tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67267325070184086712024-02-06T18:15:00.655-08:00<a href="http://www.FullAsylum.com">Home</a> | <a href="http://www.fullasylum.com/#reviews">Reviews</a> | <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Full-Asylum-Michael-Isenberg/dp/098532970X">Buy</a> | Blog | <a href="http://www.fullasylum.com/calendar.html">Events</a> | <a href="http://www.fullasylum.com/newsroom.html">Newsroom</a> | <a href="http://www.fullasylum.com/contact.html">Contact</a>Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.comBlogger275125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-29586253168430287252019-04-14T05:02:00.000-07:002019-04-14T09:37:03.217-07:00Antifa Inexplicably Demonstrates against Assange, Wikileaks<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
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<meta name="twitter:description" content="Yesterday I attended a demonstration at the British Consulate in Cambridge to protest the arrest in London this week of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange—and had a run-in with Antifa.">
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by Michael Isenberg. </B>
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Yesterday I attended a demonstration at the British Consulate in Cambridge to protest the arrest in London this week of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange—and had a run-in with Antifa.
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Wikileaks, according to its <A HREF=http://wikileaks.org>website</A>, “specializes in the analysis and publication of large datasets of censored or otherwise restricted official materials involving war, spying and corruption….a giant library of the world's most persecuted documents.” Among the persecuted documents it has published since its beginnings in 2006 have been emails by Sarah Palin, evidence of bias by East Anglia University climate change scientists, the “Collateral Murder” videos of US helicopters killing Iraqi civilians, and the Democratic National Committee emails showing that party officials favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the 2016 primaries, in violation of party rules. Wikileaks has proven itself to be truly non-partisan.
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Needless to say, the US Government has had it in for Mr. Assange. Since 2012, he found asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. However, the government of Ecuador rescinded his asylum this week. He was dragged from the embassy by British police, for extradition to the United States.
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Like Wikileaks, yesterday’s rally was non-partisan. I had been invited by my friends at the Libertarian Party. Once there, I ran into some Republicans I know, as well as Bitcoin activists, anti-corporate and anti-Fed protesters, and 2018 independent Senate candidate Shiva Ayyadurai. It was a small group, so I was happy to see some two dozen Antifa demonstrators show up with red banners and matching bandanna/facemasks. I thought this was a great opportunity for organizations which normally oppose each other to reach across the political divide and work together on an issue where they share common ground.
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmZzsl2jGeEXqmetQyb5pfkY9UbDjWHQsyLy8dKyelr76ck6iVWt32MLtS_Y3WIZE-CWTrq7jTQ4FStMRq21IOLPCVIf5PmQR1LHCX7-0FcFUC5LDUBWCiqp5sGuktr-s0Z4j2JfUwuA/s1600/20190413_164153.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHmZzsl2jGeEXqmetQyb5pfkY9UbDjWHQsyLy8dKyelr76ck6iVWt32MLtS_Y3WIZE-CWTrq7jTQ4FStMRq21IOLPCVIf5PmQR1LHCX7-0FcFUC5LDUBWCiqp5sGuktr-s0Z4j2JfUwuA/s400/20190413_164153.jpg" width="225" height="400" data-original-width="900" data-original-height="1600" /></a></div>
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So imagine my surprise when I discovered that Antifa was there to <I>counter</I>-demonstrate.
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Indeed, I was mystified. I thought that the self-styled “anti-Fascist” Antifa, who see themselves as rebels, would have been a natural ally for the anti-Establishment, anti-war Wikileaks. Yet there they were, with cowbells and vuvuzelas, trying to shout us down and taunting us about how they “ruined” our demonstration and caused us to waste our Saturday. They called out some of the pro-Assange demonstrators by name, as if to intimidate them by saying, “We know who you are.” Not knowing my name, they called me "Dad," having mistaken me for the father of one of the other protestors. I responded by warning them that they better not mess with my boy.
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In this clip they chant “Go home, Nazis” at us. Since libertarians take the opposite position to Nazis on every issue there is, and some of us are Jewish besides, I suspect Antifa doesn’t actually know what a Nazi is.
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It was all rather childish, really. At a couple points, they chanted “Free Chelsea Manning”—<I>who was a Wikileaks contributor</I>. Like I said, mystifying.
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Shout out to the Cambridge Police, who came out in force to keep the opposing sides apart and ensure that things stayed non-violent. Thank you! There was however, a downside to that, as I would have liked to politely engage the Antifa demonstrators, and learn just what the hell they were thinking. Sadly, the police stopped me when I tried to do that.
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<I> Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, hospital gowns, and comically inept leftist demonstrators. It is available on <A HREF= https://www.amazon.com/Full-Asylum-Michael-Isenberg/dp/098532970X>Amazon.com</A>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-72364994860585986882013-12-03T13:11:00.000-08:002013-12-03T13:11:05.880-08:00DVD Review - Star Trek: Into Darkness<meta name="description" content="A case study in how computer graphics have ruined movies: they encourage the filmmaker to let cool space battles carry a film, as if that could compensate for weak plots, childish characters, and insipid dialog.">
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I’ll start with a spoiler: <I>Star Trek: Into Darkness</I> is a remake of 1982’s <I>The Wrath of Khan</I>.
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Comparing the two films is a case study in how computer graphics have ruined movies: they encourage the filmmaker to let cool space battles carry a film, as if that could compensate for weak plots, childish characters, and insipid dialog.
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The plots of both movies revolve around the conflict between starship captain James T. Kirk and the genetically-enhanced, power-mad Khan Noonien Singh. In <I>The Wrath of Khan</I>, before the proliferation of computer-generated special effects, this conflict had depth to it. Khan had met Kirk before – in the <I>Original Series</I> episode “Space Seed” – and had been defeated. This pre-existing condition ensured that, to employ a tagline from another movie of that era, this time it’s personal.
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By contrast, in the remake, they had never met until well into the film. For Khan, Kirk is just someone he can conveniently use and discard. As for Kirk’s feelings towards Khan, they consist of childishly lashing out, as he lashes out at everyone who disagrees with him.
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We see that in the opening scenes, in which Kirk rescues Spock from a volcano on an alien world. Unfortunately, he exposes the Enterprise to the natives in the process and thereby contaminates their culture.
