Roger Kimball prerfectly captured my reaction to Obama, going from concern to outright fear:

"When I first encountered Obama’s rhetoric, my chief feeling was one of mild nausea. Over time, feelings of alarm have outstripped the nausea: Obama’s clichés, I realized, were not simply, not only, empty platitudes. They were also menacing adumbrations of a megalomaniac narcissist who really did believe he was a man of destiny and wouldn’t have the slightest hesitation about embarking on the effort to “remake the world.” "

And then there is the "Fourth Estate's" reaction to this megalomaniacal narcissist, perfectly captured in this photo.



This is really starting to give me the heebie jeebies.

OK so I'm a bit late with this, but I'm just going with my reflections on the event, not trying to give anyone who reads this a blow by blow rundown on what happened. If you want that try io9.com.


Saturday started with something of a disappointment as I wanted to get a couple of Dean Koontz books signed, books that I carried down from Seattle to San Diego. In order to get a chance for a signature you had to win a pass. While that sounds like a relatively simple process, it actually amounted to waiting in a crowd of folks in front of the Con's Autograph Area booth until they announced where the line to win a pass would be. Then you stand in line and pull a ticket out of a bag. If the ticket you pulled had a 'unicorn' on it then you won a pass. If not then it was to the back of the line for another chance. You could repeat this process until either you won a pass or the passes ran out. I stood in line 7 times ... and then they ran out. Yeah ... disappointing.

There's always next year.

I listened to Joe Hill speak twice; once in a panel that included Adrian Barbeau, who has written what everyone else seem to be doing these days - a book about vampires. I think folks should start pushing for some variety in monster fiction. Bring on the werewolves!!!


Anyway, I think that Ms. Barbeau still looks good after all these years. And kudos to her for staying creative.

Joe Hill was another disappointment. During his panel he read from a novella titled "Thumbprint", about a female veteran of the Iraqi front in the war against Islamo-Nazism. True to left-liberal take on this front, it focused on ... what else ... Abu Ghraib. Thumbprint was written and read at the Con because "torture" is on everyone's minds these days.

What is rather ironic is that a great many of the volunteer staff at the Con, doing everything they could to help attendees find out what was happening when and where, were U.S. Marines. While they were not in uniform, they were wearing shirts and badges that made it perfectly clear who they were.

So here is Mr. Hill (Stephen King's son, for those living in a cave and didn't know) proving to his readers that the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree, depicting these men and women as PTSD victims and perpetuators of torture. I did a very informal survey of folks standing in line, while waiting for a Joe Hill autograph (and yes, I did have him sign my stuff - I'd already missed out on Koontz and I wasn't going to toss Hill out because of political differences), asking if they knew how many Medal of Honor winners there were in Iraq & Afghanistan. No one could tell me how many have been awarded. Not. One. (I did not ask Mr. Hill because of time and I didn't feel like being confrontational. Unlike Mr. Koontz, Mr. Hill was gracious enough to sign as many autographs and take as many pictures as fans wanted. I thought it would be rude to confront him on this in this venue.)

But they all knew about Abu Ghraib.

The Democrat Times of New York put Abu Ghraib on its front page above the folk for 30 straight days. An Iraq or Afghanistan MOH winner has, as far as I know, never appeared on its frontpage. Never. Disgraceful.

BTW, if you don't know, which is unlikely for a regular Townhall.com reader. The answer is 5: Corporal Jason L. Dunham, PFC Ross A. McGinnis, Master-at-Arms Second Class Michael A. Monsoor, Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith, and Lt. Michael P. Murphy.



God Bless these brave men.

When it came out, its tag line was "Who watches the Watchmen?" That line now adorns a t-shirt about 6,000 or so lucky fans, who attended the Comic Con Watchmen panel with Zack Snyder and the film's stars, received. The panel started with film clips not seen in the trailer. This film is going to get a lot of buzz among fans based on what was seen today. The test will come March 6, 2009 when it hits theaters and the fans find out just how faithful an adaptation this is.

The only other panels I caught today were Jim Butcher, Dresden Files and Codex Alera author, followed by a greatly anticipated 24 panel, hyping the two hour prequel movie and Season 7. A lot of folks have held up 24 as a series conservatives could love. I beg to differ. The only conservative themes I've seen in it were typical Hollywood where conservatives are always the bad guys. Even center-right Joel Surnow could not avoid this. And now we get a female president in Season 7 and Jack Burton on trial for torturing terrorists.

Even with the great Jon Voight joining the 24 cast do not think this will change the storytelling. One thing made clear at the panel is that the show's writers write, director's direct and the actors act. Period. With that mindset one can hardly imagine that Mr. Voight could have any impact on the shows direction. Especially when they want to appeal to the Comic Con crowd.

