Adam’s Blog

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Archive for May 9th, 2006

The Sorry State of Conservative Media, Part II: Conservatives in Print Comics

Posted by sirsteltek on May 9, 2006

Part One

In this second installment of my conservatives in entertainment series, I’d like to talk about a neglected artform: the graphic novel. Which for the less pretentious among means I’m going to talk about comics.

If you want someone to tell you how old and powerful comics are with a lot of big words, I’ll direct you to Scott McCloud’s “Understanding Comics”, which is an excellent read even if you’re not a fan of comics. McCloud has a lot to say about comics and visual arts in general, and though I have no idea what his politics are, he’s a recognized authority on the subject. (Insofar as comic books have recognized authorities.) If you don’t want to go buy Scott’s book, or visit his website at Scott McCloud.com then I’ll simply ask you to take it as read that comics are an old, powerful, and important artform, and move on.

Conservative comics. Again, we have two words that normally draw a blank from the average person when used together. Well, that’s not entirely true anymore. Liberality for All, naturally comes to mind. Here we have a comic book world where Gore won the 2000 election, and the USA went down the road of appeasement, leading to a liberal dystopia in the 2020s where Chelsea Clinton is president and Bin Ladin is a UN ambassador.

I naturally applaud the creators of LFA — the artwork is brilliant, and despite the improbable subject matter (right-wing talk show hosts turned superhero) the storytelling is actually quite good. This is a book that is being taken seriously in the industry, and that’s a good sign.

On the other hand, with LFA we’re at the same place we’re at with film — the sole comic book offerring out there coming from the neglected conservative perspective is about politics. I’m not so much worried about this in comics as I am in film, because in this case the politics form the hook of the series — that’s what’s getting them press attention and selling issues. I also think they missed a huge opportunity by making the main heroes conservative talk radio personalities. If they had instead inserted those characters into the background somewhere, they would have had a much more subtle structure that could have been taken much more seriously, and the peripheral presence of Sean Hannity and Ollie North would still have most likely netted them the appearances on those talk shows that have been such a boon to sales.

In any case, what ACCStudios is doing is phenomenal — whether they’re serious about it or not, which I’m still not at all sure they are. Unfortunately, that doesn’t change the fact that we’re in bad shape as far as comics are concerned. Let’s face it — comic books are slanted so far to the left it’s amazing that they don’t fall right off the shelves. Michael Medved and Michael Lackner cover it far better than I could in The Betrayal of Captain America, where they outline the Captain’s descent from the defender of America to the champion of moral equivalence.

Honestly, I don’t know how much of an inroad can be made into the mainstream titles — if there’s a chain link fence keeping conservatives out of Hollywood, then picture DC, Image, and Marvel on an island somewhere in shark-infested waters, surrounded by a twenty-foot high concrete wall topped with razor wire. (Granted, it’s not easy for anyone, but it’s doubly hard for conservatives, at least if they want their writing to reflect their own vision, rather than someone else’s.) Still, the talent is out there, and talent always eventually finds a way to break out.

A perfect example of that is how comics are exploding on the internet. Right now, it’s still in the early phases, relatively speaking, but it’s becoming a huge medium. And though it’s still predominantly liberal, we are seeing an unprecedented number of conservative voices out there, which I hope to discuss in my next installment which focuses exclusively on comics available on the web.

Posted in General | 2 Comments »

Border Patrol: Who’s The Boss?

Posted by jakejacobsen on May 9, 2006

***UPDATES BELOW***

Source: dailybulletin

While Minuteman civilian patrols are keeping an eye out for illegal border crossers, the U.S. Border Patrol is keeping an eye out for Minutemen — and telling the Mexican government where they are.

According to three documents on the Mexican Secretary of Foreign Relations Web site, the U.S. Border Patrol is to notify the Mexican government as to the location of Minutemen and other civilian border patrol groups when they participate in apprehending illegal immigrants — and if and when violence is used against border crossers.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman confirmed the notification process, describing it as a standard procedure meant to reassure the Mexican government that migrants’ rights are being observed.

Nothing like notifying the enemy, not that out illegal loving president would ever say that out loud.

Martinez said Mexico’s official perception of the civilian groups is that they are vigilantes, a belief the Border Patrol hoped to allay by entering into the cooperative agreement.

One of the documents on the Web site, “Actions of the Mexican Government in Relation to the Activities of Vigilante Groups,” states that Mexican consulate representatives stay in close contact with Border Patrol chiefs to ensure the safety of migrants trying to enter the U.S., those being detained and the actions of all “vigilantes” along the border.

“The Mexican consul in Presidio also contacted the chief of the Border Patrol in the Marfa Sector to solicit his cooperation in case they detect any activity of `vigilantes,’ and was told to immediately contact the consulate if there was,” according to the document.

The document also describes a meeting with San Diego Border Patrol sector chief Darryl Griffen.