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This violates Starfleet’s Prime Directive against interfering with the natural evolution of primitive peoples. Now when I was in the defense industry they told me there’s a difference between a crime and a mistake, but the surest way to turn a mistake into a crime is to try to cover it up. Apparently they don’t teach that at Starfleet Academy. Kirk compounds his error by lying about what happened. Alas the cover-up collapses when Spock puts the truth in a report, explaining to Kirk afterward “I incorrectly assumed that you would be truthful in your captain's log.” Kirk gets all pissy about that. He accuses Spock of “throwing him under the bus,” (Do 23rd Century people with transporter technology know what a bus is?). For good measure, he subjects Spock to an anti-Vulcan slur, “pointy”. So basically Kirk is a dick. When an admiral warns him, “You think the rules don't apply to you…you're going to get yourself and everyone under your command killed,” you can bet that by the end of the movie a valuable lesson will be learned. And sure enough, a valuable lesson <I>is</I> learned – by Spock. Kirk just goes on being a dick.
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As in the 2009 <I>Star Trek</I> reboot, Starfleet is mind-numbingly stupid. After a records facility is attacked, the entire senior staff meets to batten down the hatches and plan their response. They hold this meeting in a conference room reminiscent of the war room in <I>Dr. Strangelove</I>, except that it’s on an upper floor of a skyscraper and has a row of picture windows. Not very secret, but convenient for anyone who has an armed shuttlecraft and the inclination to carry out a decapitating strike against Starfleet.
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The dialog features an occasional good one-liner from Dr. McCoy (“Don't agree with me, Spock, it makes me very uncomfortable”), but is otherwise forgettable. 2013 Khan’s stiffly-uttered threats (“I will have no choice but to kill you and your entire crew”) pale in comparison to 1982 Khan’s impassioned space-age update of <I>Moby Dick</I>: “He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round perdition's flames before I give him up!”
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But don’t worry; there are plenty of special effects to distract you from these flaws. With a $190 million budget, they’re pretty amazing. At least I think they’re amazing. Most of the action sequences were dimly lit and I couldn’t see them very well. Apparently the subtitle <I>Into Darkness</I> refers to the ambient lighting.
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The set for the Enterprise’s warp core was particularly impressive: warp core scenes were filmed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF). Since the $4 billion of government funds spent on the nuclear fusion facility haven’t actually led to any ignition, it’s nice that the taxpayers at least got a movie out of it.
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There are two saving graces. First, Alice Eve, who plays Dr. Carol Marcus has a stunningly beautiful body which we get a look at during a completely gratuitous underwear scene (the best kind). Second, in an obvious allusion to Obama’s drone-strike policy, Spock questions an order to assassinate Khan by remote control, without benefit of trial. In light of Hollywood’s usual slavish obsequiousness towards the Obama administration, the writers deserve some credit for their independence. Assuming they didn’t think it was Bush they were attacking.
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In any case, if you’re going to spend a couple hours watching a <I>Star Trek</I> movie, I recommend you stick with the original <I>Wrath of Khan</I>. It’s on Netflix Streaming and there’s a reason it’s a classic.
<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about espionage and hospital gowns. Available at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-18934900140927006622013-11-21T13:58:00.000-08:002013-11-21T14:03:53.436-08:00It's too early for the holidays!<meta name="description" content="I confess I’m having some trouble getting into the holiday spirit when there are still leaves on the trees.">
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Still a week before Thanksgiving, but thanks to Hanukkah earliness, I have to start my holiday shopping while there are still leaves on the trees. I confess I find it hard to get into the spirit, in spite of the relentlessly cheerful Christmas songs being piped into the mall via the public address system.
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The giant tree ornaments are hung from the ceiling, but probably without much care. I’m certain they were incompetently installed and will fall on some unfortunate shopper, crushing him to death. Not me, of course, because I’m careful not to walk under them. It might look a little weird, edging along the sides of the corridors, but I’m determined to survive the mall. Which I’m sure won’t be the case for some of those other shoppers, recklessly walking down the middle of the aisles, completely oblivious to imminent gold-painted death from above. And it might not be an easy death by squashing either. Some of those ornaments are snowflake-shaped - or maybe they're supposed to be stars; impaley death is a real possibility.
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On the plus side, this early in the season there’s no line to wait for Santa. I told him what I wanted for Christmas, but he said he doesn’t do assassinations. Excuse me, Mr. Kringle, but I’ve been good all year. I know you’re aware of that, what with the seeing when I’m sleeping, and the knowing when I’m awake. You’re like the frigging NSA. Don’t try to deny it, it’s all in the song which they’re playing on the PA system for the tenth time today. So it seems to me that I’ve earned one little assassination. It’s not like I want something unreasonable, like keeping my health insurance policy. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, either. Just wait for the target to come to the mall and drop a giant ornament on his head.
<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-49440713278336849882013-04-05T04:20:00.000-07:002013-04-05T04:20:51.553-07:00Enviroreductio ad Absurdam<meta name="description" content="Author Kyle Nathaniel Alfred Becker takes the ideology of the environmental movement to its logical conclusion.">
<B>Book Review: Envirotopia</B>
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Walking. Boredom. Hunger. That’s the life of Eugene Ward, protagonist of <I>Envirotopia</I>.
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In a hugely entertaining novel, <I>American Thinker</I> contributor Kyle Nathaniel Alfred Becker portrays a grim future which projects the ideology of the environmental movement to its logical conclusion. “Eugene Ward was a member of a group,” the book begins. “Group 3124, as a matter of fact, which was unbeknownst to him. What he did know was that he had been wandering in the wilderness for as long as he could remember.”
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Eugene knew nothing of how he came to be in the group, of the technologies that had once existed on earth, or where the new socks that occasionally seemed to appear in his knapsack came from. He only knew that a false step on a mountain trail meant death and any infraction of the group’s rules meant harsh punishment at the hand’s of the shaman Logan and his guardians.
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But there’s something different about Eugene. When he’s caught giving some blueberries to a starving mother and her child instead of turning the berries over to the group, he refuses to accept his punishment. Instead he challenges Logan’s authority. This rebellion leads him on a path to discover that neither the world – nor his place in it – are what they seem.
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Becker’s writing is beautiful. His descriptions of nature are lush and vivid, and the ECO-NOW Council, which monitors Eugene's every move, is staffed by unique and colorful characters.
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But this is also a novel of ideas. Becker offers keen insight into the philosophy underlying environmentalism and is adept at weaving it into his story without being preachy. In particular, he understands that environmentalism is not merely an attack on technology. It’s also an attack on individualism and rationality – and environmentalists must wipe those things out in order to achieve their goals.
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<FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-77077769094541782902013-04-03T15:10:00.000-07:002013-04-03T15:12:26.787-07:00How to Save the Massachusetts GOP<meta name="description" content="The Natural Truth’s Michael Graham talks strategy with leading Massachusetts Republicans.">
This afternoon I joined Republican politicians, activists, and journalists for a forum on “How to Save the Massachusetts GOP,” with host, The Natural Truth’s Michael Graham.
