pocket knife to school have been given a reprieve. He won't have to go to reform school for 45 days after all. A Delaware first-grader who was facing 45 days in an alternative school as punishment for taking his favorite camping utensil to school can return to class after the school board made a hasty change granting him a reprieve.

Byron York blows the whistle on Democratic legislation, about to be enacted by Congress, which purports to partially repeal the First Amendment: The [hate] crime bill -- which would broaden the protected classes for hate crimes to include sexual orientation and "gender identity," which the bill defines as a victim's "actual or perceived gender-related characteristics" -- passed the House earlier this year as a stand-alone measure. But it's never had the votes to succeed by itself in the Senate. So over the summer Democrats, with the power of their 60-vote majority, attached it to the defense [appropriations] bill.

Rush Limbaugh's bid to buy the St. Louis Rams ran into opposition within the NFL on Tuesday. Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay vowed to vote against him and commissioner Roger Goodell said the conservative commentator's "divisive" comments would not be tolerated from any NFL insider.

In the summer of 2008, I noticed something I’d never seen before. All around midtown Manhattan, on various sidewalks, people were selling cheap plastic trinkets out of open briefcases propped atop folding tray tables.

10 Reasons Why Pastors Avoid the Culture War Posted By Doug Giles On October 13, 2009 @ 5:05 am In Culture, Entertainment, Featured Story, Religion | 45 Comments As far as I’m concerned, a silent or waffling pastor in today’s paranormal climate is unnecessary. I don’t care how much the minister likes kitty cats, candy canes, and if he cries at Celine Dion concerts. Look, Voiceless Vicar, if you’re not currently in the middle of this crucial cultural squabble, pointing out what’s putrid and cheering on what’s proper, then you’re Dr. Evil in my book. Given that the culture-dividing issues,...

The New York Times has a piece on what they characterize as "intensifying feud" between Fox News and the administration. “We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent,” said Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, in a telephone interview on Sunday. “As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.”

It's a video that provides more evidence why Smith is my favorite sports commentator.

Isn't it great that President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize? He'd been in office only 12 days when the Nobel nominations were due. That's a mere 288 hours for Obama to have been credentialed as President Peace.

In an age where style trumps substance in so many ways, few can be surprised that a fledging President would receive a Nobel Peace Prize. It bears repeating that Obama was President for just a matter of days before the nomination process was closed. Nevertheless, and without any substantive accomplishment, Obama was awarded the Prize – unanimously – apparently for things to come. No wonder 58% of Americans believe that politics was behind the choice.

That's the word from this Politico piece. We will be a headache for anyone who believes the Constitution of the United States … isn’t to be protected,” said Dick Armey, chairman of the anti-tax and limited government advocacy group FreedomWorks, which helped plan and promote the tea parties, town hall protests and the September ‘Taxpayer March’ in Washington. “If you can’t take it seriously, we will look for places of other employment for you.” “We’re not a partisan organization, and I think many Republicans are disappointed we are not,” added Armey, a former GOP congressman.

The head of the Player's union in the NFL wrote Commissioner Roger Goodell in opposition to Rush Limbaugh's bid for the Rams. NFL Players executive director DeMaurice Smith on Saturday made a move to solidify the union against a bid by conservative talk show radio host Rush Limbaugh as part of a group that aims to purchase the St. Louis Rams. In an e-mail to the union's executive committee on Saturday specifically addressing Limbaugh's bid, Smith said, "I've spoken to the Commissioner [Roger Goodell] and I understand that this ownership consideration is in the early stages. But sport in America...

This is the insanity to which government medicine inevitably leads: a British transsexual is suing for the "right" to breast enlargement surgery: The legally aided gender dysphoria sufferer, who has been living as a woman for over 10 years, says breast augmentation is essential to her female identity and emotional well-being and the refusal to give her the op amounts to sex discrimination. Her unique test case against the West Berkire Primary Care Trust (PCT), in which the the Equality and Human Rights Commission

The news Friday that President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was met with widespread incredulity and skepticism. "For what?" was the most uttered phrase of the day. The almost universal sense of disbelief was reinforced when word spread that the deadline for nominations had been Feb. 1, less than two weeks after Mr. Obama entered office. By rights, the nomination should have been diagnosed as a symptom of an extreme case of Obamamania and quietly discarded.

