Charles Murray, Derb, and Steve Sailer write a great deal about the importance and heritability of IQ, but I am somewhat baffled by their ruminations as to the value of a high IQ.

For example, Al Gore tested twice in high school with an IQ of 133 and 134. C. Murray guesses that George W. Bush is around 120, and mentions in his WSJ article “But if "intellectually gifted" is defined to mean people who can stand out in almost any profession short of theoretical physics, then research about IQ and job performance indicates that an IQ of at least 120 is usually needed. That number demarcates the top 10% of the IQ distribution, or about 15 million people in today's labor force--a lot of people.”

But does anyone at this point actually believe that George Bush or Al Gore is a “smart” man and intellectually gifted? Al Gore is an idiotic moron and Bush, is, well, a rather hapless fool in so many respects.

I’ve met a lot of smart people in my life, but I’ve encountered very few that I thought were wise and full of understanding. Truth eludes the smartest people nearly all the time as far as I can see. In fact, being high IQ smart nearly guarantees that a person will fail to see the truth because it is much too simple for those who pride themselves on their complexity and cleverness. (See Jesus and his advice to be as a child to see the truth.)

I rented and watched Idiocracy last night. This movie was barely released by Fox last year and quickly shelved. Derb and Steve Sailer have wondered why Fox buried this movie.

I think I know why now. Idiocracy is a movie funnier in concept than execution but none the less it would have probably made between 20 - 40 million in wide release. It was released not long after Katrina when the the impact of America and the world seeing the behavior of an underclass of low intelligence people looking helpless, stupid, and vicious was fresh in everyone's mind; and Idiocracy does a good job of illustrating a world of really stupid, ignorant, and vicious people for laughs.

The movie embarrassed Fox and didn't want Murdoch associated with it. He gets enough grief as it is from the Left. Idicoracy makes it look like Fox was making sport of Katrina "victims", (and it surely does once we've seen how many poor, benighted souls were exposed by the events of Katrina, and such a hapless, charmless class of folks in action).

The movie mocks stupid knuckle draggers and at the time of release, that hit too close to home for Fox which disowned it.

BTW, there was a very large section for the movie at Blockbuster as if they anticipated a big demand for the film.

Southern smile. Used by male or female but mostly female. Lips closed, the corners of mouth slightly upturned to indicate a smile, but meant to indicate that the one speaking is merely being humored or endured out of politeness. Often accompanied by the ejaculation after the humored one has finished their statement or tale, “well, bless your heart.” A term of dismissal in this case or sincere affection in another case.

Arms folded across the chest. Usually by males accompanied with a tilt of the head to the right and a steely eyed look. Indicates - Show me. Who the hell do you think you are? I’m totally skeptical of everything you say. Not interested in your BS.

Eyes glazed over. Face indicates that one is paying attention to another speaker, but the eyes become vacant by refusing to blink and thus they glaze over. The eyes slightly widen to cause this affect.

False frown. Listener is told a tale of woe or is being instructed by superior. He frowns to indicate sympathy or intent of listening when he couldn’t care less about what he’s being told. Often accompanied by small nods to indicate assurance that he is carefully paying attention.

Non-recognition followed by big, plastic smile. Pretending not to see an acquaintance and then feigning surprise if they make themselves known to you. You effect a quick excuse to move on. Both parties most likely understand that neither wished to really speak to the other, but the other party simply refused to be ignored and thus had to make themselves known.

I scored 36 on this test of 25 questions as to where my politics stands from 1-40 points.  Reagan equals 40, so I'm further to the right of Attilla the Hun, I guess. (Reagan being the ultimate knuckle dragger.)

This was my first full year as a critic screening 10 or more movies a month. You learn a few things from having to see so many moving pictures. One, it’s discouraging to see so many bad and mediocre movies. When they say they don’t make ‘em like they used to, they’re right. If you look at a list of all the movies made in 1939 in Hollywood, a quarter to a third are good to excellent films. Today, you’re lucky if five percent released are any good.

