Let's face it ... We Conservatives, Social and Fiscal, are losing the cultural debates. Millions upon millions of Americans are following Liberals into the dismal swamp of socialism, moral relativism and multiculturalism. Conservatives have all the facts. Liberals have nothing but emotion. And Conservatives are losing.

An article from the July - August 2006 issue of Commentary magazine, titled "Of Pills and Profits: In Defense of Big Pharma" by Peter W. Huber, is a perfect example of this. It details, in a somewhat engaging manner, pharmaceutical industry economics. It is as 'engaging' as one can make the "dismal science" of economics. Whether or not the article is exciting is beside the point. It does exactly what it meant to do, i.e., it effectively destroys every Liberal argument against greater government control of "Big Pharma".

It will also completely fail to convince anyone outside the relative handful of Commentary readers or those who frequent Washington D.C. Beltway Think Tanks, i.e. "Policy Wonks". The general public will go on believing that "Big Pharma" is just another example of greedy corporate interests that cares not one whit for those who use their products.

"But wait," you say. "most people may distrust "Big Pharma" but our fact filled polemics will work on the power brokers within the D.C. Beltway. We'll affect policy at its source." That's a great plan that worked out well last November. What was that? Oh, right, all the people who actually read position papers from American Enterprize, Hudson Institute or Manhattan Institute no longer control Congress. So we continue on our slow slide toward socialism.

"So what are we supposed to do?", you ask. Think about this: When it comes to business, medicine and government policy what has had a greater impact on the public consciousness; Mr. Huber's article and many other articles and books just like it or films like "John Q" or "The Constant Gardener"?

Hugh Hewitt often says that if you want to do be active politically then you have to "get in the game".

I say if Conservatives want to have any impact on the culture then they have better get in the game. If, that is, the game isn't lost already. More movies, novels and other entertainment and less wonkish books and articles will go a long way toward advancing Conservatism in the American culture.

I like what I hear. I'm just wondering where was the blunt talk about costs in terms of sacrifice and live that will likely be lost in the face of a brutal enemy that wants nothing less than the West chained under Islamo-fascist Shariah law? 5+ years into the real fighting in a war that America has tried to ignore since the 1970s and we're finally hearing that we will be lied to by the enemy and their supporters and that lives will be lost to defeat this enemy.

Is this too little too late?

Lord, I pray not.

Apparently not. California Republicans went to the polls last November and thought they were pushing the button (the is the electronic age, don't ya know) for a Republican. What they looks like some weird conglomeration of the Green and Democrat Parties.

Several years ago California had a recall election and tossed out Gray Davis. Maybe Mr. Davis has tapped into some occult powers. Sitting in California's Governor's mansion is nothing less than Gray Arnold Schwarzen-Davis.

California has serious problems in its hospitals, prisons and schools. And these problems can be summarized in two words: ILLEGAL ALIENS. But you will not find those words anywhere in Schwarzen-Davis's State of the State speech.

I was a fool thinking that a vote for Schwarzen-Davis was a vote for a Republican.

My wife encourages me to write down my New Year's Resolutions. Dennis Prager, live this New Year's Day, encourages folks to make at least 3: one for health, one for happiness and one for character. So here goes.

My health resolution is easy. I started practicing Tai Chi and Kung Fu this past year. I resolve to practice these martial arts on a more frequent basis during 2007. My goal is to do more of the physical training required as well as a little of each art each day.

Now the happiness resolution. My 2007 New Year's Resolution that I think will increase my happiness is to write more. So my goal to reach this resolution is to devote more time to this blog, work on some story ideas and put more effort into screenwriting.

The character one is a probably the toughest one. I think I will start, for 2007, to work on being nicer to those who would be mean to me. I have certainly learned, as I try to keep our neighborhood safe from those who would deface it, that nothing frustrates the mean and nasty than someone unaffected by their meanness and nastiness. When I try to remind myself to do this I always think about the Biblical passage in Romans, "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."

My hope for A Fallen Icarus is to have a gathering place for conservatives who are also fans of fantasy, science fiction and horror, and who enjoy those genres in just about every medium there is: film, novels, comic books and television.