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The <A HREF=http://michaelgraham.com/how-to-save-the-massachusetts-gop/>webpage</A> for the event explains that, “If Massachusetts is going to have a viable two-party system, then the Republican Party needs a statewide strategy for attracting more voters and expanding the party’s overall appeal. Hunting for a ‘magic bullet’ candidate who can win despite being a Republican simply isn’t enough.
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“The goal of this symposium is to get candidates, activists, campaign professionals and regular Republican voters together to talk about strategies for the party as a whole and help all GOP candidates become more competitive in 2014.”
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Some of the key points:
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<LI>Several speakers pointed out that the Massachusetts GOP is winning in the suburbs and losing in the cities. Need to go after the latter. Chase 100% of the vote.
<LI>Christine Morabito of Greater Boston Tea Party urged Republicans to end the circular firing squad.
<LI>Former state auditor candidate Mary Connaughton advised picking winning issues where Republicans can show people how their lives can be better, such as education.
<LI>Several speakers urged that Republicans stop allowing the Democrats to define the Republican brand. It’s all very well and good to say we’ll focus on economic issues and stay away from social ones, but the Democrats will bring up the social ones anyway and the media will report it. The Young Republicans’ Katie Regan put it best: "We're losing the war because the Republican candidates are not able to reframe the argument in the media." Holly Robichaud of the Boston Herald advised that when the Democrats bring up issues that we don’t want to talk about, hit them back hard enough that they’ll never want to do it again. Turn it back on them by pointing out their own extreme views.
<LI>The young people who are the future of the party are more libertarian than conservative and were inspired to join the GOP by Ron Paul.
<LI>Best line of the afternoon: Michael Graham welcomes trackers from the Democrat Party, but warns them, "No pot. This is not a medical marijuana facility."
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Here are a few pix:
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The event was held at the F1 Boston Formula One Track and Conference Center.
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Does anyone else think this looks like the set from <I>You Only Live Twice</I>?
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Obligatory audience applause shot.
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US Senate candidate Michael Sullivan works for my vote (I stole this photo from John LaRosa’s <A HREF=https://twitter.com/jslconsulting>Twitter feed</A>. Thanks, John.)
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<A HREF=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/Sullivan.jpg>
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I told Mr. Sullivan I was interested in one thing from my next senator: smaller government. He replied that he would do three things to make that happen: 1) Across the board cuts on discretionary spending. 2) Targets for future spending growth less than the inflation rate. 3) Additional cuts by attrition.
<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-13343160318461070572013-03-29T08:41:00.001-07:002013-03-30T04:15:29.209-07:00James Bond meets Ludwig von Mises<meta name="description" content="Silver Circle: An action movie about monetary policy">
<B><I>Silver Circle</I>: An action movie about monetary policy</B>
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The first rule for writing good political fiction is that the message is secondary. The writer’s first priority should be to tell a good story. <I>Silver Circle</I>, the new animated thriller about out-of-control government, delivers.
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The story begins with an entire neighborhood being forced out of their homes and herded onto buses. The scene reminded me of the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. As in that dark chapter in American history, the government is the villain. In this case the evictions are orchestrated by the Federal Reserve Bank, in an ill-conceived (and perhaps disingenuous) effort to stabilize housing prices. But when eleven of the houses are subsequently blown up, the Fed sends agent Jay Nelson to investigate. Nelson is challenged by ambushes, car chases, hostile police, and some hot sex, before his inquiries lead to a group of rebels fighting against the growing power of the Fed. Jay had never been political, but as he learns that “when they control the money, they control everything,” he must confront his preconceptions about his employer and make up his mind which side he’s on.
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After the screening (which was sold out, BTW. I got the third to last ticket) I joined some of the cast and crew at Tommy Doyle’s in Cambridge. I had an opportunity to tell producer/director Pasha Roberts how well-done the story was - especially one sad scene where a sympathetic character was headed to his death. Although the entire audience could see it coming, they couldn't look away - the film managed to keep it dramatic and suspenseful.
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Roberts and I also talked about the film’s message; he told me that he realizes the Fed doesn’t have the sort of power today that is depicted in <I>Silver Circle’s</I> dystopian future, but he wanted to warn about the power that it <I>does</I> have – in particular the power to print money, a power which robs the savings of ordinary Americans through inflation. This message is threaded throughout the film (as you can see in the trailer, gas prices are up to $152/gallon), and indeed <I>Silver Circle</I> takes its name from the silver coins that the rebels mint as alternative money that holds its value.
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<iframe width="432" height="243" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7UFcHLWMd9s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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More generally, the film is about what kind of country we want to live in: a free America, where we’re responsible for our own lives, or one where we trade our freedom for government promises of security. <I>Silver Circle</I> reminds us that those promises hold their value no better than a Federal Reserve note.
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The only criticism I have of the movie is that the animation is just ok. One person I talked to at the party thought it looked a little like a video game. The flip side is that I’m sure the availability of low-cost computer animation tools is what made it possible for an indie filmmaker to end run the liberals in Hollywood and make a liberty action film on a shoestring budget. In any case, I don’t think the audience cared: they were too caught up in the story. The applause that accompanied the closing credits was more than just polite.
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<I>Silver Circle</I> is playing in limited engagement. You can find venues and show times at <A HREF=http://www.silvercirclemovie.com>www.silvercirclemovie.com</A>.
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Also, check out my gallery from the after party:
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<A HREF=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1663.JPG>
<IMG SRC=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1663.JPG WIDTH=432 ALT="Silver Circle After Party"></A>
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<A HREF=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1649.JPG>
<IMG SRC=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1649.JPG WIDTH=432 ALT="Silver Circle After Party"></A>
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Kristen Alpert sets some folks straight.
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<A HREF=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1651.JPG>
<IMG SRC=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1651.JPG WIDTH=432 ALT="Silver Circle After Party"></A>
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<IMG SRC=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1657.JPG WIDTH=432 ALT="Silver Circle After Party"></A>
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<IMG SRC=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1658.JPG WIDTH=432 ALT="Silver Circle After Party"></A>
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Carla Mora gets another commitment for the <A HREF=http://freestateproject.org/>Free State Project</A>.
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<A HREF=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1660.JPG>
<IMG SRC=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1660.JPG WIDTH=432 ALT="Silver Circle After Party"></A>
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Pasha Roberts talks to a fan.