“(Griffen) said that the Border Patrol will not permit any violence or any actions contrary to the law by the groups, and he is continuously aware of (the volunteer organizations’) operations,” according to the document. “Mr. Griffen reiterated to the undersecretary his promise to notify the General Consul right away when the vigilantes detain or participate in the detention of any undocumented Mexicans.”

Nice of our government agencies to work against effective citizen law enforcement.

TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union representing more than 10,000 Border Patrol agents, said agents have complained for years about the Mexican consulate’s influence over the agency.

“It worries me (that the Mexican government) seems to be unduly influencing our enforcement policies. That’s not a legitimate role for any foreign nation,” Bonner said, though he added, “It doesn’t surprise me.”

Border Patrol agents interviewed by the Daily Bulletin said they have been asked to report to sector headquarters the location of all civilian volunteer groups, but to not file the groups’ names in reports if they spot illegal immigrants.

“Last year an internal memo notified all agents not to give credit to Minuteman volunteers or others who call in sightings of illegal aliens,” said one agent, who spoke on the condition he not be identified. “We were told to list it as a citizen call and leave it at that. Many times, we were told not to go out to Minuteman calls.”

Can you sense the truculence here? Though our government refuses to do their constitutionally mandated job, how dare citizens make them look bad and call attention to that inconvenient fact?

We need a new government folks, clearly our current government feels no responsibility to the very people it was constituted to protect. The very people who put them in office to serve them.

How dare they put American citizens at risk to keep MEXICO happy, why do we care what Mexico thinks? Since when do we allow criminals to determine how they will be dealt with? Make no mistake, Mexico is the ultimate bad guy here, and our government is the accomplice to their criminal behavior.

So since our government has thrown in with criminals why would we expect them to do right by us? It’s really quite breathtaking when you stop and think about it, our elected officials have thrown over law abiding citizens in favor of criminals (drug cartels and illegal aliens) and a criminal enterprise masquerading as a government (Mexico, et al.). How can we expect them to uphold the law when they are so fundamentally compromised?

Answer, we can’t. We need a whole new government, this one has made clear where it’s loyalties lay and here’s a hint, it’s not with the American people. I think when a governement puts criminal aliens above the very citizens it is supposed to serve you can say that it has ceased to serve any positive function and needs to be swept away.

And just to add another layer to this crapcake think about this, this isn’t something you can fix by voting the bums out. For every politician in Washington there are scores of aides and career bureaucrats who actually operate the levers of government, how do you get rid of them, the entrenched, unseen hand that guide and shape policy.

This actually scares me, I wonder how much longer this country can exist if our duly elected government is willing to fight the people on whether or not to enforce the sovereignty of our borders.

I’ve said this before but I think it bears repeating. I no longer believe our government is capable of dealing with the problem of the illegal invasion sweeping through our country. It’s not a question of can’t, but won’t. They are so compromised by big business money and ethnic grievance groups as to be fundamentally unable to respond to this threat.

I wish I had a pat answer to this, I don’t. Something needs to change, and I guarantee something will change, what I can’t see is how this changes without violence.

H/T MasterGunner

***UPDATE***

This just in from the Minuteman Blog:

Sara Carter, a reporter with the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, reports today that she found documentation on Mexican government websites that show higher ups in the United States Border Patrol have been tipping off the corrupt Mexican government as to the locations of the Minutemen along the border.

This article does not report information told to the MCDC media offices that the Border Patrol chiefs have also been passing along intelligence reports to the government of Mexico on the activities of Minutemen not only at the borders, but in locations such as Utah, Nevada, Illinois, Massachusetts and Tennessee. Perhaps a follow-up story is coming tomorrow or an over zealous editor took the info out?

Part of a report distributed last August to the Mexican government from Border Patrol bureaucrats read over the phone to the MCDC media offices contained not only numbers (estimated chapter membership) of Minutemen in Illinois, but a statement on their activities and that they didn’t seem to know any politicians there, indicating that the Illinois Minutemen didn’t yet have any political clout.

That is not a report on the location of Minutemen at the border, but political intelligence from our government to a foreign nation about the activities of American citizens petitioning our own government for redress of grievances.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps media offices will contact the reporter to inquire about copies of the documents and the timing on a follow-up story with the reports to the Mexican government of activities of Minutemen in INTERIOR states, as if reports of our locations in the border states weren’t bad enough.

This just ups the ante in my opinion. Now our government is spying on it’s own people and providing that information willingly to a foreign power? You have got to be kidding me!

How dare they, how DARE THEY!! This is truly beyond the pale, out government is providing aid and comfort to what can only be charitably called an enemy. Let’s recall: Their troops cross our border with impunity, their generals are sent to the border regions to amass a healthy retirement in cartel bribes, Mexican consuls and consulates actively work to bring this country down, our border patrol agents face well armed drug smugglers aided by the Mexican military every day, and now we find evidence that our government isn’t merely incompetent, but is actively aiding it’s partner in crime.

I referenced above my belief that our government acts as an accomplice to Mexico’s lawbreaking, isn’t this incontrovertable proof of that?