That being said, if you are a fantasy and weird fiction fan, then you must read Tim Powers. His works are nothing short of amazing. There is a website, TheWorksofTimPowers.com, devoted to the works of Tim Powers, obviously.

I started with his novel The Anubis Gates, then Declare, after which I read Dinner at Deviant's Place. From there I devored Expiration Date and have just started the World Fantasy Award winning book Last Call. Following this book I will move on to Earthquake Weather. I should point out that Last Call, Expiration Date and Earthquake Weather make up a loose trilogy, in the order just listed. These three books share some characters, but, having just finished the "trilogy's" second book and about 100 pages into the first, they are not cliffhangers. Also waiting on my desk are his short story collection, Strange Itineraries, a collection of Powers' short stories, and The Drawing of the Dark, a novel in which beer seems to play a significant role in saving Western Civilization from  invading Turkish armies.

Tim Powers is an amazing writer who happens to be Catholic. Powers' ability to get into his character's souls is what attracts me to these books. The conflicts they face threaten both their physical and spiritual wellbeing. One also finds in Powers' books easy reference to a character's faith without a story every becoming preachy. He notes, in this interview at IngatiusInsight.com, " The main point of fantasy should be ... to excite the numinous, vertiginous effects of real supernatural events actually occurring. Any other purpose – to comment on feminism, or racism, or abortion, or the war in Iraq, or whatever the new issue of Newsweek provides – cripples that main point." It is a shame that so many authors fail to understand this point.

I hope this post entices a few Townhall.com readers to pick up a Tim Powers book. His books are not the easiest works to read. For example there is a sequence in Expiration Date that includes a very detailed description of making a 'psychic' telephone using chalk, instead of a magnet, as the central element in a speaker. That being said I think they are well worth the effort and may just make a fantasy or science fiction fan out of someone who thought those genres were the poor second cousin to "real" literature.

Lord, I hope not.

AMC is slated to air the remake the late 60s TV series The Prisoner in 2008.

Conservative afficionados of Popular Culture should certainly know about this classic science fiction series from that aired 1967 - 68. The tagline (as reported at IMDB.com) is "No Man Is Just A Number." If that doesn't warm the heart of Reagan conservative I don't know what will.

I'll keep an eye out for this, but I'm leary of what the remake's creators will do with the show's themes. The original series was about a resigned secret agent determined to escape an island prison while the prison keepers were determined to find out why he resigned ("I don't want to do this anymore" isn't good enough in the secret agent biz).

According to this BBC report, "The producers of the new series said they were aiming for a "radical reinvention" of the series and intended to take "liberties with the original". Uh oh. Cue threatening and ominous music.

Battlestar Galactica was "reinvented" and for many it is the best show on television. I believe it is science fiction's answer to "Law and Order", a show that tries way to hard to be "timely". BG gives a heavy-handed SF treatment to issues clearly related to our war against Islamo-fascism only we aren't rooting for the good guys. In fact, in the new BG it's hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. No one denies that BG is about Iraq. In fact, most praise it for its "story of war, insurgency and the struggle for freedom". Do we really need a another show that may leave us "rooting for [suicide bombings] even as [we] recoil in horror at [these] actions"?

Let's just hope that the new Prisoner is not given a "timely" treatment as well.

This could have been a story about how America's brave Marines are taking the fight to the enemy. Are they taking casualties? Yes. Is the enemy? You betcha! Unfortunately, you have to work your way down to the 5th paragraph before you get to this bit of news:


That is followed by a brief mention about how our Islamo-fascist enemies continue to use mosques as weapon's caches and how American and Iraqi troops are flushing them out:


This alone seems worthy of an entire article. Instead we get nothing more than stories with headlines reading "3 Marines killed in Anbar". Hardly any mention at all of how many Islamo-fascists have been killed or captured.

Imagine what these folks would have done with D-Day or Iwo Jima.

My better half and me went to the mall in order to spend a few of the gift cards we received for Christmas. I'm the lucky one with the Borders card, she got the Macy's card.

