The Hot Kid (2005)

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Brian Wright

The feeling of authenticity is astounding
by Elmore Leonard

2005, William Morrow Co., 312 pgs.

A lot of readers confess to a guilty secret for, say, liking a particular romance writer or mystery-suspense-crime novelist. Well, no guilt is required when the author you enjoy is Elmore Leonard. Especially in this particular book, where the jacket states:

“The next time the members of the Swedish Academy think about giving the Nobel Prize for literature, they should take a look at Elmore Leonard.” — Philadelphia Inquirer

Too true.

The Hot Kid is different from Leonard’s other work in being a historical period piece—the action takes place in oil-boom eastern Oklahoma during the late Prohibition-era 1920s and into the Depression-era 1930s. Continue reading →

Frost/Nixon (2008)

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Brian Wright

David goes after the disgraced political Goliath (8 stars out of 10)

James Reston, Jr.: You know the first and greatest sin of the deception of television is that it simplifies; it diminishes great, complex ideas, trenches of time; whole careers become reduced to a single snapshot. At first I couldn’t understand why Bob Zelnick was quite as euphoric as he was after the interviews, or why John Birt felt moved to strip naked and rush into the ocean to celebrate. But that was before I really understood the reductive power of the close-up, because David had succeeded on that final day, in getting for a fleeting moment what no investigative journalist, no state prosecutor, no judiciary committee or political enemy had managed to get; Richard Nixon’s face swollen and ravaged by loneliness, self-loathing and defeat. The rest of the project and its failings would not only be forgotten, they would totally cease to exist. Continue reading →

Guest Column: Stand Up for Doreen, Big Time!

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Brian Wright

Flyer document linked here, Please forward to America

Threatened with Jail for Refusing to Lie!
Court Watchers Unite

Doreen Hendrickson,
wife of Pete Hendrickson, author of
Cracking the Code:
The Fascinating Truth About Taxation in America,
has a court hearing set for:

Thursday, April 9, 2015, 12 Noon
231 W. Lafayette, Detroit, 2^nd floor
Victoria Roberts courtroom
… for sentencing on a contempt of court charge

This is a case of retaliation against Doreen’s husband for his book, which clearly defines the difference between taxable income and earnings that are not taxable under the IRS Code. Though numerous attempts have been made to discredit and suppress the book, especially through deliberate misrepresentation of its contents by government officials, nothing actually revealed in the book has ever been disputed. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: My Bette Erwin Memorial

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Brian Wright

Tribute to a fiery leader who nurtured the cause of liberty

Bette_Erwin This is an encore piece (originally penned January 8, 2007) as I reach the last of the columns I created in the former clunky format. By conjuring up memories of the way we were—at least here in L/libertarian Michigan in the final quarter of the 20th century—it propels me to think more strongly from the roots of experience. Also, the Libertarian Party that she helped to seed has reached, by many people’s accounts, a Day of Reckoning. It is good to reflect on the salient plusses that arose under its auspices. — bw

For a while I was afraid no one would find out about her passing; finally some solid information emerged from a scattering of emails from friends and who knew her back in the day. “The day” being roughly 1974-1984 in Michigan libertarian politics.

During the period when Bette came to preeminence—she was the Michigan Libertarian Party candidate for US Senate in 1976 and 1982—I was into my iconoclastic-anarchist phase. Continue reading →

Book Review: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man (2004)

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Brian Wright

The inside story of Pax Americana foreign policy
by John Perkins

It’s been more than 10 years now since Confessions of an Economic Hit Man was published. And still the mainstream media is effective in blocking common understanding of how the Western banking cartel leverages Wall Street, the national security wonks, and the US military empire—in the guise of ‘economic development’—to transfer wealth from other countries into its clutches… with payoffs in the hundreds of $billions throughout its gorged network of corporate baronies.

John Perkins was a premier agent for these ‘developers.’ Boots on the ground, negotiating with statesmen and kings, skillfully articulating the contractual intentions of his Mob leaders to often reluctant representatives of the target countries. Continue reading →

Movie Review: Milk (2008)

Posted on April 1, 2015 by Brian Wright

The true test of sharing liberty…

Harvey Milk: [Voice Over, Last lines] I ask this… If there should be an assassination, I would hope that five, ten, one hundred, a thousand would rise. I would like to see every gay lawyer, every gay architect come out… If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door… And that’s all. I ask for the movement to continue. Because it’s not about personal gain, not about ego, not about power… it’s about the “us’s” out there. Not only gays, but the Blacks, the Asians, the disabled, the seniors, the us’s. Without hope, the us’s give up – I know you cannot live on hope alone, but without it, life is not worth living. So you, and you, and you… You gotta give em’ hope… you gotta give em’ hope. Continue reading →

Guest Column: History of Michigan in Taxes

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Brian Wright

A longtime resident reflects on the effects of state taxes over the years
by David Lonier

My Letter to the Editors…

76 Years of Life in Michigan…

Raising taxes has never improved anything for those upon whom the tax increase was imposed. “Anything” includes roads, education, or the economy in general.

In fact, the quality of all three has declined in direct proportion to the amount of the tax increase.

All tax increases have ever done is take money from the rapidly dwindling working class and give it to special corporate interests or ever-expanding government/welfare programs.

No Sales Tax

When there was no sales tax, Michigan’s roads were among the best in the country, as they should have been in the motor capitol of the world. Also, Michigan’s prosperity was second to none. Continue reading →