About Brian Wright

Hello, I'm Brian Wright, the proprietor and chief content provider to this Web opinion and review site. The Coffee Coaster (thecoffeecoaster.com) has been around since late 2006, and in early 2012 I finally decided to give the site a major makeover with this Wordpress implementation. My views are 'wholistic libertarian,' meaning focused on the spiritual--I like to use the word: essentual--evolution we will need, individually, in order to reach the New Paradigm of peace, freedom, and abundance. Let's help one another in the process.

Guest Column: The Israel Lobby

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Brian Wright

Time for a second edition
By Paul Craig Roberts [full original column here]

A decade ago in 2007 John J. Mearsheimer, the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and codirector of the Program on International Security Policy at the University of Chicago, and Stephen M. Walt, the Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and Academic Dean of the Kennedy School from 2002-2006, published The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. The publisher was the prestigious publishing house, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The authors made a convincing case that Israel operating through its American lobbies, which are not registered as foreign agents, succeeds in using US foreign policy in Israel’s interests. The authors conclude that the use of US foreign policy in Israel’s interests is damaging to both America’s national interests and to Israel’s long-term security.

Many were pleased that two distinguished experts had breached a taboo issue. But the Israel Lobby was not among them. Instantly, the authors and the book were denounced as anti-semitic. The demonstration that Israel had influence was misrepresented as the claim that Israel controlled the US government. The authors were denounced for their “extremism” which some alleged could result in a new holocaust.

Other critics took a different approach and claimed that there was no difference between Israeli and US interests and that anything that served Israel also served America. Some evangelicals added: “and also serves God.” Continue reading →

Donut Whole: Sauce for the Gander

Posted on July 23, 2017 by Brian Wright

Proposed language for bill that goes the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S.720) one better:
The Anti Israel-Zionist Boycott Act
Satire by Brian R. Wright

A lot of talk in the media and on Capitol Hill these days in support of the so-called “Don’t Mess with Israel” bill, which would abrogate the United States Constitution in no uncertain terms and apply draconian penalties for standing on one’s First Principle rights when it comes to disrespecting our ally-supremo, the model-benevolent state of Israel. To my way of thinking, this Senate bill S.720, formally ‘Israel Anti-Boycott Act,’ doesn’t go far enough. In fact, using the same template as S.720, l have formulated a more thorough gutting of the Bill of Rights via an S.720 countermeasure, and suggested it to my august federal legislators…

The modifiable Libre Office document lies here. And below lies the html version for your consideration and, I hope, wide circulation:

The Anti Israel Zionism Boycott Act

[Congressional Bills <TBD> Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[<#TBD_Anti_Israel-Zionist_Boycott_Act> Introduced in either house]

<TBD> CONGRESS
<#TBD_Anti_Israel-Zionist_Boycott_Act>

To prohibit any support or expression of support for the state of Israel or the political philosophy/movement of Zionism by any individual or group within the United States and by any public official of the United States. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: Dis Israel, Lose $250K… or Worse!

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Brian Wright

Oath-breaking federal legislators cave into Israeli foe against our First Principles

That’s right. Immediately before our eyes. Please read, at least, the following first two paragraphs of this recent article from The Intercept: http://bit.ly/2tzyWiW_Israel_Anti-Boycott_Act:

The criminalization of political speech and activism against Israel has become one of the gravest threats to free speech in the West. In France, activists have been arrested and prosecuted for wearing T-shirts advocating a boycott of Israel. The U.K. has enacted a series of measures designed to outlaw such activism. In the U.S., governors compete with one another over who can implement the most extreme regulations to bar businesses from participating in any boycotts aimed even at Israeli settlements, which the world regards as illegal. On U.S. campuses, punishment of pro-Palestinian students for expressing criticisms of Israel is so commonplace that the Center for Constitutional Rights refers to it as “the Palestine Exception” to free speech.

But now, a group of 43 senators — 29 Republicans and 14 Democrats — wants to implement a law that would make it a felony for Americans to support the international boycott against Israel, which was launched in protest of that country’s decades-old occupation of Palestine. The two primary sponsors of the bill are Democrat Ben Cardin of Maryland and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. Perhaps the most shocking aspect is the punishment: Anyone guilty of violating the prohibitions will face a minimum civil penalty of $250,000 and a maximum criminal penalty of $1 million and 20 years in prison.

In essence, a Senate bill, S. 720, has been endorsed by dozens of senators and Congressmen that would criminalize any individual’s support for boycott of the state of Israel (e.g. the BDS sanctions). Such support includes speaking in favor of a/the boycott, putting a bumper sticker on one’s car, telling a friend that you don’t like what Israel is doing to its Palestinian prisoners, seeking to bring Israel before the International Criminal Court for apartheid or for the USS Liberty attacks… anything that can be construed by a sadistic government as ‘supporting a boycott’ of Israel. Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Giant Mechanical Man (2012)

Posted on July 19, 2017 by Brian Wright

Detroit/Royal Oak Location Gem__9/10

Fittingly, I picked up this DVD via the Novi Library, Novi being a 2d-tier suburb of Detroit. Reading the jacket, the movie had some known actors and just looked like a literate, intelligent love story, which immediately brought to mind 500 Days of Summer. As I popped it in the player and looked at the cityscapes, I said, “Wait a minute, I’ve seen these buildings, these streets,” many of them in a state of decline. “Is this movie set in downtown Detroit?” Sure enough. Which the writer/director doesn’t explicitly tell you, but you slowly figure it out. And the zoo settings are, indeed, the Detroit Zoo, which is actually in nearby Royal Oak north of the city.

