Dipping some more from A BUCKET OF BLOOD

Earlier this afternoon here at the station we aired Roger Corman's 1959 movie A Bucket of Blood.

Well, I've got it playing off the Tivo right now... for the second time since it first ran today.

This movie has already gained a hideous hold on me. I can't believe I've never seen or heard about this before (especially since it stars Dick Miller). This is the kind of weird/funny that's sooo up my alley!

I might have to add A Bucket of Blood to my DVD collection sometime.

EDIT 10:33 PM EST: Watching it again. There's a 2-hour block of programming that we've been running on repeat since 7 tonight, and all I'm really doing is waiting to hear from any church cancellations that might happen 'cuz of the winter storm we're expected to get hit with later tonight. Those haven't come in yet... so once more, to kill time until the end of the shift, I've got A Bucket of Blood running again. Think the funniest part is where Dick Miller kills Bert Convy with the frying pan :-P

Read More

Playing right this minute on WGSR Star 39...

...is Roger Corman's 1959 classic A Bucket of Blood, which is something about death and Beatniks.

This should be running around midnight instead of the middle of Saturday afternoon, because this movie is coming courtesy of Cinema Insomnia "with your horror host Mr. Lobo". I'll forgive that though 'cuz this movie features Dick Miller: character actor extraordinaire! There's already been one pretty cool scene where Miller accidentally stabs his cat to death.

Anyway, looks like it's gonna be one of those nights here at the station...

Read More

A heavy example of pro-government press bias

A few days ago I wrote about Ed Brown, a New Hampshire man who is defying the federal government on the isuse of income taxes. A jury just found Brown guilty in absentia, and he's currently barricaded himself at his home. I wrote at the time that this probably won't end good for Ed Brown, because the government doesn't like independent-minded folks and it's stacked the deck against them by employing more than enough "ninja-suited" SWAT types: the sort that never learned to restrain the "id" thing within and consequently would love nothing more than to kill people.

Here's an updated story on Ed Brown published by the AP. I want you to read this very carefully, because I believe this is a startling example of how the mainstream press has become a mouthpiece for bigger government, instead of standing as a bulwark against it...

N.H. Tax Evader Prepares for Raid

Jan 19, 5:44 PM (ET)

By PHILIP ELLIOTT

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A former militia man convicted of tax evasion prepared for a government siege Friday at his fortress-like home, but U.S. marshals gave no indication they were planning to confront him.

Ed Brown said he was ready for a swarm of federal agents to descend on his property to execute an arrest warrant issued after he failed to appear for the end of his trial. He and his wife contend that they did not have to pay income taxes, and his supporters say a conflict could be violent.

"If Mexico came up on my land and tried to take my land, would I not fight?" Brown said. "The United States is the same exact thing as Mexico in this state."

Brown, 63, and his wife, Elaine, 65, were convicted Thursday of plotting to conceal their income and avoid paying federal income tax. They argued the tax is illegitimate and they are not required to pay it.

U.S. marshals said negotiations with Brown continue and they have no plans to attack Brown's Plainfield home or act quickly on the arrest warrant. He has been holed up in his home with armed supporters for much of the trial.

"He wants attention. We're determined to keep this very low-profile," U.S. Marshal Stephen Monier said.

Brown said he has a stock of food and supplies and that his home can run on wind and solar generators.

"It's all set up for me to stay here forever," Brown said by phone.

Elaine Brown, a dentist who earned most of the couple's income, was staying at her son's home in Worcester, Mass., pending the couple's sentencing in April. She said she had no plans to return to Plainfield, where she fears there will be a violent confrontation.

The Browns' case has found support on the Internet from militia members to libertarians and anti-tax groups.

Rick Stanley, a Denver-based Web radio host and a militia leader, urged listeners to join Brown at his home.

"We are continuing to ask patriots to surround Ed Brown's property and life with a ring of armed Americans with firearms and video cameras to protect a fellow American," he said. "This is the flash point. This is the time of raised pitchforks."

Take a look at the words that are selectively used in this story...

"A former militia man..."

"...at his fortress-like home..."