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<A HREF=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1661.JPG>
<IMG SRC=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/IMG_1661.JPG WIDTH=432 ALT="Silver Circle After Party"></A>
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<FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-18227796583481955022013-03-22T06:37:00.000-07:002013-03-23T04:05:06.749-07:00Third Annual Lights ON for Earth Hour<meta name="description" content="At 8:30 PM on Saturday, turn on every lamp in your house to celebrate the beauty and utility of electric lighting.">
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Earth Hour is a global movement uniting people to protect the planet. Towards the end of March every year, Earth Hour brings together communities from across the world celebrating a commitment to the planet by switching off lights for one designated hour…Earth Hour 2013 will be held on Saturday 23 March between 8.30PM and 9.30PM in your local time zone. <BR>       - <A HREF=http://earthhour.org/page/media-centre/faqs>www.earthhour.org</A>
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You are cordially invited to a <I>different</I> celebration. At 8:30 PM on Saturday, turn on every lamp in your house to celebrate the beauty and utility of electric lighting.
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<A HREF=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2011/Earth_Hour_2010-03-27.jpg><br /><IMG SRC="http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2011/Earth_Hour_2010-03-27.jpg" ALT="Casa Isenberg lit up for Earth Hour 2010" WIDTH=432></A>
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The harnessing of electricity is a magnificent achievement and should be celebrated. The nighttime American cityscape inspired artists like Robert Hoppe, filmmakers like Woody Allen, and refugees like Ayn Rand, who wrote of her arrival in New York after years of starvation, poverty, and repression in Soviet Russia, “seeing the first lighted skyscrapers – it was snowing, very faintly, and I think I began to cry.” To plunge iconic buildings and landmarks, buildings that have had that kind of effect on people, to plunge them into darkness is shameful indeed.
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But also, turn on your lights to express skepticism about the global warming theory. The Earth Hour website describes the event as “born out of a hope that we could mobilize people to take action on climate change”. But as I’ve written <A HREF=http://grebnesisrazor.monteferropress.com/2009/05/climate-change-caused-by-sun.html>elsewhere</A>, although the rise in global temperatures is well-established, there is evidence it is a natural phenomenon, unrelated to the electric light bulb. There’s good reason to question the sort of action the organizers of Earth Hour are calling for. <P>
Finally, turn on your lights to protest the Big Government agenda. Republican gains in the 2010 elections may have killed the prospects for Cap and Trade legislation for now. But the Obama administration is persisting in its efforts to tax and regulate nearly every productive activity by executive order. In a 2011 <A HREF= http://magblog.audubon.org/qa-epa-aministrator-lisa-jackson>interview</A> with Audobon magazine, then-EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said, “There’s clearly a need for the EPA to continue doing what it said it would do, which is to use the Clean Air Act to address carbon pollution and to recognize that progress is possible. We can make strides along with other agencies or departments on the executive side, even in the absence of legislation.” Show your opposition to this end run around the people’s representatives in Congress.
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BTW, I’d like to create an album of homes lit up for Earth Hour. If you get a pic and are willing to share, please send it to me at <A HREF="mailto:Michael_Isenberg@MonteferroPress.com">Michael_Isenberg@MonteferroPress.com</A>
<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about hospital gowns, freedom, and the silliness of the environmental movement. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-23434147650223863292013-03-20T05:45:00.000-07:002013-03-20T06:31:48.275-07:00Obama is not Satan<meta name="description" content="Thanks to the History Channel series The Bible, #ObamaIsNotSatan exploded on Twitter this week.">
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Photo source: VH-1
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The hashtag #ObamaIsNotSatan exploded on Twitter this week, thanks to the accidental(?) resemblance between Barack Obama and the actor who played Satan on the History Channel series <I>The Bible</I>. Folks on the right side of the political divide, including me, had a great deal of fun with it. Here's what I came up with (and stole shamelessly):<p>
<A HREF=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/2013-03-20_Obama_Satan1.jpg>
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<FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-14586057594706805072013-03-19T07:16:00.000-07:002013-03-19T07:16:22.546-07:00Thoughts about evolution and religion<meta name="description" content="When someone tells you they don’t believe in evolution, ask them what they mean by that.
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When someone tells you they don’t “believe” in evolution, ask them what they mean by that.
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If they mean that some species evolved from other species in a process that took billions of years, but that God kicked the process off, and perhaps guided it along the way, then if you're an atheist you may disagree with them, but they’re not actually contradicting anything that science tells us. Even Darwin admitted this possibility in <I>The Origin of the Species</I>:
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I see no good reason why the views given in this volume should shock the religious feelings of any one…A celebrated author and divine has written to me that “he has gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a conception of the Deity to believe that He created a few original forms, capable of self-development into other and needful forms, as to believe that he required a fresh act of creation to supply the voids caused by the action of His laws.”
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Indeed, since God’s role in creation is not a falsifiable hypothesis, science has nothing to say about it one way or the other. Of course, that being the case, it does not belong in the science classroom.
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If, on the other hand, when they say they don’t believe in evolution, they mean that God created all species in their current forms during a one-week period some six thousand years ago, and that man and dinosaurs roamed the earth side by side, then they’re flying in the face of a large body of scientific evidence, and someone needs to sit them down and explain very gently that the Flintstones aren’t real.
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Flintstones image used according to the Fair Use provisions of the US Copyright code.
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-27582894932272381062013-03-08T12:41:00.000-08:002013-03-08T12:41:49.050-08:00In the fight for freedom, never sleep<meta name="description" content="Radical Times is a story about the South in 1865 – with an important message for us in 2013.">
<B>Book Review: Henry Brown’s <I>Radical Times</I><P></B>
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<I>Radical Times</I> is a short novella – only 45 pages – but it’s long on story. The story is that of Pick Garver and his return to his Arkansas home after the Civil War. The town of Tanner’s Grove had changed during his absence and he knew that, as a Southern boy who had fought for the Northern army, he could expect a chilly reception.
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But not from everyone. Two people in particular are happy to have him back. Huddy and his sister Venus had been slaves – and Pick’s best friends – when the three of them were growing up on a plantation owned by Pick’s uncle. Now they were free and Pick would soon find out if that would change his friendship with Huddy – and whether his secret love affair with Venus could resume in a country that had emancipated its slaves, but still did not accept them as equals.
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Indeed, many in Tanner’s Grove are determined that would never happen. The Confederate Army may have given up, but they had not. If necessary, they would use torches and pistols to guarantee that blacks remained second-class citizens.
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Pick recognizes a difficult road ahead. He tells a meeting of (mostly black) Republicans:
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Those who agree with me just won a war so that all Americans will be free.…But it’s not enough that we won a war with rifles and cannons. If we want freedom to last, we have to win a war with words, ideas, and ballots. I hope you don’t think it’s going to be easy.…Yes, we won this war. You can sigh; just don’t sleep.
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It’s a message that is as clear and relevant in 2013 – when freedom is once again under attack - as it was in 1865.