The movie begins with a man walking into what looks like a loft apartment or office in a city, then slowly putting his face on with paint, then his costume, a threadbare-looking silver suit and derby hat, long exaggerated bell-bottom slacks, concealing stilts that make him slightly taller than an NBA center. Tim (Chris Messina) is the Giant Mechanical Man, whose daily mission it is to walk about the streets, then stand still for long periods of time at the People Mover, Grand Circus Park, the Fox Theater, and other Detroit landmarks… where a (very) few people stop put money in his tip briefcase, for which responds with a sort of robotic expressionless motion sequence with hands, arms, and torso. Continue reading →

Guest Column: Run with Runestad

Posted on July 17, 2017 by Brian Wright

There is none higher in Michigan politics, running for Michigan Senate
Fundraiser Tuesday 18 July 2017, Billy’s Tip ‘n’ Inn, White Lake, MI

Contributed by David Lonier

All Michigan liberty people, please attend, and if you can’t, please contribute to Repre-sentative Runestad’s campaign. Even though the pressures of political success can undermine anyone’s commitment to the principles of liberty, Mr. Runestad has already shown resistance to such attacks as a representative. I won’t be able to attend this fundraiser, but I shall be sending him $50. I’ve met him, looked him in the eye, and anyone can just know that Jim is the real deal. He’ll be a strong voice for freedom in our state for years to come.—BW Continue reading →

Guest Column: Bozeman Red Pill 9/11

Posted on June 26, 2017 by Brian Wright

AE911Truth a Hit at the Red Pill Expo in Montana
By Michael Atkinson for 9/11 Truth… + more

Nearly 600 eager truth seekers from all over the US gathered at the Red Pill Expo in Bozeman, MT, this past weekend. The highly anticipated event featured at least a dozen internationally-known speakers including AE911Truth’s Richard Gage, AIA. According to reports from dozens of attendees, Gage delivered a stunning, inform-ation-packed presentation on the explosive WTC evidence.

The audience proved to be well-informed and open-minded. Of the nearly 600 attendees, just eight of them came in believing the official narra tive that jet planes and fires brought down the Twin Towers, while 16 were unsure. By the end of the presentation, no one believed the official narrative and only eight were unsure. We sent the crowd home with hundreds of brochures, DVDs, t-shirts, and hats with which to prompt discussion and inform their family, friends, and co-workers.

Held in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, this unique gathering was wildly successful by any measure — thanks to the deft vision and hard work of G. Edward Griffin, author of The Creature from Jekyll Island. Click link to sign up for free replays:
https://redpillexpo.org/ Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: Brian Wright’s Days of Golden Memories, 1

Posted on June 25, 2017 by Brian Wright

8: Even as Baby Boomer children, we grew up so fast…
Brian R. Wright

[Link to Episode 7]

Note: These columns are a series, I will make into a volume of my memoirs. You may follow the links at top and bottom of page to go to preceding or succeeding episodes. The series starts here. {If the [Link to Episode <next>] at the bottom of the column does not show an active hyperlink, then the <next> column has yet to be written.}

The ages 6 to 11, corresponding to 1st grade to 6th grade, respectively, are a blur in retrospect. You can see from the way I framed the first sentence that the mandatory school environment became a defining part of my ‘Wonder Bread’ years. It doesn’t take very long, even for the more independent minded, to succumb to the standardized BIG worldview we were all being injected with… and expected to conform to. As director Christof says about Truman Burbank in the movie The Truman Show (1998):

“We accept the reality with which we’re presented.”

More about the Conformity Legacy as we go. I do remember my first grade teacher’s name, Miss Wood. I considered her quite pretty, slim, etc., but she was more insistent than my kindergarten teacher on the rules and sticking to them. In kindergarten and first grade, we had sleep ‘rugs’ for class-all-in-one napping—I disdained all such naps. We were also instructed on occasion to sleep at our desks with our heads down. One day, I demurred. Miss Wood came over to my desk and tried to force my head down, none too gently either. I hauled off and hit her on the arm. She then slapped me a good one on my cute little face; I complied. Next day during the floor nap I looked up her dress. 🙂

Thankfully, my life was rich outside of the forced-school setting. The photo above-right shows my brother Forrest (~6 years old) and me (~7) with a large box kite that Dad had helped us to make, and then fly into the bright Kansas skies. I tell you it was quite an operation for that sail area, requiring a steady eye and a firm grip on the custom-made spool, with sturdy twine. Continue reading →