"They argued the tax is illegitimate and they are not required to pay it."

"He has been holed up in his home with armed supporters..."

"The Browns' case has found support on the Internet from militia members to libertarians and anti-tax groups."

And from the earlier story...

"Ed Brown denounced the government and noted a handgun tucked in the front of his pants."

"The Browns haven't paid federal income taxes since 1996 because they don't think the law requires them to pay. They argue there is no law requiring individual income taxes."

"The large home has a circular tower affording a 360-degree view of the property, which sits off a rural road. Brown said the home's walls are made from 8-inch concrete and if marshals cut his power lines, he can run his home from generators, solar and wind power."

" In a tirade against the government, the media and global warming..."

" During the past few decades, Brown has claimed membership in several anti-government and militia groups..."

There's all the right buzzwords that Those With Power want for people to associate with this guy: "militia", "fortress-like home", "handgun", "holed up", "tirade"...

Ed Brown has been tried and found guilty in the court of the press. Exactly as the media's masters want him to be. I don't agree with everything this man is saying or believes in, but I also don't believe that he ever had a fair chance going into this. The Powers That Be have determined that he is that kind of American that cannot be tolerated: an independent thinker. Because if he is free to think on his own, there may be more. And so an example has to be made of Ed Brown.

So The Powers That Be call in their attack dogs in the Associated Press and other big media outlets. They're told to paint Ed Brown as a kook, to make it impossible for the average American to think of Ed Brown in any terms other than "nutcase". That makes it all the easier to take him down without Ed Brown engendering much sympathy. An example is going to be made of Ed Brown... and as I said in my earlier post, the vast majority of Americans will watch with indifference and be glad that it isn't them who is being targeted before going on to watch more TV or get drunk or get laid or whatever.

I hate what has become of this country.

I hate what has become of us.

In a sane world, a sorry lot of politicians and their willing enablers would have been shoved up against the wall already.

I hate feeling torn between the need to be Christ-like in spite of everything, and the carnal desire to see something bad happen to these people. Because Lord only knows they don't have remorse for how they've been raping us without lube for all these years.

Is anyone else getting mad yet?

Okay, well what are we going to do about it?

Read More

Yet more reason why America is practically finished

Hillary Clinton says she's definitely running for President.

real tragedy of what the American political process has turned into is that inane, shallow people like Hillar Clinton, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, John Edwards, John McCain, and more others than I care to name will be pimped as serious contenders by their parties and the press, while the really interesting candidates with some measure of principles - like Tom Tancredo and Ron Paul - will never get a fair shake.

Face up to it if you haven't already: our "leaders" are picked for us. We don't pick them. The party bigwigs and their suck-up shills in the media determine who it is that the American people will think about - and how they will think about them - for elected office.

Until we tell "them" to "go to Hell", we'll never be a free country.

Nobody who desperately wants to be President, deserves to be President.

And anyone who would even consider voting for a Clinton or a Bush anymore should be dragged out into the street and shot.

Read More

Stuff I noticed while watching DEAD MAN'S CHEST tonight

Yeah, up at a late hour: working on something that I'll probably be talking more about soon on this blog.

I haven't really admitted it here as much as I really should, but I will now: the Pirates of the Caribbean movies have become one of my most favorite film series ever. I love, love, love everything about them. Well, earlier this evening Lisa and I put in the DVD of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest that I gave her for Christmas (here's my review of it from when it first came out last summer). A few days ago we watched the first movie The Curse of the Black Pearl so we'd be freshened-up on everything about Captain Jack Sparrow, Will, Elizabeth and all the rest.

So I'm watching Dead Man's Chest for the second time and this go-around I noticed some things...

- What did Sparrow give Tia Dalma in exchange for the compass? Well, why are all of Tia Dalma's people standing with lit candles in honor of Sparrow's memory toward the end of the movie? A theory suggests itself: it's been stated somewhere that Sparrow used to work for the East India Trading Company but was kicked out... because he refused to transport slaves from Africa. I'm thinking that Tia Dalma and all those others were intended to be the slaves that Sparrow would not send into bondage. He gave them their freedom... and Tia Dalma gave him the compass in gratitude. That's just a theory though.