As we sat eating a small lunch I noticed a family of 4 entering from the sun baked parking garage. A middle aged couple, another who may be a friend or sibling, and an older woman who slowly walked with the help of a cane. They slowly made their way across the parking lot's busy drive-way. The eldest among them set their speed and her face looked pain doing so.

As I watched the foursome work their way into the mall's hermetically sealed confines I thought what a lousy place to spend an afternoon, trudging slowly up and down the hard tile floors browsing through stuff made for someone half your age.

How much better off were we when, instead of a soulless mall to wander around in, folks congregated in townsquares and parks or simply sat in a small cafe, sipping coffee or beer talking about the events of the day.

I've been lucky enough to visit Greece on a few occasions, since my better half is Greek and she wants to visit her mother at least once a year. Good luck trying to find a mall in Athens. Sure there are large department stores, but nothing like the Mall of America or South Coast Plaza. If folks want to get together in Greece they go to a cafenio or taverna, sit with a ouzo, greek coffee or beer, maybe have some meze (basically appetiizers), talk and watch the folks stroll by. This isn't something happens on the lovely Greek Isles. This is a fair represenation of a relaxing afternoon or evening with friends and family in Athens, as well.

How I long for something like that here in the OC.

American Shopping Malls are no place for the family.

Saddam, it is being reported, is dead. To quote the Jewish saying, "May his name be blotted out!"

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned creepy horror film that doesn’t take itself too seriously; one that has some good laughs, along with the monsters and zombies climbing out of the dark and turning the locals into a buffet. Slither is just this kind of movie. The only down side is that it proves, once again, that the default ideology among the Hollywood glitterati is Liberalism and to these folks Republican is four letter word hurled at whimpering cowards.

Toward the end of the film, the town’s mayor, a foul-mouthed, despicable moron included for comic relief, is chased out of a basement by some of the locals, turned flesh eating zombies. Just before Mr. Mayor becomes yet another monster snack, a zombie chasing after him screams, “You G** D*** Republican. I thought, while watching the movie, ‘Did I just hear a gratuitous shot at Republicans?’. Then I watched the DVD’s Extras. Yup, that is exactly what was said.

Slither’s writer/director, James Gunn, while this particular scene was being shot, yelled at the actor playing the zombie, “Tell him he’s a G** D*** Republican.” This line isn’t in the script. It just popped into the director’s head and flew out of his mouth.

I’m willing to bet that, a some on the set took offense at this or wondered ‘Why not a G** D*** Democrat?’ I’m would also bet that those who thought that this line wasn't the best way to win over an audience kept their mouth shut; knowing full well that uttering such a comment would get them fired. Here's something you will never hear a typical director, in a moment of improve, tell an actor: “Call him a G** D*** Democrat!”

Despite this one glaring reminder that Hollywood is a town of, by and for Democrats, I enjoyed Slither. It stars Nathan Fillion, a favorite of mine since Joss Whedon’s short-lived Firefly series and follow-up film “Serenity”.

Take note: Hollywood liberals who can do nothing more than hurl insults at their political opponents can make a film conservatives can enjoy.

WARNING - Spoilers Ahead

There are a great many stories inspired by our war against Islamo-fascism. Almost all of them oppose America’s efforts to defeat the enemy, especially as they present themselves on the Iraqi front.

In film, there is Syriana, Paradise Now, Jarhead, Good Night and Good Luck, Munich, and many more. In comics, one can find the attitude that America is the enemy of freedom in Marvel’s “Civil War” and the numerous tie-in titles. DC Comics gives us “America, the enemy” in such as ‘Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters’ and the miniseries ‘Battle for Bludhaven’.

Very few titles, however, dealt directly with events on the ground in Iraq. Back in 2004 Marvel came out with a mini-series based on Karl Zinsmeister’s work Boots on the Ground and Dawn over Baghdad, titled “Combat Zone: True Tales of GIs in Iraq”. Don’t bother looking for this on the shelves of your local comic book store. My search throughout Southern California has lead me to the conclusion that those who run these shops are just as disdainful of the military as is every other so-called independent bookstore owner. Just ask the kid sitting behind the counter at your local shop for Combat Zone and you’ll get a little more than a blank stare. If you want this, get thee to Amazon.com.