One member of that crowd stood out before I left. It wasn't the guys dressed as Rorschach or women in spandex. Instead it was they guy with the Communist Hammer and Sickle on his chest and another proudly wearing Che Guevara's face on his chest. The fact that the latter was a homicidal l lunatic empowered by the Cuban State to execute political prisoners and the former was directly responsible for the death of some 100 million people is completely lost on the 120,000 plus people wandering the Convention Center.

Furthermore, this is also the crowd that reacted to anti-human remake Day the Earth Stood Still Keanu Reeves remake with the following:

 “It was awesome, it played really big,” said Juan James, a fan from Modesto, Calif., who had listened in on the “Day the Earth Stood Still” panel ..."

If the 24 production team is going to satisfy this crowd, putting America in a positive light is not the way to do it. If I can figure out how, I want to post the "Super-O" Obama T-shirt on sale at the Con. No doubt it is a bit seller.

Perhaps the largest alternative media and entertainment event is about to take place. In just over a week the Comic Con International will kick off, and well over 100,000 folks will descend on San Diego to revel in comics, movies, television, gaming, in everything that many consider the worst of pop culture.

The Con's celebration of diversity is on display with a The Black Panel ’08 immediately followed by the Black Entertainment Television Animation panel. Adding to the skin color diversity, there are four panels focusing on homosexuality in comics, as well as the

"Gays in Comics Mixer— Here’s your chance to mingle with other GLBT and open-minded fans and creators ..."

So if I don't attend this mixer does that mean I'm not open-minded? Just wondering ...

There is all kinds of diversity on display in the Comic Con schedule ... except, of course, diversity of thought. There are the two Christian events: Christian Comic Arts Society Networking event on Saturday and the Christian Comic Arts Society event on Sunday. Though I'd be willing to bet that the majority of the folks attending these events would be hard pressed to admit conservative leanings. Then again, it isn't as if there is a slew of conservatives in comics and entertainment. If all the conservatives at the Comic Con got together, we might fill a small table at Starbucks.

Any guesses on what approach the "Comic Arts Conference" will take in this session:

Guerilla Warfare and Sneak Attacks: The Politics of Representing War in Film and Comics of the 1950s— Rocco Versaci (Palomar College) discusses his book, This Book Contains Graphic Language: Comics as Literature, in which he champions comics as a legitimate literary artform and argues that comics as a marginalized medium have been uniquely suited to subvert dominant ideologies in ways impossible for more highly regarded media. In the 1940s and 1950s, when both the comics and film industries were hard at work representing war, comics—because they were considered a marginal entertainment media—were "freer" to deliver subversive and even incendiary political messages.

Wow. I wonder if Prof. Versaci realizes that the dominant ideology he thinks comics were out to subvert during the 40s was deeply opposed to Nazism. I sure hope he doesn't think opposing Nazism was something that needed opposition. I would not be surprised to learn that it was a bad thing to show Captain America and the Sub-Mariner kicking Nazi butt, given the recent spate of books in which some very well known authors and pundits have given WWII a revisionist spin, going so far as claiming that the Holocaust was Churchill's fault. Prof. Versaci must have missed the point of all the anti-nuclear war films that sprang up during the 50s. Does this guy really want to sell the idea that the original "Day the Earth Stood Still" was pro-nuclear war? I might have to suffer through this panel to find out.

Despite the fact that there will be little to warm a conservatives heart, I do hope to have some fun watching tens of thousands of left-liberals, and kids on their way to becoming left-liberals, wallow in pop culture madness. I'll do my best to blog from the events. Folks should know what it's like standing in a line over a mile long and 4 people wide.

And if you might be in attendance and are looking for a fellow conservative to commiserate with over a beer or coffee, drop me a line. It would be nice to know I'm not alone in that see of Lefty madness.

The first Hellboy movie ushered me into the world and Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman and the rest of the B.P.R.D. crew. I started reading the comics, and the novelizations. I put the direct-to-DVD animated features at the top of my Netflix list. I became a big fan of Mike Mignola's world. This world remains some of the best dark fantasy available. Hellboy II: The Golden Army ... eeehhh, not so much.

All the parts were in Golden Army: The cigar chomping, irreverent Hellboy. The subtle, intelligent Abe Sapien. The angst ridden Liz Sherman. They even added Johann Krauss, the German spirit 'living' in a modified deep sea diving outfit. The fantastical world existing just beyond the everyday world. It even included the Christian imagery included in the first Hellboy movie. Yet something in this movie didn't click for me. I think I figured it out after thinking about for a few days. It comes down to Hellboy's relationship with the B.P.R.D.