- When Sparrow and the others first visit Tia Dalma, he gives her Jack the monkey. I totally missed this when I saw the movie in the theaters, but when Tia Dalma releases the monkey from its cage, it runs into the adjoining room where there's a bed... and someone lying atop it. All we see of this person is his boots. Who could it be and why would Jack the monkey run to it? The very last shot before the credits roll answers that question.

- Davy Jones has a musical locket he keeps atop his hideous pipe organ. A locket shaped like a heart. It is said that whoever has Davy Jones's heart - the one he ripped out of his own chest and hid on Isla Cruces - controls Jones and thus controls the world's oceans. But what if that's not the real heart that the legend speaks of... but it's his locket instead?

- Speaking of lockets, I thought I saw one that looked a lot like Jones's in Tia Dalma's place (is this woman more important to the story than we yet really know?).

- When they meet in Tortuga, Norrington tells Gibbs that his life is just like Gibbs, just "one chapter behind". Maybe that's how Gibbs went from being in the royal navy at the beginning of The Curse of the Black Pearl to being a pirate: did he get thrown out of the navy too?

I'm probably going to watch Dead Man's Chest at least a half-dozen more times between now and May, when the next chapter At World's End comes out, so this list may wind up growing some (or a lot). And when At World's End does come out... what y'all think: should I go to the theater dressed as a pirate? :-)

Read More

More signs that America is in trouble

No, not in "trouble". "Trouble" is a factor working to the detriment of a situation. This situation is so far gone screwy that I wonder if it's possible to get any more detrimental.

Yesterday I made a post about a few things that, to me anyway, indicate that America as an idea is probably beyond hope. More than a few times since then, I've wondered if I was being perhaps too harsh (and no doubt used too much harsh language) in my assessment.

Tonight, sadly, I must report that I was probably not harsh enough.

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to consider the appeal in a case that gives the legal right for developers to extort landowners for their property via the high court's abhorrent decision in Kelo.

And then, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says that "There is no express grant of habeas in the Constitution."

From Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution of the United States of America:

"The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it."

There has been no invasion. And neither, for that matter, has there been any rebellion...

...but at the rate Gonzales and the rest of The Most Corrupt Administration in American History are going, there sure as Hell should be one.

Read More

A sure-fire way to tell if it's going to snow

As I mentioned yesterday morning, we had the first winter storm of the season yesterday. The snow was just starting to come down at a good clip by the time I arrived at the station at 6:40 a.m. The rest of the day I watched it keep falling, then turn to sleet and rain. It wasn't much of a storm at all but it did prompt most of the schools around here to close early, so that gave us something to do all day, what with posting cancellations and all.

Even if it was a pretty minor storm, it did still snow. Which once again validates something that I heard years ago and thought it sounded rather silly at the time, but I've watched this happen so many times since then that I'm starting to wonder if it's a law of nature.

One night in the winter of 1993, when I was 18 years old, we heard some thunder at our house. Dad, sitting in his recliner, said that thunder in wintertime means it's going to snow 10 days from now. I was like "yeah right" especially 'cuz in 1993, our part of the country hadn't seen a real snow in three years: some younger children had never even remembered what snow is supposed to be.

Well, lo and behold, exactly ten days after it thundered, "the Storm of the Century" hit. That it started precisely ten days after we heard the thunder was something I thought of a lot during the next few days as we were trapped inside the house.

And ever since then, whenever I have heard thunder during the winter months, it has snowed almost precisely ten days (a couple of times nine days) later. The same thing happened in December of 1996: I was driving around Elon College with a friend and we heard thunder. "Geoff", I told him, "it's going to snow ten days from now." Geoff had never heard of that before either. But it snowed ten days later exactly and he went around saying "hey Chris said it was going to snow and..." A few years ago during our first winter since getting married, Lisa and I heard thunder one night in early December. Yup, ten days later we got an early snow. I don't think we heard anymore thunder during that winter but it sure snowed plenty enough.

Well, Monday night of last week we heard thunder here in Reidsville. Sure enough, ten days later we get the first snow of the season.