One title that directly tackles events in Iraq is Vertigo’s (an imprint of DC Comics) Pride of Baghdad. This story is inspired by real events, in which four lions escaped from the Baghdad Zoo during the initial days following the Coalition of the Willing’s liberation of Iraq. I came away from the story with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I want to like it. Each lion represents a different perspective on liberation. The old matriarch, Safa, longs for the safe and predictable life in the zoo. The young female, Noor, dreams of freedom and breaking out of the zoo. The pride’s patriarch, Zill, takes things as they come, attempting to be a voice of reason between the extremes of Safa and Noor. Finally, there is Ali, a cub; drawn as if inspired by The Lion King, for whom each moment is an adventure and something new.

I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying that this book is very clearly anti-war, and beyond that, it is anti-American in its approach to what is happening in Iraq. American soldiers show up only three times in the book: once in the very beginning, to get the story rolling by destroying the zoo, once at the mid-point, to scare the crap out of Ali and Safa, and finally at the end, which I will get to later. All three moments when Americans are present, they are terrorizing the lions. This is an interesting perspective given that the artist and writer both thank soldiers serving in Iraq. Artist Niko Henrichon writes, “It is also important to thank … soldiers - who were and still are in Iraq, for sharing their experience…” Writer Brian K. Vaughn writes, “And a very special thanks to the dedicated men and women of the United States Armed Forces, particularly everyone from the Army’s 3^rd Infantry Division.” It is a special thanks indeed after depicting the acts of these “dedicated men and women” as the cause of little more than chaos and death.

Let’s step into the real world for a moment. American troops were forced to kill two lions that dug their way out of the Baghdad Zoo. American bombs did not free them as is depicted in the “Pride”. Furthermore, the American military, specifically the 3^rd Infantry Division, restored order to the zoo and gave the animals a chance at life after Iraqis abandoned the animals to starve and dehydrate to death. The very Division thanked by Vaughn brought order, but Vaughn couldn’t bring himself to depict this in the story. Things that make you go hmmmm.

Let us put that aside and grant Vaughn his artistic license with the story. Honestly, a work about a few starving lions digging their way out of a den, attacking a few soldiers and then being shot would not have been that dramatic. Vaughn does a good job using real events as the kernels for a dramatic story.

“Pride of Baghdad” does have a few compelling moments. There is the scene in the beginning in which Noor attempts to convince Antelope to work with the lions in her escape plan.


Henrichon’s art in this moment even captures the hope for freedom in Noor’s eyes in one panel.

One of the best moments in the book comes when Noor and Safa discover what is obviously supposed to be one of Saddam’s palaces. Inside they come across another lion kept as a pet. It is dying, chained to a wall, its claws and teeth pulled out.


Noor, who earlier spoke of liberation, sees this clearly as one of the many that “disappeared” and suffered the torture of their Iraqi “keepers”. Safa, on the other hand, refuses to see the evidence of torture and insists that those who responsible “weren’t evil”. This leads Safa to say,


As Safa is about to acknowledge the truth in Noor’s words the stand in for Saddam’s torturers arrives in the form of a massive black bear named Fajer with glowing red eyes that towers over Safa and Noor in a dramatic full-page drawing. The ensuing fight between Safa, Noor, Fajer and eventually Zill gives one a great sense of the struggle everyday Iraqis must deal with, having to face down Islamo-fascists who want to drag Iraq back to a 7^th Century Islamic totalitarian state.

This midpoint conflict only makes the overall theme of the book, that liberation is not all it’s cracked up to be especially when the American military is involved, even more frustrating. I noted at the beginning, I wanted to like this book. I hoped this would be a story, using animals as stand-ins for real people, about the struggles everyday Iraqis go through as they try to establish a free Iraq. Instead, I got a muddled story that is only consistent in its anti-war stance. It left me wondering what Vaughn and Henrichon would do with a story about lions escaping from the Berlin Zoo as American and British forces liberated Germany from Hitler.