What excuse could they muster that would comfort you when our government conducts surveillance on it’s law abiding citizens for the purpose of handing it off to foreign governments? In an alleged time of war no less.

I am horrified and sickened by this. I hope you are as well. Now let’s have a conversation on how we remove this corrupt and cowardly government root and branch and replace it with something that isn’t selling out it’s own citizens to the highest bidder. Something that represents Americans, not Mexicans and Mexico!

The Divine Miss M sez: If the ACLU weren’t so busy demonizing the Minutemen, you would think they might be on the side of law-abiding Americans being surveilled by their government. Where are the privocrats now?

H/T Michelle Malkin

Posted in Illegal Immigration | Leave a Comment »

Ayaan Hirsi Ali at Harvard U.

Posted by avigreen on May 9, 2006

It certainly was surprising, but, Harvard University has given Dutch politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali the time to speak out at a lecture at their campus (H/T: Hot Air, where you can view Michelle Malkin’s podcast).

And while we’re on the subject, back in Holland, where Ali usually lives, she’s been finding it increasingly difficult to do so: the Dutch government and authorities have been caving in to the Muslim extremists who’ve been taking over neighborhoods in Amsterdam, and do not seem to be making any serious attempts to arrest a lot of the hoodlums who’ve been terrorizing the citizenry. Yet they have no problem in giving Hirsi Ali herself an eviction notice.

Here’s also another video podcast with Hirsi Ali, and her latest book, The Caged Virgin, on Amazon.

Posted in Politics | Leave a Comment »

Melanie Phillips’ Londonistan

Posted by avigreen on May 9, 2006

Melanie Phillips, who’s a columnist for Britain’s Daily Mail, has just published her latest book, Londonistan, now reviewed at National Review Online. She’s also interviewed by Kathryn Lopez for NRO here (via Bookworm Room).

Cross-posted to Tel-Chai Nation.

Posted in Politics | Leave a Comment »

Root Canal Appreciation Day Mid-Week Open Trackback Post

Posted by therandomyak on May 9, 2006

Tomorrow, May 10, is official “Root Canal Appreciation Day”*

Now, I’m not sure I can honestly say I’ve ever “appreciated” a root canal, though I suppose I could appreciate the absence of pain which (eventually) results from having had one. Not sure that qualifies as appreciating the root canal itself, though.

That’s why I’m proposing a slight adjustment. Let’s celebrate tomorrow as “Glad I don’t have to have a root canal appreciation day.” A little longer, yes, and somewhat unwieldy, but where the dentist is involved I’ll sacrifice prose for avoidance any day.

I’m not sure what you’re all talking about out there today (haven’t done the morning reading yet) but I’m almost positive it has to be more interesting than a root canal (or at a minimum, less painful) so in the spirit of full observance I’m throwing this post open for trackbacks of all reasonable sorts.

Drill ’em if you got ’em (so to speak) and link ’em here between now and 8pm PST on Thursday night. Just remember, there are a couple of rules: no profanity, no obscenity, no naked photos – and nothing else likely to make Adam put me in time out when he gets back. I’ll be updating with links and summaries in the evenings, so don’t go dental on me if it takes a while for your link to make its way into the main body of the post.

And remember, check Linkfest Haven for all your linkfest needs.

Linking iN;

Random Yak:

Tube Sock update: the colony prepares for hibernation

*(For the confused: over at The Random Yak we love to talk about all the odd, wacky and downright bizarre observances – some might call them holidays – that take place during the year. I’m extending the tradition to Adam’s blog this week as well.)

Posted in Open Trackbacks | Leave a Comment »

THANK YOU! to the American Soldier

Posted by romeocat on May 9, 2006

Thank you to the men and women serving… Thank you, and God bless you!

(HT to the Beloved Husband)
(Crossposted to CatHouse Chat)

Posted in Iraq War | 1 Comment »

Taking Back the GOP

Posted by oatney on May 9, 2006

I have been asked by some folks what conservatives can do to take control of the Republican Party once again. The short answer is: Get involved, get REALLY involved.

Continue to do the things you are currently doing-be involved in the political campaigns of conservatives running on the local level in your area. Whatever you do, utilize the blog as a tool to get the truth out about issues. Many of you reading this blog already have blogs of your own. Use them to the advantage of the movement-and circulate your blog address among local party leaders. You’d be surprised at how effective this is-if you blog it, important people will read it-especially if they know your weblog address.

Use your blog as a springboard, then, to greater party involvement. Work or volunteer down at Party Headquarters. Run for Republican Central Committee and/or Executive Committee seats when they come open in your county or parish, or when you might be able to knock off a more liberal sitting Committee member. Above all, circulate your name in any way you can-let the Party know you are out there and you are ready to help, to lead, and to fight for the cause.

If we conservatives and Christians take a “bottom-up” approach to controlling the GOP, there is no reason to believe that we will not be able to one day nominate a real conservative for President.

Posted in Abortion, Future of Conservatism | Leave a Comment »