So now you know how to know for certain if/when it is going to snow. If you hear thunder sometime during the winter, it will snow ten days later. You can practically wager money on it. It works here in north-central North Carolina anyway. There may be some regional variation... but give or take a few days and it's something that will probably work where you live, too.

Read More

Art Buchwald has passed away

Darn. He was definitely an original. The local paper used to carry his column several years ago and there's no telling how many mornings I'd be cracking up laughing reading his stuff during homeroom in high school.

Here's one of the many stories about the man that came out today. Among his final wishes, Buchwald wanted his funeral to be "there, on the island, where I'd have a Blue Angel navy plane fly over the site. I would be cremated and my ashes would be dropped all over every cocktail party on Martha's Vineyard."

Last but not least, here is his final column, to be published after his death.

Read More

I'll go ahead and say it: America is dead

A New Hampshire man has barricaded himself inside his house while being tried in absentia on federal tax evasion charges. Ed Brown says he wants the federal government to show him where it states in law that he must pay something outside of his state and local taxes.

This is something that a lot of "tax resistors" have asked over the years. Funny thing is, nobody in the federal government has ever come forward to show where paying taxes to the feds actually is required by law.

Call me a kook for stating that, but that's a fact. Whenever a petition of grievance has been presented to the IRS or some other department of the federal government, that petition has been rebuffed without fail. On this, the feds do not answer to the little people.

You know what's going to happen to Ed Brown? He's going to be found guilty, without the jury even being told what precise law it is he is breaking. The law enforcement officers surrounding his house will get an order to "go in and get him". If he's lucky, Ed Brown will be arrested and his wife won't become a widow. That's if he's lucky. Because the "law enforcement" surrounding his house is probably made up of the ninja-suited "rack 'em and stack 'em" thugs that have a carnal desire to unload some lead into some poor shlub. They will probably go in and kill Ed Brown. And just about everyone else in this country is going to look at Ed Brown and nod their heads and quietly acquiesce to the government and just won't give a damn that one of their own got murdered for nothing more than daring to question the power of this God-damned government.

Yes, I said "God-damned"... and if I ever use that particular phrase, you better know that I'm serious, because I literally mean that this government is God-damned.

Want more? How about this: two Border Patrol agents yesterday started serving prison terms that will last more than a decade. Their "crime": shooting at a Mexican drug lord who had crossed the border into the United States. They shot and wounded the drug kingpin. The Bush Administration then had the illegal Mexican drug lord testify in court against the two Border Patrol agents and they were found guilty. Thousands of pleas for pardons have poured into the White House. Legislators have called on Bush to do the right thing. But the most evil, conceited, inept man to ever occupy the Oval Office has Decided that the two agents will stay in prison.

The President of the United States, who has sworn an oath to defend this country, including its borders, sends two of his own citizens to prison for doing the job that he refuses to do. And defends a criminal who wasn't supposed to be in this country anyway. All the while letting millions of illegals cross the border.

Once again, I defy anyone to defend, in any way shape or form, this damaged little man in the White House.

Somebody tell me: could God honestly bless this country, given how far we've fallen?

Is it at all possible for us to turn off the American Idol and put down the Xbox controller and stop drinking the beer and finally give a damn enough to tell Those In Power that "to this point and no further"?

When a government's sole preoccupation becomes the perpetuation by force of more government, then that government has lost all authority and the people under it are no longer morally beholden to it at all.

What do we owe the American government?

I'm not asking "what do we owe America?". I'm asking "what do we owe the American government?"

Why the hell should we do what "they" tell us to do?

Oh yeah, because they have guns and they aren't afraid to kill you. They will kill you if you don't do what They tell you to do.

There comes a point where disobedience to man is utmost obedience to God.

We fall prostrate all too readily before a god of money and metal and mindless pageantry. And we give nothing to the God of Heaven.

I know some Christians who actually think it's their moral duty to vote straight-ticket Republican.

As their brother in Christ, I can only say: "What fools they are!"

This country has been sold out by a gang of total bastards. And damn us for letting them get away with it.

