Movie Review: Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Brian Wright

“You been freeze-dried or doin’ hard time?” (7.5/10)

The poignant credit frames, accompanied by a drum roll, which show black and white footage of soldiers from the forgotten meatgrinder that preceded Vietnam—the Korean War—fade into a scene in a big city jail, where Marine Gunnery Sgt. Tom ‘Gunny’ Highway (Clint Eastwood) is holding court… profanely. No kidding, the expletive-laden, obscenity-charged language in this movie from start to finish is not only fresh and funny—I never knew there were so many words for sex organs and sex acts—it would leave half an hour of dead silence in any showing of the film on commercial television.

As I was saying in my review of Charlie Wilson’s War, like Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood almost always makes a movie that’s entertaining. Heartbreak Ridge is no exception. Further, if you can put aside your expectations and stereotypes of a 1980s Clint Eastwood film, you may discover some fairly deep character work in this homage to the American soldier-warrior. For one thing, two world-class actresses bolster the give and take: multiple Academy-award nominee Marsha Mason plays Gunny’s volatile, long-suffering ex-wife and Academy-award winner Eileen Heckart (Butterflies are Free, 1972) plays the widow of Stony Jackson, the leader of Highway’s battalion who was killed in action at “Heartbreak Ridge.” Continue reading →

Guest Column: Big Kahuna Tax Service

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Brian Wright

Just in time for tax season… the ‘convenient truth’ of Cracking the Code

Editor’s note: It’s been my honor to know Pete Hendrickson for several years as a friend and a fellow warrior for liberty. As many of you know, the liberating (what I’ve taken to calling) ‘Hendrickson Discovery'[1] is one of those once-in-several-lifetimes findings (available for a mere pittance) that raises all boats and puts the wind at everyone’s back… that is, everyone not working for or receiving payments from the government.

Pete made his discovery in 2003, and his book has seen multiple editions since then. Enabling tens of thousands of Americans to recover several billion dollars incorrectly paid to the federal state… and to any of several state states who assess a tax based on a resident’s ‘income.’ YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. The upside potential is that if everyone were to not pay what they do not owe, we the people would recover or retain roughly $3 trillion in wealth, to spend it wisely on our own lives—rather than enable the Washington Leviathan to commit atrocities on roughly a dozen major fronts.
Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: Is Donald Trump the ‘Apple Girl’…

Posted on March 13, 2016 by Brian Wright

… or Big Brother soft shoeing for the zombies

When a person makes an incorrect choice or supports a mistake, he needs to fess up and make things as right as possible… and as quickly as possible—to the extent people respect his opinion and to the extent of the magnitude of the mistake. Well, mea culpa wrt to the Trumpster. And I feel a need for deep apology to my modest group of followers for any impression I have given that Mr. Trump is anything more than, at best, a leader of one subgroup of the global syndicate vs. another.

The syndrome leading to my mistake—I never fully endorsed the man, but conveyed favorably some statements Trump had made about this issue or that one—is the classic fallacy that the apparent enemy of my enemy is my friend. The rest was simply falling for the wishful-thinking fallacy. And if ever we were going to wishful think, the 2016 election would be the ideal candidate. Trump actually conjured up for me the prophetic Howard Beale character in the 1976 movie, Network, trumpeting from his anchorman pulpit, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” Also the so-called Apple Girl from the 1984 Superbowl advertisement for the Macintosh, per the figure above right.

Continue reading →

Book Review: Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985)

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Brian Wright

Public discourse in the age of show business
by Neil Postman

If humanity makes the grade in the next few years, a good share of the credit will be due to Professor Neil Postman and his timely insights into the decline of language (esp. with respect to reading and writing), logic, conceptual development, and common sense. In other words, thanks to his framework of astute observations, others may be able to (re)construct the building of our reasoning minds… without which we shall surely go the way of the dodo bird. Amusing Ourselves to Death is arguably the magnum opus of this cultural critic, writer, and communications theorist who was chair of the New York University department of communication arts.

Two of his other better known books I have reviewed are Technopoly (1991) and Building a Bridge to the 18th Century (1999)—which was his final, comprehensive, and most heartfelt appeal to the ‘better angels of our nature’… particularly the angels who want liberty and literate, benevolent civilization. [A deeply personal note, Building a Bridge was the prize of all the books my dear mother, the accomplished Phyllis Anderson-Barlow-Wright, referred to me—the first to knock me off the ledge of ego where I liked to think “how could Mom know anything really important?”] Continue reading →

Movie Review: Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)

Posted on March 9, 2016 by Brian Wright

Back when only commies committed war crimes

Joanne Herring: Why is Congress saying one thing and doing nothing?
Charlie Wilson: Well, tradition mostly.

Charlie Wilson’s War is a good little movie. [Tom Hanks is like Clint Eastwood: no matter what they do, the film is always going to be fun and interesting to watch.] Hanks plays real life US Congressman Charles Wilson, a representative from the 2d Congressional district in East Texas 1973-1997.

He’s from a relatively simple background and so are the people he serves: “They really don’t want much, just leave them alone, let them have their guns, and be honest with them… they’ll reelect you forever.” Charlie is a good-hearted man who basically likes to party hearty; then one day in the early ’80s while lounging in a hot tub with a Playboy Bunny and other ‘associates’ in Vegas he gets religion. Continue reading →

Guest Column: Extremist Overreaction Syndrome

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Brian Wright

As public political discourse descends to new lows,
what is a common-sense person to do?
by Paul Jacob [Common Sense]

This is a recent column by my good friend and fellow independent Web columnist Paul Jacob, pertaining to the Trump phenomenon. It’s short and to the point, so I’m posting the entire piece, with a hearty recommendation to subscribe to Paul’s daily column—which is always erudite, efficient, and practical. He’s also timely, every weekday 9-10 a.m. Eastern Time. Subscribe here.

Well, not go over the deep end.

What is that end?

Maybe it is Trump Anxiety Syndrome, the haunting fear that Donald Trump may become the next president.

Hey, I don’t support The Donald, but I always try to avoid syndromes. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: The Independents’ Qualification (IQ) Test

Posted on March 6, 2016 by Brian Wright

World’s Smallest Quiz of Whether One Thinks for Oneself

David Nolan, founder of the Libertarian Party (1971), developed a series of questions that measured a respondent’s liberty quotient, that is where he stood wrt economic liberty and civil liberty… which were plotted on an X-axis and Y-Axis, respectively. It became known as the Nolan Chart and the basis for the Advocates for Self Government’s ‘World’s Smallest Political Quiz.’ [https://www.theadvocates.org/quiz/quiz.php]

The Independents’ Movement leadership has come up with a dual-axis chart that measures one’s alignment with Independent psychology. Start at the zero point in the middle of the chart and proceed either positively (-> Indie) or negatively (-> Zombie). Here are some initial questions whose correct answers are all Yes: Continue reading →