Two, it’s also true that critics get jaded and look for movies that are bizarre and depraved to excite them. My fellow critics often fell into that trap, I noticed. What I yearned for, instead, were movies that celebrated and illustrated goodness, truth, and beauty in brilliant ways. Those are few and far between, but sometimes a film with only a slight hint of divine qualities won my approval.

Three, the more awful movies you see, the less interested you are in screening any movie of the same ilk. Sometimes I saw movies that I should have passed on because the PR said it was something it was not. But I’m getting better at skipping films I know I’ll hate, like Borat, and don’t feel as compelled to report on them as warnings to others.

People have a pretty good idea what to expect from certain genres. I don’t do slasher flicks. I just won’t. I won’t. I don’t like hard “R” movies but one can get fooled, and thus I saw Running Scared which was extremely disgusting.

I go to some movies in dread or with low expectations and am pleasantly surprised on occasion. Miss Potter, Talledega Nights, Rocky Balboa were all nice surprises. Stranger than Fiction, too.

Some movies are extremely disappointing in that you can’t understand why some would want to trash worthy beliefs, people, or a nation. Flags of our Fathers gets World War Two and America wrong, badly wrong; and it is hard to believe that Eastwood would be that obtuse and dumb. The Departed is a nihilistic piece of garbage from Scorsese and you wonder if these men have any real sense. It’s one thing for adolescent morons like Bryan Singer to blow Superman Returns, but the older directors ought to know something about life and being by now, you would think.

The most overlooked movie of the year was The World’s Fastest Indian. Anthony Hopkins was brilliant in it, the story is picaresque and delightful celebrating an eccentric mechanical tinkerer and the American West. The audience I saw it with adored this film and yet it went nowhere. Word of mouth which has propelled a number of enjoyable movies such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding did nothing for this.

I was disappointed that the film didn’t do as well as it should, and I hope it will be rescued from obscurity someday. If positive movies like this, made by adults for adults fail time and again, we will see far fewer of them (as if they aren’t few and far between now). In today’s climate, I wonder if a Forrest Gump would come close to doing as well. I sincerely doubt it would.

For example, look at all the films that have Photoshopped themselves into monochromatic, de-saturated grittiness with emphasis on metallic tints of blue, green, dark gray, or sulfur yellow. This year we saw The Nativity Story, Children of Men, Flags of our Fathers, Eragon, and The Fountain. But that doesn’t begin to cover the number of movies with overall somber tones and dark textures. There are no great Technicolor movies with gorgeous, bright colors apart from a number of Chinese films with their flying silk banners and shimmering costumes.

We see this on TV shows also with dimly lit and colorless dramas becoming the norm. This is not an accident although there is no conspiracy. A stylistic mood, a fashion of dullness, dimness, of the ugly, gritty, and dirty has overtaken us. The colors of the sewer have erupted and coated the world in so much of our entertainment from films to video games.

The writers, directors, actors and producers in Hollywood have lost their confidence in life and America. Movies like Flags of our Fathers, The Departed, The Good Shepherd, and Children of Men demonstrate a sick cynicism and nihilism which seems to grow stronger with every passing year of the new century.

What is wrong with these people’s lives that they have to try and depress the nation and world with their miserable self-pity and adolescent angst? The answer is obvious, really. They are lost people who either gave up searching, or never even tried looking for good answers to life’s hard problems. How utterly joyless Hollywood has become. Even the humor is that of idiots and losers -- the comedic men are all immature boys and the jokes are all bathroom and perverted sex humor. It is as if the Three Stooges crossed with Hustler were the model for comedy now.

A number of movies got on my Worst list not because they were so poorly made but because they were well crafted but told the worst story such as The Departed, as meaningless a movie as you will ever see. It has nothing to say, but it says nothing very well. Most critics, even conservative and Christian ones, classify such a movie as good to excellent based on the quality of cinematic elements even though they admit that the story adds up to nothing and teaches despair, submission to banality and evil.