Yeah, I'm more than a little bitter about some things...

So how does knowing all this make you feel?

And what are we going to do about it?

Read More

Winter weather finally arrives

Fox 8 WGHP is showing live footage of snow starting to fall here. We're supposed to get snow, sleet and freezing rain starting this morning and into this afternoon. The schools will probably be closing early today.

Now that we have the weather for it, it's time to come inside, throw some wood on the fire, snuggle up next to the one you love, and watch a timeless winter classic on the DVD player...

(Yes, I'm eeeee-vil :-P )

Read More

Happy Birthday to the Greatest

Cassius Clay - better known to the world as Muhammad Ali, is 65 years old today.

"Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee!"

Read More

AMERICAN IDOL Season 6 tonight

At this point I'm not even going to try to avoid it. For the past few years I've said that I wouldn't watch American Idol again, only to take a curious peek at the vocal train wrecks in the first round of auditions and then getting sucked in for the rest of the season's run. But at least last year we got some real class with winner Taylor Hicks.

So I'm already saying that I'll be watching the two-hour season premiere tonight at 8. Which I'll admit it is pretty fun to listen to the bad ones then call up my parents to hear them laugh about them too.

Read More

Do we REALLY need a Martin Luther King holiday?

EDIT 6:01 AM 1-18-2007: I've decided to take this video down. Have been watching it a few times and... well, the delivery could be a lot better. I still have a lot of beliefs about this, and why this holiday is really doing more harm than good.

There's one thing that came from making this video that I'm glad of, that I didn't realize until now: that some people in our society really are keeping the younger generations from finding its own leaders... and we direly need those.

But I'm going to withdraw this one for now. There's a better way to deliver this same message, I just know it. But until I know what that should be, this one is going to go back to my hard drive.

Read More

Ouch!

Saddam Hussein's half-brother was decapitated during his execution by hanging.

The guards in charge of the execution used rope that was too long, was the problem. There's actually a mathematical formula that executioners are supposed to follow that takes in the condemned person's weight, height etc. and from that it spits out how long the rope should be. Too short and the guy dangles there and slowly suffocates. Too much rope and it takes the poor sap's head clean off. Ideally, the drop is abrupt enough to violently break the condemned's neck so as to bring about unconsciousness as quickly as possible.

There are some things you learn in history class that you can't "unlearn", if you know what I mean...

Read More

"Mass hysteria!": Net going nuts over alleged GHOSTBUSTERS game

In the past few hours Ain't It Cool News and quite a lot of other web outlets have passed on word about this... thing, that may or may not be a new Ghostbusters video game. Below are several videos credited to a company called ZootFly, that show the alleged game in action. It could be a fake though: some are saying that the below videos look somewhat like Gears of War for the Xbox 360. If this is something fan-made, an awful lot of effort must have gone into making this. It could also be a conceptual thing to sell the idea of a Ghostbusters game. But based on early reaction I'm seeing in a lot of places, this is something that many people are wanting to see happen.

Here's a piece of concept art that's making the rounds on the 'net right now:

And here's one of the videos (you can watch some more at the Ain't It Cool News link):

If this Ghostbusters thing is a real honest-to-goodness game coming out for the Xbox 360, that and Halo 3 alone would be enough to make me want to go out and buy the system (but I'll still wait to see if the "upgraded" Xbox 360 with HDMI port and 60 gig hard-drive materializes). I'm especially digging that this game - if it's a real game - is updating Ghostbusters to be gritty and hard-edged for the 21st century like this artwork is indicating.

Well, let's keep our fingers crossed (but don't cross the proton streams!) and maybe we'll see this. In the meantime if you've got an older game system or emulator software, you can always try to track down the Ghostbusters video game by Activision that came out twenty years ago. Even on the Atari 2600, it was a classic.

Read More

Robert Heinlein, Dick Cheney and the concept of sacrifice

Ever since I read Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers six years ago, I've thought that there was a lot of sense about the concept of government in that book. The movie version touches on it a little bit, but you really have to read the novel to fully appreciate the beauty of it. Heinlein posited in Starship Troopers that the responsibilities that come with governing and even the simple matter of voting belong only to those who have demonstrated that they are willing to serve and sacrifice for the greater good. Thus, only those who have served a minimum of two years in the military are allowed to vote and hold public office. As a result, the decision to engage in war is decided upon solely by those who fully understand the full risks and consequences of sending young men and women into battle.