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<FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-23147317485084602802013-03-06T14:53:00.000-08:002013-03-06T14:57:55.460-08:00Dr. Paul Goes to Washington<meta name="description" content="Highlights from Sen. Rand Paul's filibuster of the Brennan nomination.">
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stood up to the Obama administration today. He launched a filibuster opposing the nomination of John Brennan, Obama's choice for CIA chief, and demanding that the Obama Administration explain its drone policy. He says he'll sit down if the President or the Attorney General clarifies that the drone program will not be used to kill non-combatants in America.
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The filibuster is continuing as I write this, but for those who haven't had the chance to listen, here are my live tweets of the highlights through 5:00 PM.
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<A HREF=http://www.MonteferroPress.com/Full_Asylum_Blog/images/2013/2013-03-06Tweets01.jpg>
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-34314467040406605802013-03-05T08:48:00.000-08:002013-03-05T11:47:26.927-08:00Your Tax Dollars at Work<meta name="description" content="$10,000 for Martin Scorsese">
<B>Martin Scorsese welfare king?</B>
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The National Endowment for the Humanities announced recently that Martin Scorsese, director of such films as <I>Taxi Driver</I> and <I>Hugo</I>, would deliver the 2013 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities at the Kennedy Center in Washington on April 1. According to the NEH <A HREF=http://www.neh.gov/news/press-release/2013-02-19>press release</A>, “The annual lecture...is the most prestigious honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.”
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But what got my attention were these words near the bottom: “The lectureship carries a $10,000 honorarium, set by statute.”
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TheRichest.org estimates Mr. Scorsese’s net worth at <A HREF=http://www.therichest.org/celebnetworth/celeb/director/martin-scorsese-net-worth/>$70 million</A>. I do not begrudge him that - in fact I voluntarily contributed to it by going to see his movies. His segment "Life Lessons" in 1989's <I>New York Stories</I> helped make it one of my favorite movies of all time. But with all due respect to Mr. Scorsese, I question the appropriateness of paying him thousands of dollars that were taken involuntarily from the taxpayers at a time of sequesters and budget cuts. When I asked NEH media contact Paula Wasley (who was very polite and professional, by the way) for comment, she confirmed that it is set by law. “We don’t have any control over that,” she explained.
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In spite of all the whining that President Obama has been doing about the sequester, if we’re taxing the middle class to give grants to multimillionaires, then IMHO we haven’t cut enough.
<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-81175124411706579532013-03-04T09:10:00.001-08:002013-03-04T09:13:30.493-08:00Here we go again<meta name="description" content="Special Election June 25 to fill the US Senate vacancy left by John Kerry. I caught up with the three Republican candidates yesterday at the Boston Republican City Committee.">
John Kerry's appointment as Secretary of State has created a vacancy in the US Senate, so once again we will have a special election here in Massachusetts. I caught up with the three Republican candidates yesterday at the Boston Republican City Committee. Not the best quality video I ever shot (stupid Reggae Brunch upstairs), but a good introduction to three gentlemen who want to be the next Scott Brown (who, by a remarkable coincidence, was on the TV is the background).
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Businessman Gabriel Gomez. Check out my challenge for Mr. Gomez at 4:18.
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Former US Attorney Michael Sullivan
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State Representative Dan Winslow
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The primary is April 30 and the winner will face off against either Ed Markey or Stephen Lynch in the special election on June 25. Please check out all the candidates and support the one you think will do the most to advance the cause of freedom
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<FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-75386982152390223522013-03-02T05:38:00.000-08:002013-03-02T05:38:24.184-08:00Celebrating Andrew Breitbart<meta name="description" content="The faithful gather at J.J. Foley's in Boston to toast the life of Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)">
The faithful gather at J.J. Foley's in Boston to toast the life of Andrew Breitbart (1969-2012)
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Read about the time I met Mr. Breitbart <A HREF=http://fullasylum.blogspot.com/2012/03/encounter-with-andrew-breitbart.html>here</A>.
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-87149140841744519582013-02-28T20:18:00.002-08:002013-02-28T20:40:33.348-08:00Massachusetts Alliance of College Republicans<meta name="description" content="Gallery from the Winter Fundraiser at Lir Irish Pub in Boston. Very nice event.">
Gallery from the Winter Fundraiser at Lir Irish Pub in Boston. Very nice event.
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Good turnout
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Mary Z.: Winning the Urban Voter
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Paul Adams: Defining the Republican brand
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No rest for Katie
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Things getting heated? :-)
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Brad Marston and Victor Navarro strategize the 8th Suffolk District
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<FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-71105729526301751082013-02-28T12:13:00.000-08:002013-02-28T12:40:08.989-08:00Never Surrender - March 2013<meta name="description" content="FrackNation is out on DVD, and other news from the front lines of the culture wars">
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On the surface, <I>FrackNation</I> is a straightforward documentary about fracking, a natural gas drilling technique that has the potential to unleash torrents of energy wealth, but has been heavily criticized by environmentalists. The film debunks environmentalists’ claims that fracking contaminates groundwater, releases carcinogenic chemicals, and causes earthquakes.
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No such film would be complete without addressing the environmentalists’ spectacular demonstrations of methane-laced tap water bursting into flames. <I>FrackNation</I> argues that it’s a natural phenomenon that was observed long before fracking: as far back as 1783, George Washington set fire to the Millstone River. In the words of co-director Ann McElhinney, there’s a reason there are towns in the U.S. called Burning Springs.
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At a deeper level, however, <I>FrackNation</I> demonstrates what conservative and libertarian authors and filmmakers are up against every day. <I>FrackNation</I> tells the story of <I>two</I> documentaries: <I>FrackNation</I> itself, and the anti-fracking <I>GasLand</I>.
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The latter film was directed by Josh Fox, one of the beautiful people. He frequently appears at Hollywood parties dressed in black, with trendy glasses and carefully cultivated chin stubble. He has been showered with awards and even received an Oscar nomination. The critics love him: Dave Shifflet of Bloomberg News called him “the Paul Revere of fracking.”
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Contrast Fox with <I>FrackNation</I> filmmaker Phelim McAleer. Traveling around Pennsylvania shale country in a baggy blue pullover, the soft-spoken McAleer is a regular guy who fits right in with the flannel-clad denizens. Neither Hollywood nor the gas industry funded him: he and the other directors raised what they needed from thousands of small donations on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter; the 2,000+ donors all have producer credits at the end of the film. During the course of the movie, McAleer is shoved, threatened with lawsuits and confiscation of equipment, thrown out of several buildings, and even interrogated by the police. The finished product has played in only a handful of theaters and has been largely ignored by the critics (although, to its credit, <I>The New York Times</I> printed a fair review).