If you don't know the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense (B.P.R.D.) is "a fictional organization in the comic book work of Mike Mignola, charged with protecting America and the world from the occult, paranormal and supernatural." It is a branch of the American government, and therein lies part of why I became a fan. Most comic stories that involve an American government bureaucracy show that bureaucracy as the enemy. Unless said bureau is providing handouts to "the disadvantaged", the American government is, more often than not, portrayed as the enemy. Hellboy made a supernatural version of the FBI and CIA, all rolled into one, the good guys.

The Golden Army changes all that. Not that Hellboy, Abe, Liz, Johann, et al end up fighting the bureau; they don't. However, the film's closing scene does drive home what I took as a political point that I don't think fits with the world created in the comics and novels, at least not the world I came to enjoy.

Maybe it will take a second viewing for me to understand why Del Toro and Mignola did what they did with this story. I will likely pick up the DVD when it comes out. I did have a good time at the theater. The film's is certainly quite a visual feast and the fight sequences are very well done. At this point, however, I feel like The Golden Army was something of a false gold, or perhaps a fool's gold.

I think the excitement for The Dark Knight can be officially changed from buzz to full fledged roar.

The Democrat Times of New York is reporting that some theaters "are scheduling 6 a.m. screenings for those who can’t get in at midnight or 3 in the morning."

At one theater, the Imax showings are sold out for the 1st week.

This movie is going to be huge.

Peter Travers writes, at Rolling Stone, "If there's a movement to get [Heath Ledger] the first posthumous Oscar since Peter Finch won for 1976's Network, sign me up." I've been telling folks for weeks the same thing based on what I've seen in the trailers. It is a sad thing that Mr. Ledger left us so early in his career.

Isn't that a much better headline spin on US Airways cost cutting measure, which is to remove entertainment systems in order to save some $10 million annually could be a positive development in air travel.

As much as I enjoy Jet Blue's inflight satellite TV, there is an over-reliance on those little TV screens to pass the time while flying. Given that families, on average, spend more than 4 hours a day with the television on, it isn't that big a hardship to spend a few hours without it while flying.

But then I'm someone who has no television service in the home. So ... there ya go.

So what are we to make about all the conservatives abandoning their evil greedy, homophobic, warmongering, racist, sexist ways in order to cast their vote for Sen. Barry Obama? Absolutely nothing, I say. The San Francisco Chronicle, on the other hand, thinks this is big news.

On Monday, July 7th, the Gay Bay's paper of record had an article about "prominent" conservatives who are supporting Sen. Barry Obama for President. Why?

Roger Kimball, commenting on Thomas Sowell's excellent article on the Obamacon phenomenon, put it best:

"It’s partly sour grapes–John McCain is not the dream candidate, ergo some conservatives are planning–or say they are planning–to vote for someone who is closer to a conservative nightmare. And it’s partly wishful thinking. Conservatives point out  that Obama has been moving toward the center in his recent speeches, but it is (at best) a fantasy to  believe that what a man says is more important than what he does, and Obama has done plenty to belie his recent centrist noises."

Sour grapes, wishful thinking and fantasy. That about sums it up almost all support Sen. B.H. Obama has, given how wishy-washy he when he does speak.

BTW, don't hold your breath waiting for San Fran Nan's hometown paper to provide a report titled, "Why some liberals are backing McCain."

If only ...

What would happen if a rift in time transported American WWII heroes fighting in 1943 into New York, circa 2008? That is the question asked in Marvel’s second tier summer event titled Avengers / Invaders (the 1^st tier being Marvel’s Secret Invasion), written by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross. The answer, it seems, is the heroes wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Americans enforcing the law and Nazis.

In Avengers / Invaders #1 readers are introduced to Captain America and Bucky, the Human Torch and Toro, and Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner - comics Golden Age “Invaders”. These five superheroes, working with the American military and British superheroes, Spitfire and Union Jack, are in the midst of a raid on Monte Carrino, an Italian monastery that is now a Nazi stronghold, where Hitler is engaged in occult research. As they storm the monastery Capt. America, Bucky, Human Torch, Toro, Namor and one of the American soldiers are enveloped in a green cloud. When the air clears these six are in 2008 Manhattan, where the Thunderbolts, enforcers for the “Superhuman Registration Act” (read: Patriot Act), are fighting “vigilante” superheroes. The connections with Nazis is obvious. Right?

The dialog that greest this blast from the past is not anything close to “who?”, “what?”, “how”, etc.. Instead readers get, “Spiderman is an unregistered superman. Get in our way … and I’ll bring the whole American government down on you!” (emphasis added). To which, Capt. America responds, “I think we’re being lied to … Nothing changes.” In other words, they were fighting Nazis in Italy, now they are fighting Nazis in New York. Much fisticuffs ensues, wherein Nazi and fascist is the common epithet against the American government.

