I.O.U.S.A.

The documentary I.O.U.S.A is currently available to stream on Netflix.  It's a nice overview of the problem with the size and rate of growth of the national debt.  It doesn't focus on how to fix the problem. Instead it mainly focuses on convincing people that there is a problem which is only getting bigger.

This film was produced in 2008, well before the election, so it does not contain any distracting attempts to fix the blame for the current budget debacle on Bush or Obama. Just understand that the numbers are nearly twice what they were then. It's almost quaint to watch people freak out over a "mere"  $8 trillion in debt.  I guess those debt clock guys had to buy a new clock, because the debt clock in this film only had space for 12 digits.

Even though it's only 3 years old, this film is a valuable primary source document on the rapidly changing politics of the debt. First, many people from both parties were concerned about the debt, even before the election of a black man.  Someone tell the New York Times.  Second, Paul Tsongas, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 1992, co-founded The Concord Coalition, a non-partisan fiscal responsibility group. In this film, he sounds like a Tea Partier.  Fiscally conservative Democrats are not the unicorns of the Washington, D.C. They really did exist.  Third, Republicans love them some deficit spending.  That's why there's a Tea Party.

Recommended

Commanding Heights

I just finished watching the first episode of Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World's Economy.  It's a really good, very general overview of battle between free markets and planned economies over the last century.  Highly recommended as a painless way to take in some economic theory.

Fun fact: Keynes and Hayek served as air wardens together in London during WWII.

Can't Hollywood Even Make A Decent Action Flick Anymore?

My long suffering husband will sit through the occasional chick-flick with me, but, lest I abuse his good nature, I'm always on the lookout for action/adventure movies that we can both enjoy. I was hoping that Mark Wahlberg's new film Shooter would work for us. Alas, according to Libertas, this film goes deep into moonbat territory and never finds its way out. The movie sounds like a nightmare, but, at least the review was entertaining.

Review: Sleeper Cell

We just finished watching the first season of Sleeper Cell last night. I thought it was excellent. I was concerned that most of the terrorists being white would stretch credibility to the breaking point, but it didn't. For me, it just added to the scariness. In fact, that is my problem with movies like Sum Of All Fears, where the screen writers replace scary Islamists with boring neo-Nazi's or even more boring Haliburton executives. They take away the scary for the sake of political correctness.

Also, the acting was great. The accents were amazing. Or maybe my standards were lowered by having just seen Lantana. Anthony LaPaglia's on again, off again Australian accent was just a distraction in an otherwise good movie.

My only complaint is that I cannot recommend this to my mother because of the graphic sex that shows up in almost every episode. It's actually more graphic than the violence, which, considering the topic, is strange.

Here Come The ABC's

If you have a preschooler, I highly recommend the DVD Here Come The ABC's by They Might Be Giants. I have a low tolerance for children's music, but this one is just the right amount of quirky. The more we listen to it, the more we like it.

Also popular with mom and dad: John Lithgow's Singin' in the Bathtub. Alas, we don't care for his new one.

Obsession

I attended a screening of Obsession:Radical Islam's War Against the West last night. I saw a brief note about it in the local paper, so I headed over. I was lucky to get in. The auditorium, which seats about 300, was packed. I was by myself, so I got to slip into the last empty seat. The paper made it sound like some local poly/sci professor was screening it for his class, but in fact, the event was sponsored by the Unity Coalition for Israel. Hence the large turn out.

Frank Gaffney also spoke. He mentioned that the producers were still trying to get a distribution deal which is why the movie hasn't been released on video and is still being screened in auditoriums and passed around Samizdat style. He thought they were close to a deal. I hope so. This movie deserves at least as large an audience as Fahrenheit 9/11 had. Hmmm. Think ABC will be willing to take on the Dems again?

The movie was excellent, although much of the information won't be news to LGF readers. It dealt effectively with separating Islamofascists from the general Muslim population both by having a disclaimer of the "most Muslims are peaceful" variety and including the comments of three anti-Islamist Muslims in the film.

There was plenty of discussion from Western analysts, such as Caroline Glick and Daniel Pipes, but by far the most compelling commentary came from the Islamists themselves. There were suicide-bomber inductions, goose stepping troops and music videos (?!) from Iranian TV featuring George W. Bush on screen while the singers chanted "Satan, Satan." But the really bone-chilling clips were the ones that didn't need translation. A British imam in London explains why it's fine to kill the unbeliever. British jihadis in Pakistan explaining, in perfect English, why they would be happy to kill British soldiers.

As a matter of fact, after the film, Gaffney took two separate questions on why we haven't nuked Iran yet. To paraphrase, he said "How much would it help to nuke Iran? The enemy is among us."