As one would expect, Leftist media love “Pride of Baghdad”. NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” does a softball interview with Vaughn, in which Vaughn talks about his “conflicted” feelings about what is happening in Iraq (Btw, Ex-Machina, which Vaughn discusses in the NPR interview, is about a superhero turned New York politician. The politician is, of course, a liberal). Mike Lukich, at Popmatter.com, writes, “the politics and social commentary, while certainly present, take a much-appreciated back seat to the sheer, heartbreaking mess of it all.” Excuse me; Mike, but “the politics and social commentary” is the “mess of it all”.

American soldiers’ final appearance in the book is what pushes me away from this work and into the ‘I wouldn’t recommend it’ camp. After the fierce fight with Fajer, the ever-hopeful Ali finally gets a glimpse of the mythic “horizon” that was nostalgically recalled by Zill early in the story. The sun is setting; the sky is filled with deep reds and oranges. As the pride stare out at the sky a shot rings out and Zill falls over dead, soon followed by Safa, Noor and Ali. The cut from the panel depicting Safa’s final breath is to, what else, a panel filled with an American flag and a dialog bubble, reading “Jesus Christ”. The soldiers gather round the dead animals and as one explains why he shot, he asks,


Following this scene around the lion’s bodies, we get two full pages depicting American aircraft destroying a Baghdad neighborhood with a bombing run. This does not strike me as the depiction of “conflicted” feelings.

So if you want a glimpse into the conflicted liberal soul when it comes to whether or not Republicans should send the military to fight and die so that others may be free, pick up a copy of “Pride of Baghdad”.

Never let it be said that comic book publishers lack for material, as long as McCarthy and House Committee on Un-American Activities (inaccurately given the acronym HUAC - House Un-American Activities Committee - I guess HCUAA wasn't pithy enough) lurks in their collective conscience.

Wildstorm's recent release, titled "Red Menace", is a comic book riff on themes most recently explored in the film "Good Night and Good Luck". Once again we get the American government on a hatefilled, prejudiced and completely unnecessary search for Communists in America, this time among the superheroes of the 50s. This theme is being rehashed for its timeliness, I suppose. After all, aren't searches for terrorists that focus on Islamic radicals completely unwarranted? It isn't as if most terrorism worldwide has Islamic fundamentalism as its source. Is it? Today, standing in for the poor misunderstood Communists we have the poor misunderstood Michigan imams.

This 'timely' theme is also being explored in Marvel Comics reworking of the entire Marvel Universe with "Civil War". I guess DC Comics didn't want to be left out in the cold when it came to equating American efforts fighting terrorism with the "paranoid" search for Communists during the Cold War.

"Red Menace" resurrects Leftists favorite boogy man, Joseph McCarthy and his, as they see it, completely unwarrented search for Communists in America.

Any chance that some day we'd get something that gave us an interesting and original take on this period in modern America history? Maybe something inspired by Ronald Reagan's and Roy Brewer's fight against very real Communists in Hollywood? Or maybe a something using The Black Book of Communism as a source rather than Zinn's propagandistic hate-America "People's History".

I was chrismated into the Greek Orthodox church some 4 years ago, and must confess that I am not a paragon of Orthodox faithfulness. I do not attend liturgy regularly. In fact, in the last year I’ve been to a Catholic Latin Mass more often than I have been attended the Orthodox liturgy. Today, Sunday, 17 December 2006, is, however, my name since I am after the Prophet Daniel. So I made my way to the liturgy.

I arrived a bit late since I gave a neighbor’s car a jump-start. I observed the regular rituals upon entering the church; I crossed myself, kissed the icon set up just inside the door, lit a candle and said a brief prayer for my wife, my parents and finally myself, picked up the week’s bulletin, kissed the icon of St. Paul, for whom the church is named and entered the naïve.

I browsed the bulletin while the priest recited the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.  That is when everything seemed to go downhill.

Each week’s bulletin has an icon of a saint. This week’s bulletin had the icon of St. Dionysios. St. Dionysios, I learned is “an unparalleled example of forgiveness”. The example of St. Dionysios’s forgiveness read as follows:

“St. Dionysios … remained [the Bishop of Aegina] for many years before returning to a monastery on [his] beloved island of Zakynthos. One evening, a desperate man showed up at the monastery gate, pleading with Dionysios to hear his confession. He confessed to committing murder and was now being pursued by his victim’s family. Dionysios agreed to give him refuge, but soon learned that the murdered man was HIS OWN BROHER! Despite being saddened by his own personal loss, Dionysios followed Christ’s example: after instructing the man in the necessity for repentance, he forgave him of his terrible sin.”

