Movie Review: Coming Home (1978)

Posted on October 18, 2017 by Brian Wright

The best all-round antiwar love story of all time (10/10)

Reposted October 11, 2017. Not much has changed. Only now war for most Americans is a bunch of fat cowards sitting in a room murdering women and children with drones. Don’t even need to suit up, just watch TV and push buttons.

Luke Martin (Jon Voight): [Luke’s speech is spliced with final scene of Capt. Bob Hyde where he is at the beach] You know, you want to be a part of it, patriotic, go out and get your licks in for the U.S. of A. And when you get over there, it’s a totally different situation. I mean, you grow up real quick. Because all you’re seeing is, um, a lot of death. And I know some of you guys are going to look at the uniformed man and you’re going to remember all the films and you’re going to think about the glory of other wars and think about some vague patriotic feeling and go off and fight this turkey too. And I’m telling you it ain’t like it’s in the movies. That’s all I want to tell you, because I didn’t have a choice. When I was your age, all I got was some guy standing up like that, man, giving me a lot of bullshit, man, which I caught. I was really in good shape then, man. I was captain of the football team. And I wanted to be a war hero, man, I wanted to go out and kill for my country. And now, I’m here to tell you that I have killed for my country or whatever. And I don’t feel good about it. Because there’s not enough reason, man, to feel a person die in your hands or to see your best buddy get blown away. I’m here to tell you, it’s a lousy thing, man. I don’t see any reason for it. And there’s a lot of shit that I did over there that I [forced with tears] find fucking hard to live with. And I don’t want to see people like you, man, coming back and having to face the rest of your lives with that kind of shit. It’s as simple as that. I don’t feel sorry for myself. I’m a lot fucking smarter now than when I went. And I’m just telling you that there’s a choice to be made here.

Novel by Nancy Dowd
Screenplay by Robert C. Jones
Directed by Hal Ashby

Jane Fonda … Sally Hyde
Jon Voight … Luke Martin
Bruce Dern … Capt. Bob Hyde
Penelope Milford … Vi Munson
Robert Carradine … Bill Munson
Robert Ginty … Sgt. Dink Mobley

Continue reading →

Articles: Liberty Republicans for Peace (2015-8-27)

Posted on August 27, 2015 by Brian Wright

Michigan Republicans raise high the banner for peace/sanity in the Middle East
Letters to Congressman Trott from Dennis Marburger and David Lonier

Earlier in the week I received a note from my 14th District Congressman and Home Foreclosure King, David Trott, that he had “heard the people” at his recent town hall calling for an aggressive approach against Iran.[1] Which I take to mean to launch a war of conquest and aggression against Iran to satisfy the Israeli military and foreign policy establishment that runs Washington… and works seamlessly with the US neocon homeys of both parties for aggressive crimes against humanity. I, of course, as a radical libertarian preferring a Ron Paul Freedom Philosophy noninterventionist — and certainly NOT a continuation of the ‘Greater Israel Project‘ — policy… demurred. Indeed, I sent a note to Messrs. Marburger and Lonier expressing my hope that someone would step up and make a strong statement against these lunatic-fringe War Partiers who never seem to get the message.

Thankfully, both Dennis and David had presumably already launched solid responses. Dennis’s responses have been ongoing to officials in the Lakes Area Tea Party (Oakland County, Michigan) and on the Group’s Facebook incarnation. So I’ll just condense the main ones and let the reader follow up on other channels. I’ll follow with Dave Lonier’s excellent rebuttal email to the Trott insider warmongering mailing to his district.

Note the visuals and verbiage above are solely my own. — Brian Wright, Proprietor Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: New Paradigm Rising…

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Brian Wright

… as a Phoenix over the 900# gorilla
by Brian Wright

From Robingale Masters,
Intentional Journey:
Empowered Worldview:
I envision a newfound reality
based in love and abundance.
Over and over I see the wisdom
of a love-fueled New Paradigm
way of living and viewing the world.

… but first we have to solve some fundamental problems. 🙂 — ed. Continue reading →

Guest Column: Don’t want to see their faces

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Brian Wright

Don’t want to hear their screams
by Christopher Cooper

Excerpted from Common Dreams column (the article is so good I could not resist the urge to copy and convey under the Coffee Coaster beachhead—though with reference to the full source, but admittedly more than fair use might dictate—a good share of it):

The whole thing is regrettable, really. Shocking, truth to tell. And so sad, I’m sure, for those people, those blanket-wearing, beard-growing, false-god-worshiping, probably-related-to-terrorists, citizens of Afghanistan whose wives and children and babies were gunned down in their beds, shot, murdered, slaughtered, and then burned by one of America’s finest Sunday morning. But hey, what are ya gonna do? These things happen. Continue reading →