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Most conservative and libertarian artists don’t face quite the challenges McAleer did. But they all struggle to get their projects made, and then struggle even harder to get the results in front of the public. Unlike liberals, they don’t have ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, NPR, <I>The Washington Post</I>, and the Academy promoting their work. What they do have is you. Please give them your support.
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The work of Phelim McAleer, along with many conservative and libertarian authors, is featured in the March edition of my free e-mail newsletter, <I>Never Surrender</I>. To subscribe, please e-mail <a href="mailto:subscribe@monteferropress.com?subject=Subscription%20to%20Never%20Surrender&body=Yes%2C%20I%20would%20like%20to%20subscribe%20to%20Never%20Surrender." style="color:#21689b;">subscribe@MonteferroPress.com</a>.
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</tbody></table>Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-31107031394337430052013-02-27T05:10:00.000-08:002013-02-27T05:11:11.732-08:00Implausible Deniability<meta name="description" content="Obama pretends he had nothing to do with the sequester.">
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-41662874384065312132013-02-26T09:59:00.001-08:002013-02-26T10:00:36.353-08:00"Pailout" against "Bailout"<meta name="description" content="An experiment in Keynesian economics">
In 2009, a group from the Hickory 9-12 Project in Newton, NC attempted to "stimulate" the water level in a pond by applying Keynesian economics. They drew buckets of water, carried them to another part of the pond, and poured them back in. The results, seen in this video, were entirely predictable. With Loren Spivack, "The Free Market Warrior."
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-28291556498826238562013-02-25T14:06:00.000-08:002013-02-25T14:21:06.492-08:00My First Annual Political Academy Awards<meta name="description" content="Everyone’s talking about the Oscars today, and it occurred to me that they ought to have similar awards for politicians.">
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Everyone’s talking about the Oscars today, and it occurred to me that they ought to have similar awards for politicians. Here then, are the winners of my first annual Political Academy Awards.
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<B>The Tammy Faye Baker Thickest Makeup Award</B>: Nancy Pelosi
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<B>The Sylvia Plath Award for most suicidal performance at a political convention</B>: the Republican Party for its treatment of the Ron Paul delegates.
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<B>The Josef Goebbels Award for Excellence in Selective Editing</B>: MSNBC
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<B>The Barry White Award for Best Score</B>: David Petraeus (get it? score?)
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<B>The Veruca Salt I Want It Now Award</B>: Sandra Fluke
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<B>The Robert Mugabe Award for policies most likely to reproduce the economy of Zimbabwe</B>: Paul Krugman
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<B>The Mr. Ed Award for Best Performance by a Horse</B>: John Kerry
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<B>The Fred Astaire Award for Best Choreography</B>: Mitt Romney explaining the difference between Romneycare and Obamacare.
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And finally, <B>The John Barrymore Award for Best Actor in a Work of Fiction</B>: Barack Obama promising not to raise your taxes.
<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-11092415189798417942013-02-22T18:47:00.000-08:002013-02-22T18:47:52.821-08:00And the Oscar goes to…<meta name="description" content="Any resemblance between Isaac Ross and George Soros is purely coincidental.">
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In honor of this weekend’s Academy Awards, here’s part II of the Oscars scene from my novel <I>Full Asylum</I>. In this excerpt, Consolidated Industries CEO Isaac Ross accepts the award for Most Socially Responsible Studio. Any resemblance between Isaac and George Soros is purely coincidental. The one thing you'll need to know about this part is that Jon Dunn is a movie spy, similar to James Bond.
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        “And the Oscar for Most Socially Responsible Studio goes to…Isaac Ross, Consolidated Studios!”<BR>
        With great dignity, Isaac rose from his chair and walked slowly up to the stage. He accepted the award and parked himself at the speaker’s podium. He removed several printed pages from the breast pocket of his tuxedo, smoothed them on the podium, and adjusted his glasses.<BR>
        “As the CEO of Consolidated Studios, I thank you for this prestigious and important award. By honoring social responsibility, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences demonstrates its recognition of the values of the cooperative society. These values inform every production released by Consolidated Studios. I seek, through the media of film, television, and the Internet, to demonstrate the role that every individual is to play in the world—whether by chronicling the struggles of interspecies couples in Consolidated’s documentary, <I>My Stepmother is a Goldfish</I>, or using the bully pulpit of the Universal Wrestling League to publicize the benefits of recycling. Later this year Consolidated will release <I>Error of the Moon</I>, the thirtieth installment in the Jon Dunn saga.”<BR>
        At the mention of Jon Dunn, a rope dropped from the catwalk above the stage. A man in a black commando sweater rappelled down the rope and landed stealthily behind the decorative fence. Unable to see the alpinist behind him, Isaac continued his speech.<BR>
        “Without giving anything away, I can tell you that this will be the most socially responsible Dunn to date. Grant Casey is the first Jon Dunn who has never used tobacco products in any of his appearances. In <I>Error of the Moon</I> we will push the envelope. We will see much more responsible attitudes towards the consumption of alcoholic beverages along with a newfound respect for women. Don’t worry, though, there will still be plenty of swashbuckling and derring-do.”<BR>
        The audience laughed. Isaac smiled as if the laughter was intended for his little joke and not the antics of the commando behind him. The man in black crouched behind the decorative fence. Although he could see clearly through the grillwork, he used a portable periscope to peer over the top. Completing his reconnaissance, he set the periscope down and vaulted over the barrier, landing right behind one of the life-size Oscar statues. He grabbed the statue from behind and clasped his hand over its mouth to prevent it from crying out. Removing a knife from his belt, the commando stabbed the statue through its non-existent kidney. The knife slid easily into the gold-painted Styrofoam. The man guided the statue noiselessly to the floor before sneaking up on the second statue and slitting its throat.<BR>
        “It is my fervent hope,” Isaac went on, “that by transforming Jon Dunn into a role model for the cooperative society, we can give back to the community that has done so much for Consolidated Studios and the motion picture industry.” Suddenly he felt an arm flung across his throat and the point of a knife pressed against his neck. Standing behind Isaac, the man in the commando sweater whispered something in his ear and began guiding him off the stage. The camera zoomed to a close-up, just the heads of the two men. Isaac looked genuinely terrified, as if he thought the man with the knife would really use it.