When I heard about this, all I could think about was that line in Top Gun, "your ego is writing checks your body can't cash." President Barack Obama reaffirmed his campaign pledge to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military in a speech Saturday, but offered no timetable or specifics for acting on that longstanding promise. He acknowledged to a cheering crowd that some policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not coming as quickly as they expected. "I will end 'don't ask-don't tell,"' Obama said to a standing ovation from the crowd of about...

There's a great deal of irony in the connection between Saul Alinsky and the Tea Parties. If you were to take a random poll of tea party gatherers, most would have heard of Alinsky. Most of those folks would view Alinsky unfavorably. Yet, knowingly or not, the tea parties owe much of their success to the exact same principles that Alinsky verbalized when he was organizing on the streets of Chicago.

But that was then, and this is now. As the historian Robert Dallek told Obama recently, "War kills off great reform movements." As the Washington Post's E.J. Dionne reminded the president, his supporters voted for him not to win a war but to win a victory on health care and other domestic issues. Obama's priorities lie not in the Hindu Kush but in America: Why squander your presidency on trying to turn an economically moribund feudal backwater into a functioning nation state when you can turn a functioning nation state into an economically moribund feudal backwater?

This week’s contest is bittersweet. Winning Council member Soccer Dad is giving up his spot on the Watcher’s Council and leaves us with a fine piece of journalism detailing how the mainstream media filters just about every bit of news coming out of Israel in a manner that skews the first draft of history. This is insidious, as Soccer Dad Demonstrates:

ou know something is rotten in Denmark when even the winner acts sheepishly surprised. The Nobel committee said its decision was motivated by Obama's initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism. Yet the choice was stunning given the nomination deadline of Feb.1, less than two weeks after the Obama presidency began. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama woke up to the news a little before 6 a.m. EDT. "The president was humbled to be selected by the committee," Gibbs said.

The award of this year’s Nobel peace prize to President Obama will be met with widespread incredulity, consternation in many capitals and probably deep embarrassment by the President himself. Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration, approval for the election of America’s first black president and hope that Washington will honour its promise to re-engage with the world.

Licence to make crass sexual jokes on the BBC about the Queen is depravity, not liberty Earlier this week, David Cameron, the British Conservative Party leader and probable next prime minister, was “cleared” of “breaching” “the broadcasting code” by the country’s TV and radio regulatory authority, Ofcom. Back in July, Mr. Cameron had been appearing on the morning show at Absolute Radio, a national rock station, and had, apropos the political class in general, observed that “the public are rightly, I think, pissed off.” To a question about why he was not using Twitter, the Tory leader replied, “Too many...

DECATUR, AL -- Decatur police have arrested one suspect in a Sept. 11 gang-style shooting at Funland Park and are searching for a second suspect who is considered to be armed and dangerous. Jose Luis Gonzalez, 19, was arrested Tuesday at the B&B Trailer Court on Modaus Road and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, three counts of attempted murder, three counts of second degree assault, shooting into an occupied vehicle and shooting into an occupied vehicle. He's being held in the Morgan County Jail on bonds totaling $400,000. Police are still searching for Samuel Trejo Carbajal, 19, of Elkmont....

Is Obama a disaster zone? Of course he is. Let’s cut through the crap, shall we? The SOB has never had any experience. And, but for the failed phrase “Compassionate Conservative,” we would never have been where we are today. What the hell does America have to show for a liberal agenda? Can anyone stand up and tell us? An educational system occupied by apologist leftists? The ideal of community values now epitomized by a lack of gang bangers saying “trick or treat” on Halloween? The concept that “family” is a couple of homosexual men with a child and “nice...

Facts Evasion When It Comes to Sex, the Left Hates Science by Hunter Baker It has become an article of faith among those on the secular left that they are the natural allies of scientific rationality. At the time of the 2004 election, both Robert Reich and Garry Wills styled religious conservatives as the enemies of science who threatened to bring in a new dark age. This appraisal, excessively flattering and self-congratulatory to themselves, while unfairly condemnatory of others, arises from two on-going campaigns. The first, which has been running far longer than any play on Broadway, is the organized...

<p>I once had a patient who had had the words ‘F*** off’ tattooed on his forehead in mirror writing. When I asked him for the reason for this, he said that it was to wake him up in the morning when he looked at himself in the glass. It never failed, he said.</p>

funny thing happened on the way to the collapse of market capitalism in the face of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. It didn’t. Indeed, in Germany voters relieved Chancellor Angela Merkel of the necessity of cohabiting with a left-wing party, allowing her to form a coalition with a party favouring lower taxes and free markets. And in Pittsburgh leaders representing more than 90% of the world’s GDP convened to figure out how to make markets work better, rather than to hoist the red flag. The workers are to be relieved, not of their chains, but of credit-card...

