My New Canadian Herouxs

Attention immigrants, the town of Herouxville in Quebec has a message for you: no stoning women, and no pouring acid on them either.

Don't Expect To See These Heroes At The Movies

Pulling 16-hour days, volunteering for repeated tours of duty at FBI outposts in the Middle East, constantly aware that their failures will be remembered when their successes are forgotten, the G-people are clearly heroes.

But if they're hoping that their seminar will win them props from filmmakers in general — a picture or two celebrating their courageous work in the war on terror — I suspect they are going to be disappointed.

Read why here.

Who's More Dangerous To Jews?

Mel Gibson or Jimmy Carter?

Mel: An entertainer with obvious psychological issues who was universally reviled, despite his profuse apologies for anti-semitic comments uttered while drunk. Certainly, he's an influential figure, due to his recent Hollywood blockbusters. But, once the tape of his tirade during a drunk driving arrest hit the airwaves, he immediately went to the media and renounced his remarks, rightly expressing embarassment and shame. I've also read reports of private meetings he has held with Jewish leaders to apologize. It's possible that he's insincere--I really don't know (or care, for that matter). But, I find the outrage surrounding Gibson a little puzzling in light of the relative quiet in the media surrounding the recent tome penned by a certain former peanut farmer.

Jimmy: A former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize winner who recently wrote a book suggesting that it's ok to kill Israeli Jews until they are willing to give in to Palestinian territorial demands, among other (outrageous) things. Not only is he not sorry for it, he's all over the media (which he intimates is controlled by the Jews) promoting his book/ideas. Members of the advisory board of his own human rights organization have resigned over the book and, to their credit, even some on the left are calling him to the carpet. I haven't read the book, but have read excerpts that are factually incorrect and/or outrageous in any context, especially coming from such a signficiant American political/social figure.

Even more disturbing:

[Former official in theU.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigation, Neil] Sher has decided to go public with the hope that a public made aware of Carter’s support and defense of a Nazi SS man will help illustrate why the arbiter of the Camp David Accords came out with a book defending the Palestinians after the landslide election of the Islamist Hamas terror group.

Who do you think is more dangerous?

U.N.der Indictment

Former U.N. Oil-for-Food chief Benon Sevan has been indicted in New York federal court for allegedly taking bribes under the program from Saddam Hussein's regime, U.S. authorities announced Tuesday.

According to the press release, Sevan allegedly received $160,000 generated from the sale of Iraqi oil under the program from one Ephraim Nadler, an associate who was also indicted, on behalf of the government of Iraq. The money was allegedly used to pay off overdue credit cards and bills.

If convicted, Sevan would face a maximum sentence of 50 years' imprisonment.

It's. About. Time.

Good News on the Global Economy

According to The Grapevine by Brit Hume:

The latest version of the Index of Economic Freedom from the Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal concludes that world economies are moving toward greater freedom and prosperity — and the incomes of poor people around the world are rising because of that.

The study of 157 countries takes account such factors as freedom from government, tax rates and property rights. Hong Kong is ranked number one for the 13th straight year, with Singapore, Australia and the U.S. rounding out the top four.

The report says economically free countries enjoy significantly greater prosperity than those heavilyy regulated by government. And it says that while the world is growing richer — the gap between the haves and the have-nots is narrowing.

LTA @ The Roxy Theater

Lower Than Angels played a show at The Roxy Theater in Hollywood on January 5th, 2007. It was a fun show. Myke played/sang great, Wade was solid on the drums and Darren was a wizard on the guitar, despite a cable problem that complicated things for a couple of songs (but, he made it work!). Unfortunately, Bob Hartry couldn't participate because he was finishing a record for Vineyard Music.

I was stoked to try out my new Magic head/cab amplifier made by local amp maker and all-around good guy, Mike Moody. It sounded great in tandem with my 1964 Fender Deluxe. Overall, it was a very fun gig.

The next night, Cherie and I went to the House of Blues with a few friends to see a Led Zeppelin cover band called Led Zepagain. It was a great show and lots of fun!