Movie Review: Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Shawshank Redemption
Second best movie of 1994? ___ 10/10The Shawshank Redemption

Red: [narrating] I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. [Le nozze di Figaro Sull’aria] Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful, it can’t be expressed in words, and makes your heart ache because of it. I tell you, those voices soared higher and farther than anybody in a gray place dares to dream. It was like some beautiful bird flapped into our drab little cage and made those walls dissolve away, and for the briefest of moments, every last man in Shawshank felt free. Continue reading

Guest Column: Court Rewards Kiriakou’s Civic Virtue

Whistleblower who revealed CIA torture
pleas to thirty months in prison
by Global Research


Stop Torture KiriakouFormer CIA agent John Kiriakou pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to crimes related to blowing the whistle on the US government’s torture of suspected terrorists and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.


The Wall Street Journal reports that Kiriakou, 48, agreed to admit to one count of disclosing information identifying a covert agent early Tuesday, just hours after his attorney entered a change of plea in an Alexandria, Virginia courtroom outside of Washington, DC. Continue reading

Book Review: The Barrier Cloud (2011)

Understanding the key obstacle to a free society
by Brian R. Wright (reviewed by the author)

barrier_cloudIt’s time to refresh the date on this book review and post it anew. The Barrier Cloud has everything to do with whether the Rise of the Independents, per The Truman Prophecy, will actually come to pass. — Brian R. Wright, editor and proprietor

A word up front, because for this particular book—which is actually a 28-page, easy-to-read booklet—I envision sending the knowledge out to a fairly select group of individuals. The Barrier Cloud conveys the core ideas needed for all freedom fighters to be successful.[1] I’ll put it even more strongly: if key leaders and followers in the freedom movement do not learn and adopt the concepts presented in this book, full flowering of a benevolent society without coercion is unlikely. Thus, this book and review are addressed to “key leaders and followers in the freedom movement.”

The Barrier Cloud[2] represents some new thinking for how to bring the core ideas of the Sacred Nonaggression Principle to the marketplace… both a) to the general readership of caring, conscientious world citizens[3] who are at least emotionally inclined toward political liberty and b) to the self-identified libertarian activists of whom there are not yet sufficient numbers. I made the decision, subconsciously as it turns out, to break the SNaP book—published via Lulu—into seven distinct “modules,” more easily digestible chunks of knowledge… for the younger, who do not like to read long stuff, and for the older, who find it difficult to read long stuff. These are the seven standalone modules, each approximately 28 pages: Continue reading

Movie Review: Picnic (1955)

… ain’t no picnic: quality 1950s realism ___ 8.5/10
Review by Brian Wright

[Train horn sounds several blasts]
Hal Carter: Listen, baby, you’re the only real thing I ever wanted, ever. You’re mine. I gotta claim what’s mine, or I’ll be nothing as long as I live. You love me. You know it. You love me.
[Hal turns as he runs for passing freight train]
Hal Carter: You love me.
Flo Owens: oh, Madge…
[Madge runs up to her room and Flo walks to Mrs. Potts]
Flo Owens: You liked him, didn’t you Helen?
Helen Potts: Yes, I did. I got so used to things as they were: Everything so prim, the geranium in the window, the smell of mama’s medicines. And then he walked in, and it was different! He clomped through the place like he was still outdoors. There was a man in the place and it seemed good! Continue reading

Guest Column: Russell Means, in Memoriam

A Great Soul returns to the Great Spirit
by Brian Wright

They say that when a true scholar or a person who has led a particularly rich and robust life dies, “another library closes.” And that is certainly a poignant observation for the counter-culture American Indian leader, Russell Means… a noble soul-warrior I was privileged to know and befriend. The ‘library’ in this case is full of volumes of sentiment and inspiration of “a People”—not just the Lakotah Sioux nation that bore him, but the world community that Russell gave courage to. Courage to see the truth and courage to fight, and overcome, the Western Patriarchy that aims to crush the life blood from us all. Continue reading

Brian’s Column: He Who Has the Gold…

Golden Rule and its mechanics in Samland
by Brian Wright


It’s the old joke or phrase, I believe it was from the comic strip Pogo—but it may have been The Wizard of Id or Shoe (reader input welcome). One of the characters says in conversation about politics, “Just remember the Golden Rule.” “What do you mean?” “He who has the gold makes the rules.” This is so entirely apt when one discusses the central banking and money machinery of the United States: the Federal Reserve System (Fed).[1] For this week’s column I’m going to paraphrase Mr. G. Edward Griffin’s description, in The Creature from Jekyll Island, of how the Fed works, how it creates ‘money.’ Like turning lead into gold, the central bankers believe in magic… and would have us believe they’re Mandrake the Magician. Continue reading

Book Review: The Truth Torpedo (2012)

Blowing off the Barrier Cloud
by Brian Wright
Reviewed by the author

The Truth TorpedoThis ‘modest expansion’ of my column of the same name (http://brianrwright.com/CoffeeCoasterBlog/?p=1768) actually provides several enhancements to the main message, which is:

The PTB[1] have deceived the people for purposes of expropriation and war. Here are seven of the current higher-priority ‘Naked Emperor’ truths to counter the deceptions. When these obvious truths are grasped and asserted en masse the final obstacle—what I call the ‘Barrier Cloud’—to a free, enlightened, benevolent, and abundant society falls. Continue reading