With his wife, Michelle, in tow, Obama beseeched the scandal-ridden Olympic bureaucracy, the first time ever that an American president had met personally with the body. Facing a 26-year-high unemployment rate of 9.8% here at home, the White House ought to have done some homework before sending the president off on one knee, putting not only his personal reputation on the line, but the prestige of his nation. Yet when voting time came, the entreaties of the president who has been widely lauded for “restoring the moral stature” of a country’s whose reputation was supposedly tarnished by the policies of...

Endure Like a Daniel John Mark ReynoldsCulture, Theology 09.21.2009 Why so many Christians but so little impact? Perhaps one reason is that we have been taught courage without endurance. We have learned only part of the lesson of the life of the Biblical prophet Daniel. When I was a kid, there were only three things we really thought we knew about Daniel. First, lions had refused to act the part of an ancient ACLU and keep him from praying in public spaces. Second, young Daniel had gone to public school and refused to eat the King’s food. He had...

The American Public is coming to realize that racism is now entrenched within the office of the presidency and the Attorney General. The bathos or ludicrous nature of this abysmal situation of racism being institutionalized from the highest powers down to the common man has been facilitated by a compliant and complicit media, functioning as a propaganda bureau intent on pimping the President’s Progressive Racial Marxism rather than analyzing the executive policy objectively. For the first time in history, the Executive is not being held accountable by the press. Dissent is being classified as racist and dismissed as ignoble because...

Lot’s have been said about how divided and “angry” America is these days. But has anyone really asked: why? The answer is rather simple: years of pure political cowardice in actually governing reality. There is a truth in saying that the division that now roils the nation is the by-product of that freakish time known as the 1960s. Arguably, it was during this time that the great division between competing American visions was sewn. But it is also a convenient argument to make this snapshot of history the political and cultural scapegoat for what came after. There is no need...

Runner sues Attorney General over ballot wording SACRAMENTO • State Sen. George Runner is suing California Attorney General Jerry Brown for crafting what Runner calls an “overtly biased” summary of a ballot measure the senator created to prevent voter fraud. “I believe he has misrepresented what this initiative does,” said Runner, R-Lancaster, in an interview Monday. “That’s a tremendous disservice to the citizens of California.” Earlier this year Runner submitted ballot measure Vote SAFE, which would require voters to present photo identification at the polls, allow county Registrar of Voters additional time to count military votes and protect the identity...

I wrote about perv director Roman Polanski’s pampered fugitive life six years ago here. Justice is finally catching up with the admitted seducer of young girls. He was arrested in Zurich this weekend, much to the “great consternation and shock” of his friends in the artistic community. For a graphic reminder of what Polanski is accused of doing to his 13-year-old alleged victim — and how an L.A. Times sophisticate is pooh-poohing the brutal act — go here. Bring a strong stomach. And expect more crime-coddling apologists to defend Polanski in 3, 2, 1…

YOU’RE A prudent parent, and you protect your children from behavior that is needlessly risky or harmful. You don’t let them ride a bicycle without putting on a helmet. You wait with them for the school bus, or drive them to school yourself. You wouldn’t dream of letting them drink alcohol, and if you caught them with cigarettes, you’d go through the roof. So why do you let them watch so much TV? For turning brains into mush, you can’t do better than television. The “vast wasteland’’ Newton Minow deplored in 1961 is infinitely vaster now - a largely unrelieved...

I love a great debate. The national congress is providing our country with lots of content for dinner-table conversation. However, when some play “the racism card” it destroys our community and national spirit. This is becoming especially common when people lack the logic to back up their positions or beliefs. As we have been watching the public debate concerning the destiny of this country, I am most disappointed in the decline of civility and the insult slinging. The most offensive part about name calling is that it implies we can read the minds of others. The former president Jimmy Carter...

This first video is the now infamous video of kindergarteners singing a song in praise of President Obama at B. Bernice Young Elementary School in New Jersey. It's one of the creepiest and most disturbing videos I've seen in a while. It's for good reason that it's disturbing. It's almost become a cliche to refer to this video as something akin to Mao, Kim Jong Il, and Stalin. In those nations, we would expect such a video. We shouldn't expect it in America. Yet, that's exactly what we have. Worse yet, these are kindergarteners and so in no position to...