It is usually your freshman student in creative writing who decides to kill all their characters in their first stories, thinking it profound, and a nice way to wipe the board clean and illustrate that everyone ends up on the scrapheap anyway, so what does anything matter. Yet here we have the elderly Scorsese making useless dramas that tell us nothing about the way we live now, nor how we can live if we had half a heart.

I don’t see why we should grant an ounce of praise to someone who misuses their skills in art. Should we praise the marksmanship of Lee Harvey Oswald? Why the heck not? His shooting skills on that day were extraordinary. How about a movie extolling Hitler’s evil genius? Such a brilliant mind. What a shame he came to such a bad end. But he was somethin’ while he lasted, though, wasn’t he?

Well, that’s what so many of our movies are like today by our supposedly serious and great directors; travesties like Spielberg’s Munich last year, and Eastwood’s two films this year.

Yet, M. Night Shyamalan’s, Lady in the Water, a beautiful fairy tale that works for both children and adults got trashed while Pan’s Labyrinth, as foul and vicious as a film can be masquerading as a fractured fairy tale, was praised to the skies.

We have a very sick elite operating at large calling evil good. Fortunately, most of these movies attract a small audience, but the general effects are pernicious and seep into the culture regardless of their success. The success is that such movies get made and more of them every year.

With no further adieu, I give you:

The Worst Ten Movies

1.  The Wicker Man
2.  The Good Shepherd
3.  The Da Vinci Code
4.  The Fountain
5.  V for Vendetta
6.   All the King’s Men
7.   Superman Returns
8.   The Departed
9.   Pan’s Labyrinth
10. Fast Food Nation

The Best Ten Movies

1.   Thank You For Smoking
2.   United 93
3.   Lady in the Water
4.   The World’s Fastest Indian
5.   Night Watch
6.   The Last King of Scotland
7.   Over The Hedge
8.   Rocky Balboa
9.   Miss Potter
10. Talladega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Honorable Mentions

1.   Apocalypto
2.   Casino Royale
3.   Stranger Than Fiction
4.  The Devil Wears Prada
5.  The End of the Spear
6.  The Break-Up
7.   Volver
8.   Running with Scissors
9.   The Nativity Story
10. Gridiron Gang

Bad Children’s Movies

Monster House
Hoot
How to Eat Fried Worms
Flushed Away
The Ant Bully
Happy Feet
Everyone’s Hero
Flicka

Bad Indy Arty Films

The Notorious Bettie Page
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan’s Labyrinth
Fast Food Nation
Bobby
Ask The Dust

Bad Comic Book Movies

Superman Returns
V for Vendetta
Dead Man’s Chest - Pirates of the Caribbean 2
X-Men - The Last Stand

Terrible Comedies

American Dreamz
Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny
Nacho Libre
School for Scoundrels
My Super Ex-Girlfriend

Lousy Drama Films

Flags of our Fathers
The Departed
The Good Shepherd
All the King’s Men
Freedomland
The Da Vinci Code

Terrible Crime Action Flicks

Running Scared
Lucky Number Slevin
Miami Vice

Misc.

World Trade Center
The Fountain
Children of Men
The Wicker Man
Step Up
Crossover
Idlewild

I guess when lawmakers ban smoking in casinos they feel good about protecting people from vice.

How about banning alcohol when men visit prostitutes in Nevada? Or preventing people from smoking marijuana while shooting up their heroin in Vancouver's needle parks?

There is no nonsense so gross that society will not, at some time, make a doctrine of it and defend it with every weapon of communal stupidity.

Robertson Davies

The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.

Herbert Spencer (1820 - 1903)

This photo by a neighbor, James Thorall, captures one of our Black Crested Night Herons which have taken to roosting in great numbers a few years ago in our trees.