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, hospital gowns, and the movies. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-53014376830912375272013-02-21T15:53:00.000-08:002013-02-21T15:53:22.047-08:00I’d like to thank the Academy…<meta name="description" content="The Academy Awards are upon us once again. So it seemed like a good time to post this excerpt from my novel Full Asylum.">
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The Academy Awards are upon us once again. So it seemed like a good time to post this excerpt from my novel <I>Full Asylum</I>. It's mostly self-explanatory; the one thing that you'll need to know is <I>sabo</I> is short for <I>economic saboteur</I>. Economic sabotage is a new category of crime created in the wake of the Third Financial Crisis.
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        “And the Oscar for Best Gaffer goes to…Guy Smith, Three Koala Studios.” <BR>
        Guy walked down the aisle to the stage accompanied by the Three Koala theme song and the audience’s applause. His denim vest, tool belt, and work boots were out of place among men in tuxedos and women in evening gowns. Accepting the gold statuette, he stepped up to the podium. Behind him, two life-size replicas of the trophy in his hand guarded an ornamental art deco fence. “You know,” he said with an Australian accent, “a few years ago, nobody thought there’d be an award for us gaffers.”
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        On the TV at the foot of the bed, Guy Smith explained that this wasn’t just his victory; all gaffers were winners. Lacey rested her head on Gimbel’s bare chest as he poured out the last of the Volta Cola. Her hair was tousled, as were the bedcovers. On the floor, silk pajamas mingled with Gimbel’s pants and the broken pieces of his clock radio. “What’s a gaffer?” she asked.<BR>
        “Lighting,” said Gimbel as he handed her a half-filled glass. “The gaffer takes care of all the lighting for a movie.”<BR>
        “They give an award for that?” Lacey asked skeptically.<BR>
        “Well, there’s skill involved. But in any case, it’s Everyone Wins a Prize Night.”<BR>
        On the television, the presentation of awards paused for a musical number. Men in top hats and tails twirled their canes as they sang “Hurrah for Hollywood.”<BR>
        “Are they still doing that old song?” Lacey asked.<BR>
        “They updated the lyrics,” Gimbel replied. “In the mind of Hollywood, that makes it practically avant-garde.” He turned up the volume so she could hear better.<BR>
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Hurrah for Hollywood.<BR>
We’re always doing good in Hollywood.<BR>
We lecture you on global warming<BR>
While we’re performing,<BR>
And sabos better beware…<BR>
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        The Oscars went to commercial. Gimbel flipped through the channels. He paused when he saw Bulldozer and the Coroner facing each other across a wrestling ring.
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        “WHEN I’M FINISHED WITH YOU,” the Coroner said, “THEY WON’T BE ABLE TO TELL YOU FROM A DEAD FISH AT PIKE’S PLACE MARKET.” The Seattle audience cheered the mention of a local landmark. Hearing someone sneak up behind him, the Coroner turned just in time to see Titan swing a folding chair at his midsection. The Coroner went down like he had been dropped from the Space Needle.
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        “You don’t really watch this wrestling show, do you?” Lacey asked.<BR>
        “Just for the soliloquies,” Gimbel assured her. He tapped the control pad and the scene returned to Masonic Hall. A split screen appeared. Six people waited eagerly to see which one of them would win the next award. “Hey,” said Gimbel. “What’s Isaac Ross doing there?”
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Tomorrow: the abduction of Isaac
<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, hospital gowns, and the movies. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-5202047827523800862013-02-18T08:59:00.000-08:002013-02-18T14:22:15.911-08:00Never Surrender - Special Washington's Birthday Edition<meta name="description" content="The life of George Washington in general, and the winter at Valley Forge in particular, help us gain both perspective and inspiration for the battles for freedom that lie ahead.">
Try to remember the coldest you’ve ever been. Maybe you were out skiing or shoveling snow. Your toes felt like they were on fire inside your winter boots and you pulled the fur-trimmed hood of your down jacket over your head to warm your frigid ears until you could make it back inside for a cup of cocoa and a hot meal.
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Now imagine the same cold – but you have a thin blanket instead of a down jacket, “inside” is a small, drafty log hut, and your meal is a fire cake of flour and water cooked on a rock. And you’re barefoot.
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Those were the conditions at Valley Forge, PA, when American rebels under the leadership of George Washington made their encampment during the winter of 1777-78. Badly outnumbered by the British - who were warm and safe in Philadelphia - the Continental soldiers were willing to endure pain, cold, hunger, and disease for two reasons: they believed in freedom – and they believed in George Washington.
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In the winter of 2013, the weapons may have changed from musket balls to words, but Americans are still fighting for freedom. President Obama's State of the Union Address was a laundry list of proposals for additional government intrusion in our lives - including new restrictions on the right to bear arms and new taxes on the productive. As Obama criss-crosses the country, trying to foist his noxious agenda on the public, he can count on the support of the mainstream media and the education establishment: once again, those of us on the side of liberty are outnumbered. But we are fortunate to be able to conduct the fight under infinitely better conditions than our forbearers at Valley Forge. The life of George Washington in general, and the winter at Valley Forge in particular, help us gain both perspective and inspiration for what lies ahead.
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The special Washington’s Birthday edition of my free newsletter, <I>Never Surrender</I>, discusses some of the best books and movies about our first president – books and movies filled with stories of what freedom is all about, and the high price that every generation must pay to secure it. Subscribe by February 28 and automatically be entered in a drawing to win a copy of your choice of Ayn Rand's <I>Atlas Shrugged</I> or Glenn Beck's <I>The Overton Window</I>. To subscribe, please e-mail <a href="mailto:subscribe@monteferropress.com?subject=Subscription%20to%20Never%20Surrender&body=Yes%2C%20I%20would%20like%20to%20subscribe%20to%20Never%20Surrender." style="color:#21689b;">subscribe@MonteferroPress.com</a>.
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about hospital gowns, freedom, and never surrendering. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-85466216952622555552013-02-15T07:53:00.000-08:002013-02-16T05:15:28.133-08:00We can all be George Washington<meta name="description" content="Book Review: Glenn Beck's Being George Washington: The Indispensable Man, as You’ve Never Seen Him">
<B>Book Review: Glenn Beck's <I>Being George Washington: The Indispensable Man, as You’ve Never Seen Him</I></B>
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I confess I have mixed feelings about Glenn Beck. Sometimes when I listen to him – for example during his <A HREF=http://youtu.be/i3LnVa7zXgc>recent interview with Penn Jillette</A> – I say, “Yes! This is what rational discourse sounds like.” Other times, I have absolutely no idea what he’s talking about.
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My mixed feelings extend to his written work. I thought <I><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439168571/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1439168571&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Common Sense</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1439168571" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>was rambling and dull: it failed to deliver the inspiration from Thomas Paine that it promised. In contrast, <I><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439184305/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1439184305&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">The Overton Window</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1439184305" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>was a hugely entertaining novel with a serious message about how the liberals keep managing to win.
