Los Angeles, CA —Hate is a strong word especially when it comes to music.  I love music and enjoy watching talented unknowns struggling to make a living as singers and musicians.  The TV show, The Voice is total crap. There was American Idol, and all the copycats.  TV producers are doing anything they can to hook audiences.  Thank God for the remote control!  Like most folks I avoid the TV wasteland but sometimes I have the TV on just because it’s there.    For me The Voice is unwatchable. It begins with the show’s judges sitting in those ridicules red chairs spinning like tops.  The set is a light show that detracts from the performers and they art they each try to bring to the stage. They spend far more time teasing the audience with the promise of a show than actually entertaining.  The introductions are way too long and the judges interaction between themselves and the performers is non-stop mindless chatter.  They ...

During the Clinton Administration tyranny came in the form of the 1994 ban on new sales and manufacturing of certain common firearms.   They did not try and outlaw or confiscate the ones already possessed by Americans.  Soon there were two serious incidents of violent resistance. There was the Waco Branch Davidians standoff and massacre followed by the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building .  The anger of millions of Americans boiled over they as removed an unprecedented Leftist members from Congress in the midterm elections. Under the Obama Administration not only are the Leftist desperately trying to establish a far more restrictive gun ban they are now poised to seize the 401 K retirement accounts of millions of hard working Americans to prop up the Ponzi Scheme we call Social Security.  Many Americans would consider this an act of war, at least the ones that have set aside savings for retirement. The National Defense Authorization Act ...

Washington, DC —Our currency has fallen light years behind inflation.  Americans deserve a break!  We should stop printing one-dollar bills.  Coins that are substantially larger than quarters are what we need so we can easily tell them apart.  The savings to taxpayers on printing costs demands we do this. The penny has evaporated into insignificance even among the poorest of Americans.  They have become inconvenient refuse.  They break our vacuum cleaners as they clutter our lives.  It takes two cents to manufacture the worthless penny.  We need them out of our lives. The one hundred dollar bill needs to be supplemented by returning the five hundred dollar bill to circulation.  We will be saving a bundle on printing the one hundred dollar notes because people will be using the larger bill more often.  Part of the printing cost saved can be spent on better anti-counterfeiting measures for the bigger bills. The faile...

Politicians learned decades ago that they could tax and regulate certain filmmakers.  The problem is that too many bureaucrats and cops don’t know or understand the law.  The First Amendment absolutely protects anyone involved with news or opinion publishing and broadcasting.   That of course includes those publishing and posting various forms of media on the web.  They cannot regulate home video projects not intended for profit either. The permit laws can only apply to commercial projects such as entertainment films or commercials.  If you’re gathering news video or B-roll and some officious jerk demands to see your film permit you can tell him it’s at the very top of the Bill of Rights .  If he still has questions tell him to visit his local library to read a copy.  Of course you should tell him your gathering news material but you need not tell him anything about the news story your working on. They may even try to bully ...

Amsterdam, NL —Okay, I’m obsessed!  I love the arts, theater and of course, music.   There are those artists that entertain us all.   God given talent and the ability to face the world and perform seems to be handed to a chosen few.  Carice van Houten is at the very top of my list of terrific performers. Yes, people are born with talent but without hard work and serious dedication it may all be wasted.  Carice has incredible acting chops, best described by film director Paul Verhoeven .   Vehoeven said, “Carice is beautiful like Sharon Stone (Basic Instinct), but she can act!”  This was not really a slight to Stone’s ability but his recognition that Carice has a rare and special magic.   I certainly don’t discount Verhoeven’s ability to get all that an actor can possibly give in a performance. To give a great performance an actor must forget the cameras, audience and simply put aside their ego.  They must actu...

Los Angeles, CA —I have to admit it I enjoy watching the original Two and a Half Men Show a lot.  It is filled with references to Charlie Sheen’s lust for sex, drugs, rock and roll.  There is no sexual subject off limits in this masterpiece of satire.  Is this really an icon of our moral decay?  I don’t think so.  Unless of course you take the story’s line too seriously. To understand the world we live in these racy subjects should not be off limits but perhaps displayed as an example of the irreverence, excess and self-destruction.  The show’s characters are all flawed and dysfunctional.  This is comedy and all comedy is born of pain.  We laugh as these fictional people are put through their paces.  We can’t take this show seriously because it’s fiction and fantasy. It’s a vehicle for us to put aside our own misfortunes or challenges and laugh at the show’s humor. From time to time I’d considered the lad Angus T. Jone s who ...

Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez's efforts to protect tyranny were defeated in the US Supreme Court. Washington, DC—The State of Illinois had a so-called Anti-Eavesdropping   Law .  It barred the recording of any conversations without the consent of all parties.  A violation of this law was a serious felony that could put violators in prison for up to 15 years.  Today, tyranny was defeated because that law is dead.   Perhaps now, The Truth Will Set You Free! The intent of the law was in itself disingenuous or downright nefarious.  As we all know, the truth can be very dangerous.  Illinois politicians made sure that that the truth could never be used against them.  This was their response to the burgeoning use of tape recorders in the 1950s.  Politicians bribery and extortion activities were being exposed by the devices and the law would bar the use of the recordings as evidence against them.   They more properly ...