They are called Night Herons because they fight and squawk all night long. They make an incredible mess. They deserve death, but the story of my neighborhood and our fight against these creatures is a novella in itself.

A debate on man made global warming is playing out in England between Gore and Christopher Monckton (I won't say Lord. I just won't.)

Gore is handed his head, needless to say. He's like the Monty Python character in the Holy Grail who has all his limbs lopped off but can't recognize he's lost the match.

I am under the impression that Hugh believes in man made global warming, but I am not sure how to discuss this with him or towards him since I am uncertain as to upon what linchpins swings his belief. If it is CO2 levels primarily that have convinced him, that can be addressed or any other particular conviction of perceived fact.

It is difficult for Hugh, though, not to recognize just how political Science has become (and has always been), and effective at mobilizing the MSM; especially if the thrust is anti-American and millenarian these days.

Thousands of scientists in Europe (especially) insist the US is to blame and ought to follow the Kyoto Protocols (which their countries will never actually enforce on themselves) not to benefit the world, but to try and destroy the US economy which shames them all and would reduce American power in the world.

Nor do I know if Hugh is worried about the world and alarmed that climate is changing, or if he thinks we can or should do anything about it (but the fault may be mine in not paying attention to or missing previous missives from Hugh on the subject).

The promotion of scientific theories, particularly “catastrophic” ones, get a lot of good press, win lots of awards, grants, university chairs, notoriety, and celebrity. Whereas social theories and books about slippery slopes, cultural and moral decline nearly always fail to alarm the general public and politicians.

It is when social problems are recast as scientific ones that they are taken more seriously. The eugenics movement of the 1920’s took situations regarding race, Mongolian idiots, the deformed and such and insisted that these things should be dealt with scientific dispassion. We know the results.

We are now in the second wave of a eugenics movement with the changes wrought by reliable methods of birth control, abortion, genetic screening and engineering, in vitro fertilization, euthanasia of adults and infants.

The global warming project is another example of pseudo intellectuals hoping to acquire power to re-engineer societies according to their tastes and preferences. Cars are bad, especially SUVs. Get rid of them, make everybody walk, bike, or take mass transit. Cow poop and flatulence is bad. Make everyone a vegan. And on and on it goes and grows, the totalitarian impulse of little tin, atheistic gods and their heaven on earth schemes for the sake of our own good.

The global warming movement is simply another tack of an elite and its will to power. There is nothing anyone can do about global warming if it is happening, but a group of men can get a lot of power and money if they successfully manipulate the public and politicians.

What can happen when poets write with the little fingers:

"My daughter often sleeps beside my wife
and me. She's five years old. I know it's bliss
to her, secure between parentheses."

Irresistable to me.

Feel good movie of the last few months if not year, Rocky Balboa. If you loved the first Rocky, you will probably love this one. It really does work and much more so than expected.

Stallone reaches the stature and authority of John Wayne in this film for two monologues that have passion and power. Looking for a Christmas day movie to see? This is it.

Just a shot in the dark, but I've been collecting Japanese woodblock prints lately. Does anyone else have a preference for them, particularly Hiroshige, the Leonardo of 19th century woodblocks?

I have remnants of my grandfather's oriental collection of art and have had to decorate a room with empty walls and thus have been at eBay making additions with prints and a few kimonos to fill up empty space. I am very impressed with the deals you can find for prints that are extraordinary and exceptionaly beautiful of Japanese art.

In some cases it's like being able to go down to the store and get fresh prints of Wiliam Blake for a pittance.

I could go on and on about oriental art. Are there any afficionadoes around?

Captain Ed didn’t like that Sen. Brownback “put a hold on a judicial nomination for her attendance at a same-sex union ceremony.” And then demanded the future judge recuse herself from any gender related cases.

Ed takes umbrage saying, “I understand that recognition of marriages is a public policy and that the electorate should make that decision. However, that does not give the government any right to interfere or investigate relationships between consenting, non-related adults. The government does not belong in the bedroom, and the Senate has no business extracting pledges of recusals from judicial nominees for any reason.”