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<I><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145165927X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=145165927X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Being George Washington</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=145165927X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>falls into the second category. The book occupies the boundary between fiction and non-fiction. Beck braids history, legend, and imagination into dramatized accounts of incidents from Washington’s life: the French and Indian Wars, Valley Forge, the Constitutional Convention, and so on. These narratives contain lush descriptions of the settings and even tell us Washington's innermost thoughts: the accounts read like a novel. They appear in alternating chapters with short essays that separate the history from the legend – apparently Betsy Ross probably didn’t use her feminine wiles to distract the Hessian Colonel Carl Emilius von Donop on the eve of Washington crossing the Delaware.
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The other function of the essay chapters is to draw lessons from the life of the Indispensable Man. The bottom line: We can’t all be indispensable. We can’t all lead an army or start a new nation. But we <I>can</I> all be virtuous, brave, civil, and persistent. We can all defend freedom when it’s under attack – and it <I>is</I> under attack. And if we do that, we <I>will</I> make a difference. In that sense, we can all be George Washington.
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<FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about a young engineer who defends freedom when it's under attack. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-46938180099202753392013-02-14T06:24:00.000-08:002013-02-14T17:20:45.087-08:00News from the Asylum - Valentine's Day Edition<meta name="description" content="Instapundit meets Newsbusted: A principal becomes a Valentine's Day Grinch, Ann Coulter decrees who can run in 2016, Barack Obama tackles numbers, and the MSM falls in love...">
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<B><A NAME="education">What's the Valentine's Day equivalent of the Grinch?</A></B> Todd Starnes <A HREF=http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/school-bans-valentines-day-cards-candy.html>reports on FoxNews.com</A> that "Boys and girls at a Massachusetts elementary school have been banned from bringing Valentine’s Day candy or cards over cultural equality issues and federal guidelines regulating candy. Parents of students at Salemwood Elementary School in Malden, Mass, received a letter informing them of the policy...'We have many different nationalities, cultures and languages spoken,' Principal Carol Keenan told Fox News. 'Because of that we don’t honor specific holidays.'"
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<B><A NAME="funny_looking">But doesn't she like Chris Christie?</A></B> Conservative commentator Ann Coulter <A HREF=http://dailycaller.com/2013/02/14/coulter-on-gop-2016-presidential-hopefuls-no-women-or-freakishly-short-or-funny-looking-candidates/>told Sean Hannity</A> yesterday that the GOP should not consider "funny-looking" candidates for the 2016 presidential nomination. Well, I'm out.
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<B><A NAME="math_dept">Math Department.</A></B> Two days after delivering a State of the Union Address in which he called on both parties to work together to trim the deficit, President Obama <A HREF=http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-push-universal-preschool-proposal-142600889--election.html>hit the road</A> to promote a new entitlement, universal preschool. In a speech at a Community Recreation Center in Decatur, GA, the president warned that students who enter kindergarten without sufficient preparation "don't know their numbers."
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In view of Mr. Obama's stewardship of the federal budget, it appears he's speaking from experience.
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<B><A NAME="maher">Politico</A> reports</B> that "<A HREF=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/02/bill-maher-wants-6-year-president-term-87612.html>Bill Maher wants 6-year president term</A>." Well, if that's what he wants, he's just going to have to run for election like everyone else.
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<B>Today is <A NAME="valentines_day">Valentine's Day</A></B> - an occasion when people all over the world will spend time with those they love the most. In Washington, the White House disputed reports that President Obama wanted to spend the day by himself.
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It is of course, a painful time for those who have recently lost loved ones. My heart goes out to them, especially to those in the liberal media. Their plans for a magical evening with accused cop killer Charles Dorner are now completely ruined.
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<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6726732507018408671.post-51666431113399850642013-02-13T16:49:00.000-08:002013-02-14T10:12:12.625-08:00The Other Thing Marco Rubio Did<meta name="description" content="Marco Rubio did something in addition to taking a drink of water last night. He gave an excellent speech.">
By now we’ve all seen the clip of Marco Rubio taking a drink of water during last night’s GOP response to the State of the Union Address. Given MSNBC’s habit of editing video to make Republicans look mean and stupid, I can just imagine what they’ll do with it. In fact, I made a video of my own with my prediction.
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I’ll get to that in a minute. But first: Sen. Rubio did something else last night – he gave an excellent speech. It is unfortunate that the MSM’s attention to his water bottle has distracted the public from the many fine things he had to say. No doubt that was the intent. As Ellsworth Toohey said in <I>The Fountainhead</I>, don't try to understand nonsense - ask what it accomplishes.
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Anyway, by way of antidote to the MSM, here’s an excerpt from Rubio's speech:
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The State of the Union address is always a reminder of how unique America is. For much of human history, most people were trapped in stagnant societies, where a tiny minority always stayed on top, and no one else even had a chance.
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But America is exceptional because we believe that every life, at every stage, is precious, and that everyone everywhere has a God-given right to go as far as their talents and hard work will take them....
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This opportunity – to make it to the middle class or beyond no matter where you start out in life – it isn't bestowed on us from Washington. It comes from a vibrant free economy where people can risk their own money to open a business. And when they succeed, they hire more people, who in turn invest or spend the money they make, helping others start a business and create jobs.
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Presidents in both parties – from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan – have known that our free enterprise economy is the source of our middle class prosperity.
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But President Obama? He believes it's the cause of our problems. That the economic downturn happened because our government didn't tax enough, spend enough and control enough. And, therefore, as you heard tonight, his solution to virtually every problem we face is for Washington to tax more, borrow more and spend more.
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This idea – that our problems were caused by a government that was too small – it's just not true. In fact, a major cause of our recent downturn was a housing crisis created by reckless government policies.
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And the idea that more taxes and more government spending is the best way to help hardworking middle class taxpayers – that's an old idea that's failed every time it's been tried.
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More government isn't going to help you get ahead. It's going to hold you back.
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More government isn't going to create more opportunities. It's going to limit them.
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And more government isn't going to inspire new ideas, new businesses and new private sector jobs. It's going to create uncertainty. Because more government breeds complicated rules and laws that a small business can't afford to follow.
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Now that you've read that, here is, as promised, the Marco Rubio Drink – MSNBC Style:
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4MIyJENof10" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<P><FONT SIZE=-1><I>Michael Isenberg is the author of </I>Full Asylum<I>, a novel about politics, freedom, and hospital gowns. Check it out on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098532970X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=098532970X&linkCode=as2&tag=montepress-20">Amazon.com</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=montepress-20&l=as2&o=1&a=098532970X" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /></I>
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Michael Isenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02181783683014734505noreply@blogger.com0