SSDD

Some Things Never Change

I don't spend a lot of time thinking about anti-conservative bias in the mainstream media. It is so entrenched and pervasive that complaining about it seems like a waste of time. One might as well complain about how bright the sun is. It is just a fact of life, and has been for as far back as I can remember.

Nonetheless, every so often there comes an example of it so egregious that I feel compelled to comment. The MSM coverage of the recent votes in the Senate over gun-control measures was predictably tilted toward the progressive argument, but what irks me is the double standard that subjects statements by progressive politicians to a much different (and lower) standard than statements by conservative politicians.

At the GOP presidential debate held at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California on September 16, candidate Carly Fiorina while speaking extemporaneously about the disturbing series of videos exposing Planned Parenthood's barbaric practices inadvertently mixed up a couple of minor details about the videos she had seen.



The mainstream media went ballistic, claiming she had "lied," and even suggesting
that the video she was talking about didn't even exist (it was and still is available on
the internet, of course).

None of that was true, or fair, obviously. But for the progressive voices in the mainstream media (but I repeat myself), truth and accuracy are less important than damaging an effective conservative voice. Their coverage certainly had that effect.

On the other hand, when progressive poster girl Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) claimed the Republicans in the Senate "have decided to sell weapons to ISIS," there was nary a murmur of protest from any mainstream media outlets.


This despite the fact that her outrageous accusation is false and the Republican position was eminently sensible. The MSM is totally fine with her suggestion that Republicans want to arm Islamic fanatics who behead Christians and crucify children.

Move along, folks, no media bias to see here...

"Take it easy. No need to get all worked up about something that won't change."

Venting is therapeutic, though...

Cruise Update

Today my best friend Skip and his wife Elaine spent the day in Gijón, a historic town situated on the scenic northern coast of Spain...

"It does look charming..."

Yes, indeed...and I'm looking forward to Skip's report about the wine-tastings...

Feast Day

Sir Thomas More, by Hans Holbein the Younger

June 22 is the Catholic feast day for  
St. Thomas More, one of the most important figures of Renaissance England. The Church of England celebrates him on July 6.

His opposition to the Protestant Reformation and to Henry VIII's attempts to subjugate the Catholic Church to his whims resulted in his martyrdom, a story familiar to many from the Academy Award-winning 1966 film A Man for All Seasons.

Beatified in 1886 by Pope Leo XIII and canonized in 1935 by Pope Pius XI, 
St. Thomas is the patron of lawyers, politicians, and statesmen. In these relatively dark times, a prayer to 
St. Thomas on behalf of our political leaders would not be misplaced.

St. Thomas was a philosopher as well as a theologian and statesman, and his novel Utopia not only coined a term still in common use today but contained important insights about the limits of politics in regulating human behavior.

"I really liked that great speech he gave in the movie."

Me too, old friend...and I wish the folks who will stop at nothing to defeat Hillary Clinton would listen to it repeatedly, until they understand...

Happy Birthday!

June 22, 1906 - March 27, 2002

On June 22, 1906 Samuel Wilder was born in Sucha, Poland. After making a move to Hollywood and adopting Billy Wilder as his professional name in 1933, he had some early success as a screenwriter.

He would go on to a distinguished career
as a director as well, with several Academy Award-nominated films to his credit. He won two Best Director Oscars and three Best Screenplay Oscars. In 1961 he became the first person to win producer, director, and screenwriter Oscars for the same film
(The Apartment).

In 1987 Wilder received the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one of only 39 people so honored since the award's creation in 1937.

The Obama Administration is [omitted]

From the pen of Henry Payne, whose editorial cartoons you should read often, as I do.

Until Next Time...

Billy Wilder directed some of the most famous motion pictures in Hollywood history, including Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, Witness for the Prosecution, Some Like It Hot, The Lost Weekend, and The Apartment. He won Best Director Academy Awards for those last two, and The Apartment was also voted Best Picture.

Original 1944 "one sheet" poster

My personal favorite Wilder film was 1944's Double Indemnity, for which Wilder shared the screenwriting duties with my hero Raymond Chandler.

The film, based on the novel by popular mystery writer James M. Cain, almost single-handedly invented the "film noir" genre of movies.

Although it got shut out at the Academy Awards after receiving seven nominations, Double Indemnity is one of the most highly-regarded and influential movies ever made. In 1992 it was selected for the National Film Registry curated by the Library of Congress, and the American Film Institute currently ranks it as No. 29 on its 100 Years...100 Movies list.


A big part of what makes the film so enjoyable for me is the score by Miklós Rózsa,
one of my favorite film composers. His work received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score, but did not win.

Today's send-off is a suite of themes and motifs from Rózsa's classic score. Enjoy...