Forgetting Brownback and the judge, if we follow Ed’s logic, we have to ask what right does government have to interfere or investigate relationships between consenting, related adults? How is incest a government concern in the age of birth control, genetic screening, and abortion? The taboo is surely an atavistic holdover just as revulsion of homosexual behavior is considered déclassé, and opposition to polygamy, polyandry, or polyamory is mere prejudice.

What right does government have to interfere or investigate any murder that occurs between feuding parties or a private fight? If people want to kill each other, how is that anybody else's business? When you follow the cliché ideas of libertarian type slogans, there is no end of common sense, social parameters, and cultural mores we can throw away.

Are Hugh's posts arguing for the case of man made global warning? If so, count me as one of the skeptics who finds that long tree of refuting  arguments of skeptics a silly pile of balderdash.

In the case for man made global warming, so called concensus is indeed collusion. There are so many modern junk science myths that have been created by self-aggrandizing scientists one hardly knows where to start. The herd instinct among scientists is as strong as it is for others who go along to get along. Plus the need for funding drives the bulk of them. Scientists and integrity? Don't you dare put the two together.

But let's talk about the enormous concensus among scientists for the Big Bang theory. Proof? Zero. Belief? Absolute. How about the theory of disk formation of planets? Proof? Zero. Belief? Absolute. How about the the means of light and heat generation by the sun? Proof of interior nuclear fusion? Zero. Belief? Absolute. The notion that comets are made of dirty ice? Proof? Zero. Belief? Absolute. The belief that Red Shift of galaxies is caused by primordial explosion? Proof? Zero. Belief? Absolute.

Let us discuss the psychological need for scientists to foment and believe in apocalyptic scenarios of global destruction and the end of the world before we join any concensus of such events occurring.

That argumentation tree that Hugh linked to is similar to Aquinas' Summa. It's support for a theological position and not factual scientific evidence. Talk about your true believers.

When we see a religious fanatic proclaiming the end of days, we are a bit amused and find the fellow pitiable. Is there anyone so pathetic and disgusting as a scientist pretending to prophetic certainty about the future of complex systems?

Just watch Al Gore for ten minutes. If you don't see a True Believer assuming the mantle of messianic prophet, what are you seeing?

I once had a lawyer named Jack Frost.

I know of a playwrite named William Shakespeare. He lives in Siskiyou County in N. Cal. Google it. I'm sure it must be there.

People think my wife, Mrs. Butterworth, must be sweet. When people say, "I bet I'm not the first person to ask if you're married to Mrs. Butterworth," I sometimes say, "Actually you are the very first person to ever ask me that. I've never heard it before in my entire life."

Or I say, "You cannot imagine how wealthy I am. I'm just here because I enjoy slumming."

The Iliad is only great because all life is a battle, the Odyssey because all life is a journey, the Book of Job because all life is a riddle.

G.K. Chesterton

I stumbled across this quote at Spero News (where my movie reviews appear in greater length after first sight). Is this not brilliant?

Maybe. But I read Homer's epics not too long ago and found in the poet a depth of understanding about the nature of God that surprised me. The ancient Greek concept of hospitality understood by Homer had to do with not only honoring gods with the proper humility, but a deep sense that hospitality demanded a submission to grace, kindness, and respect that we find in Jesus washing the feet of the disciples.

There is in Homer a refined sense that humans should be humane. That battle requires courage and ruthlessness, but that all else is a matter of decency.

That is why Homer matters. He is sympathetic to the enemy, yes, but even more sympathetic to the notion that men should be less proud of themselves.

Homer is not a pacifist, but he thinks Man should be more wise and less vicious.

I'll be screening Mel Gibson's Apocalypto in another hour or so. Pray for me.