Which brings us to the matter of Vice President Dick Cheney, who said this today...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President
Dick Cheney said on Sunday the United States must show it has the "stomach" to win in
Iraq or it will confirm al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's view that Americans can be pressured to leave.

U.S. allies helping in fighting terrorism -- Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and Egypt -- must have confidence that the United States will stay until a successful outcome, he said.

"If the United States doesn't have the stomach to finish the task in Iraq, we put at risk what we've done in all of those other locations," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

A man who received FIVE deferments from draft service during the Vietnam conflict, telling America that it's obliged to have "the stomach" to keep sending its sons and daughters into a war with no clearly defined goal.

Dick Cheney does not understand sacrifice. Those are not his children that he's sending to fight in his war. Had he actually served in the military, he would perhaps have some moral basis on which to stand... but he doesn't even have that.

How the hell does Dick Cheney get off telling Americans that they must possess "the stomach" when he's always lacked it to begin with?

This war is being perpetuated upon us by a bunch of old men who never had the will to fight for themselves, but also have no qualms about sending young men off to die for their own selfish purpose.

Well, somebody has to say it...

Read More

About 24: It. Is. A. TV. Show.

Here's what Drudge Report is flashing as breaking news tonight...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JAN 14, 2007 18:17:05 ET XXXXX

IS FOX SET TO BLOW THE NUKES ON '24'?
Sun Jan 14 2007 18:14:34 ET

As Washington continues to raise concerns about terror threats on The Homeland -- a recent CIA report outlined a scenerio of possible "series of explosions using 'low charge' nuclear weapons" -- Hollywood and FOX-TV are set to up the ante with the new season of 24!

Few outside of the 24 set know the exact details of the new season unfolding, but studio sources claim producers are pushing hard to take it radioactive this time -- and keep it there.

"Time to wake the country up!" a top FOX source told the DRUDGE REPORT over the weekend. "I do not think there has ever been TV done like this, the viewer is going to be completely riveted."

The source claims executives are prepared for any fallout from local municipalities that may be on the receiving end of plot turns and twists. How many cities 24 puts on 'nuke alert' is unclear.

FOX has set a highly-controversial espisode of 24 to air Monday night, opposite NBC's GOLDEN GLOBES.

In 2002, White House officials questioned the timing and release of PARAMOUNT's action movie SUM OF ALL FEARS -- a movie which depicts a nuclear bomb unleashed on an American sporting event!

One senior Bush official, who spoke to the DRUDGE REPORT at the time, claimed the movie crossed over the line of civic responsibility and commerce.

Developing...

Good grief... it really has come to this point, hasn't it?

I mean, the line now between real-life and fictional entertainment has become so blurred, that the possible use of nuclear weapons on an hour-long TV drama rates as serious breaking news. Worse, the producers are said to be "prepared" for the outcry from the cities they plan to wipe out. On the show. Not in the real world. Just on teevee. Which is fake...

And to think that some people thought that the whole "Who Shot J.R.?" thing was too much.

I tried to get into 24. Honest. I missed the first season except for the finale where Kiefer Sutherland shot Dennis Hopper about 5,348 times in the space of six seconds with that gun and thought that maybe I should give it a try the next season. That came along and I watched for about three episodes before it lost my interest. That's not to say 24 is a bad show, just that it's formula never caught hold with me. I've always thought that Kiefer Sutherland is a great actor, too (my favorite performance of his is probably in Flatliners). Maybe I'm missing something by not "getting" 24 and this really is supposed to be a big deal. But for what might happen on the new season of 24 to rate as serious news over everything else that's going on in this world... well, that says something about where our sense of priorities are, in my humble opinion.

But if anyone is willing to write me and tell me personally that I should give 24 another go and that this is something I could definitely dig, I might be willing to check it out again.

Read More