So far so good. Dionysios showed great Christian mercy and strength hearing the man’s confession and forgiving him in Christ’s name even after learning that the victim was Dionysios’ own brother. Furthermore, I have no problem giving a man, who committed a terrible crime, refuge from a lynch mob. Protection should be provided such that justice (or what passed for justice in the 16^th century) could be properly executed. The description of Dionysios continued:

“[Dionysios] continued to protect his brother’s killer, going so far as to send the authorities in the opposite direction of the man’s escape route.”

WHAT!?! This I just do not understand. Is this what Christian forgiveness is supposed to be? Are Christians to forgive murderers to such an extent that one will even disrupt the wheels of justice and prevent the proper authorities from executing their sworn duty? This is what I’m supposed to emulate and look up to as “an unparalleled example of forgiveness?” What came to mind as I read that last sentence was, ‘If this were done today this ‘saint’ would be guilty of harboring a fugitive and obstruction of justice. What’s so Christian about that?’

I often hear that Christians are to be ‘in but not of the world’. Isn’t this taking that exhortation just a bit too far?

I have often felt the urge to leave the Orthodox church. As noted above, I’ve attended more Catholic Masses than I have Orthodox liturgies in the past year. Honoring a man who would hide a murderer from those appointed to find and bring him to justice is just one more reason to leave Orthodoxy for Catholicism.

I do not think that, upon hearing the confession, Dionysios should have handed the man over and, with what the murderer confessed, acted as the prosecution’s star witness. No priest should be called to give witness to what was said in the confessional. On the other hand, no priest has the right to prevent the authorities from doing their job. If Dionysios had emphasized repentance as much as forgiveness, he would have allowed the murderer to be taken, tried, judged and punished. His Christian forgiveness would still stand AND justice would have been served. Instead, Dionysios set himself above the authorities and not only forgive the murderer, but allowed to escape punishment as well.

It seems, in this case at least, that forgiveness took precedence over repentance.

I wondered if the term "American military" was used and in what context, in the Baker-Hamilton-Chamberlain Committee report after discovering that it only discusses victory as it would apply to Al Qaeda, . This is what I found:

"Many military units are under significant strain. Because the harsh conditions in Iraq are wearing out equipment more quickly than anticipated, many units do not have fully functional equipment for training when they redeploy to the United States. An extraordinary amount of sacrifice has been asked of our men and women in uniform, and of their families. The American military has little reserve force to call on if it needs ground forces to respond to other crises around the world." (p. 7) (Emphasis added)

"There is no action the American military can take that, by itself, can bring about success in Iraq. But there are actions that the U.S. and Iraqi governments, working together, can and should take to increase the probability of avoiding disaster there, and increase the chance of success." (p. 70) (Emphasis added)

And some might wonder why I call this the "Defeat through Diplomacy" report.

If the American military killed the Islamo-Nazis attempting to create yet another Islamic totalitarian regime, that, by itself, would bring about success in Iraq. But absurd rules of engagement and foolish diplomatic niceties ties its hands.

On Dennis Prager's show (12/6) a caller pointed out that the Baker-Hamilton-Chamberlain Committee thinks the Islamo-Nazis in Iraq will be pacified if Israel hands the Golan Heights over to Syria: "In exchange for [various Syrian] actions and in the context of a full and secure peace agreement, the Israelis should return the Golan Heights..." (p. 75).

This got me thinking, so I did another search through the "Defeat through Diplomacy" report.

Israel is mentioned on 34 seperate occasions in 75 pages of text. (I'm not counting the Appendices).

Let me see if have this right: If the Israeli-Arab conflict is resolved, then the Islamo-Nazis killing Iraqis and Americans (but mostly Iraqis) in Iraq will give up, go home and ... do what? open falafel shops?

Thank you for that tremendous insight, Baker-Hamilton-Chamberlain - "Defeat through Diplomacy" Committee.