Mad Mel's method's are intense and often exciting but Apocalypto is a kind of combination of Gladiator and The Naked Prey. The blood, intensity, action, and violence simply wears you out by the end. You care a bit about Jaguar Paw (an Indian) and his predicament but he and his family are put into so many sequences of jeopardy that it's overkill and exhausting.

I would pay to see this if only we also got to see Cortez destroy the Aztecs. That would be worth seeing.

Humanity is depraved, insane, and inhuman, and Mel seems to be outraged by that (and God who Created us and lets it happen).

Mel is all about The Pain. Try some contemplative prayer, guy.

Just in case one graphic sacrificial slaughter of a man with his heart ripped out of his body and his head cut off wasn't enough, Mel let's you enjoy it twice to really drive the point home, so to speak.

Mary is correct. As an American, I have hated 24/7 since I first heard it. What's more, I hate the words -- buzz word.

Children of Men is an English, futuristic dystopian movie that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But for our English friends, it makes England look marvelously rancid and bleak. In fact, many scenes shot in England look as if they were too easy to find and exploit as places of urban catastrophe.

I’m wondering if some places in the America like the Bronx or Bedford-Sty in NY still look as grim as they did in 70’s movies like Fort Apache. I guess Detroit is still pretty grim.

Anyway, we are fortunate in Children of Men that Julianne Moore is killed off quickly because she’s terrible and so is her character. You’ll all be happy to know that even when the world is ending, Lefties think they can make it a better place through revolution and killing the Man (and anyone else who happens to be standing by).

I have many quibbles with the movie but the payoff is very powerful and strong. It's sure to be a big hit for the season. The girl who plays Mary can't act a lick, though.

The movie fails for me when it is trying hard to humanize and develop the backstory, but much more successful when relying on the familiar iconography. Very good sets and locations. Although the scenic route to Bethlehem from Nazareth strains credulity.

Also the music selection is superb. Don't let O Come O Come Emanuel pass you by, nor Of the Father's Love Begotten, one of the most beautiful songs written in recent time. I used to enjoy it in my church choir when I played bass. It always brought me to tears for the exquisite melody and harmonies (we had a good SATB group).

The Passion, Narnia, and this should do more to wake up Hollywood to the great audience dying for such movies.

Also, my wife and I couldn't help but think at times that the Muslims got nothing like this. Nothing to really offer humanity and a lost and searching world. Nothing like this.

Buddhism does (see Little Buddha, a fine movie), but Islam has got nothing on Jesus and it's a shame we don't evangelize Muslims in this country and elsewhere more.

Islam is such garbage when compared to what contemporary Christianity offers to hearts and souls. There really is no other faith like that in Jesus. Blake was terribly wrong when he said all religions are one.

It doesn't matter if the Mary and Joseph story is true as such. What matters is that it glorifies the truth that Jesus was born a human being, that God became man and offered real hope, and not wishful thinking to humanity. This movie helps make the old story fresh.

My contribution to the collective noun list is a Sneer of Critics. I rather like it.

The filmmaker, Robert Altman, died. He had a long career in which he started out making industrial documentaries in the early 50’s such as How to run a Filling Station. moving into directing TV shows in the 60’s such as Bonanza, and then breaking out in movies with M*A*SH* in 1970.

Considered a maverick in Hollywood with his disdain for commercial movie making (that is, movies that make money), he won accolades for films such as Nashville, The Player, and Gosford Park.

While Altman’s movies were generally interesting, they always left me with an empty feeling and were never nourishing or challenging in any meaningful way.

You can watch any of his movies and you will never find a single “holy moment” or profound insight. Emotionally, his films were all a matter of noodling in a minor key where people try to evade their banality since life is mostly a bore and a chore.

If ever an actress owed an entire career to one man, that would be Shelly Duvall. I didn't see 3 Women, though, but the first time I saw Shelly, I thought - Olive Oyl. When she was cast in Altman's Popeye (talk about an odd movie) as Olive Oyl, I was very pleased. Perfect casting.