The issue closes with a splash page showing Iron Man dropping his head, muttering “Steve”, before numerous video screens showing Capt. America’s heroic image. Marvel’s Civil War, it seems, is getting a do-over.

  Issue #2 opens with the Iron Man led Avengers taking off from the S.H.I.E.L.D. hellicarrier to bring in the time displaced Invaders. If you didn’t get it from the first issue, Capt. America’s cry when they attack the Avengers surely drives the point home. This series is hinging on the idea that the American government are today’s version of the WWII Axis.

I can’t say I read a lot of comics, but those that I have read I have not seen Nazi and fascist used so readily. Namor calls Ares a Nazi, Capt. America calls Iron Man a fascist, the Human Torch thinks it all a Nazi trap, and, after all but Namor are captured by the Avengers and brought back to the hellicarrier, Bucky refers to S.H.I.E.L.D. medical personnel as Nazis. Readers get it. Marvel and Dynamite Comics The Invaders think Nazis run America in 2008.

Namor escapes vowing to return “with more Allies then you can imagine.” In the closing panels we see Wolverine, part of the New Avengers (six heroes that refused to obey the Patriot Act “Superhuman Registration Act”), barking out the Invaders battlecry, which they would yell before fighting Nazi soldiers, “Okay Axis, Here we come.” Hmmm … Axis … Allies … do think they’re trying to tell us something?

Issue #3 has Prince Namor fighting King Namor for rule in Atlantis. The New Avengers gather at the Lincoln Memorial in order to start their own plan to return the Invaders to their proper timeline, and Bucky frees Capt. America from the S.H.I.E.L.D. holding cell, but not from the hellicarrier.

In between the Namor/New Avenger scenes and the Bucky/Capt. America scenes, readers are allowed a breather as we follow the one normal soldier who came through the time warp with the heroes. Paul Anselm is his name and he has sought out and found himself in Manhattan, so he can talk to himself to find out what’s happened since 1943. This is may be the only interesting part of the story, if Krueger and Ross do anything with it, other than drive home the point that they seem to think America is Nazi Germany.

Avengers / Invaders is a 12 issue mini-series (does that qualify as a maxi-series?) so I do hold out some hope that something comes of this story. If the books continue with the ‘Nazi / fascist’ America meme, I will be sorely disappointed, but not in the least bit surprised.

If you’ve read this entire post, then you may wonder why I would spend good money on this stuff. One reason is the Alex Ross painted cover art. I’ve been a fan of cover work since Justice, though I can’t say he does good panels. The Justice panels often had too much going on and were very hard to follow.

A second reason as to why I’m reading this rather than Secret Invasion is that it is limited to 12 monthly titles, rather than 6 issues with seemingly endless tie-ins.

And finally, I want to see how the radical left thinks. Alex Ross is responsible for one of the most heinous depictions of Pres. Bush that I know of. How an artist goes from this to this:

I’ll never know, but President Bush at Lady Libety's throat does seem to summarize the first three Avengers / Invaders books rather well.

The sick wastes of human flesh that pass for Islamo-Nazi terrorists will use anything and everything they can to kill us.

Brave Israeli security personnel show the right way to deal with these scumbags, as seen in the video at this link.


This says everything that needs to be said about the enemy  we face.

Main Scream Media is loath to use any term that might associate Islamism with any past fascistic movements. Would the editors from NYTimes, LATimes, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, etc. understand reality if they were loaded aboard a plane chartered and bound for Algeria and forced to live with what they cannot see? Or would their ignorance remain invincible in the face of harsh reality?

David Pryce-Jones, at National Review Online, gives few brief paragraphs about "Boualem Sansal, a former Algerian civil servant ... and author of [five] novels". In an interview with French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, Mr. Sansal laid out a strong case for why Islamism, in my opinion, can be described as Islamo-Nazism:

The more he researched his novel [Le Village de l’Allemand, or The Village of the German], Sansal tells us, the more he saw “a substantial similarity between Nazism and the political order that prevails in Algeria.” Both are one-party states, with militarization, brainwashing, the falsification of history, the exaltation of the race, the tendency to claim victimhood and to assert that there is a conspiracy against the nation. There is glorification of the leader, an omnipresent police, mass organizations, religious indoctrination. Xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism, he adds, have been elevated to the status of dogmas. We all know, he sums up, that “the line separating Nazism from Islamism is a thin one.”

Let us pray that we don't have to live with this horror in America before the Left-wing media understands what is so obvious.

Could there be lines for The Dark Knight that we haven't seen since the Star Wars movies?

Who is to say, but 3 weeks before the movie is released, Fandango is reporting that several of the 7/17 midnight showings are sold out. And some theaters may be adding a 3:00 AM showing.