Perfect miscasting was of her in The Shining. Whatever possessed Kubrick to choose her, we'll never know, but she was the last person you'd expect in the role, and yet, strangely correct. She has no movie star quality or aura since she is plain looking, toothy, high pitched, gawky, and someone you'd rather not look at.

Yet, she brings verisimilitude to a film by the fact that she is so ordinary a person and you don't think she's acting but simply being who she is.

To purists of 007 and his card game, you will find they have changed the game from Baccarat to Texas Hold 'Em. They did this no doubt for the reason my daughter exclaimed, "Hey, I know how this game is played."

Daniel Craig is undoubtedly the best Bond ever and this movie is a superb re-imagining of the franchise. No more the smart aleck, wise cracking, gadget loving Bond.

This Bond is hard as nails SAS. The movie, though gets away from its intentions in the last third which makes the movie drag and take way too long to tie up loose ends. But the first two thirds are terrific if you like the genre, and worth enduring the last act to see how well the new Bond re-vitalizes everything.

Those who love Russell Crowe will forgive him anything, including this pleasant but thin romantic comedy (which has no comedy in it). Setting is nice, the ambience relaxed, the conflict non-existent. Wait for DVD.

Michelle Malkin reports about Dems who seek to impeach Bush.

Funny. I really wouldn't mind if they did at this point. It's not like he's actually a Republican or a conservative. I guess he's some sort of Christian, but I couldn't tell you what kind.

Screened (that’s what we film critics call getting into a movie in advance for free) Babel last night. It is this year’s Crash. That is, we’re all interconnected and we’re all suffering. (Actually, you could read it as a book of bad choices people make.)

Afterwards another critic waxed enthusiastically upon how this movie, like Crash, proves that we’re all really the same, no matter country, culture or skin color.

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he had just acquiesced to that manipulation by the filmmaker. Yes, of course, we can all recite the Shylock soliloquy, “if you prick me, do I not bleed . . .” but here we have a director creating a story to persuade others that there are no significant differences between people or peoples. (Life sucks for everyone.)

Later, while exiting the parking garage, the same critic got in front of me in his car and his bumper was adorned with stickers: IMPEACH BUSH and IMPEACHMENT IS PATRIOTIC

Of course he needs movies to tell him he’s been right all along. See! See! This movie shows exactly how we can all just get along if we want to since we’re really all the same!

I suppose we all do that when we read a book or see a movie which confirms our world view, but two thirds of Babel takes place in third world countries, Morocco and Mexico. The movie couldn’t help but make me wonder why those countries were so absurdly and abjectly dirty, barren, miserable, impoverished, corrupt, and horrible. (Mexico not quite as much as the other.)

The movie is well made and engaging, but ultimately empty and depressing. Oddly enough, the director has a dedication at the end to his children who provide him with the only “light amidst all the darkness.”

Well, gee, director Mr. Inarritu, thanks for relieving the gloom. Well, it's another movie no one will go see, at least.

Part of my motivation for non-reviewing Borat was reading Derb's excited desire to see the movie. The man who proclaims that Pop Culture is Filth seemed an odd bird to want to run to the cinema to catch Cohen's Cretan Bull in a china shop movie.

I am relieved to see that Derb found it underwhelming. It's nice to see, despite the current piling on from many sources on one of our favorite curmudgeons that In Derb WeTrust still applies. Derb can smell a dead fish when his nose meets one, it appears.

I would love a truly politicaly incorrect comedy. Simply taking advantage of Americans' niceness is not the route to it.

Dennis Prager has the proper understanding of hypocrisy. I'm sick to death of liberals and lefties pointing out every conservative or Christian's fall from grace as hypocrisy.

No such thing. A man who fails to meet his own standards of moral behavior is not a hypocrite. He's merely a momentary failure. It is the man who fails to meet his standard and then defends that failure who is a hypocrite.

For example, a liberal denounce