Independence Day 2010

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

If there is a single sentence that embodies the essence of the United States of America, it is this one, near the beginning of the Declaration of Independence more than 200 years ago. It is the statement on which our nation was founded. The Declaration goes on to say that the sole purpose of government is to protect these rights. These rights are given to us not by any man or group of man, not by any government or institution; it is made quite clear in our founding document that these unalienable rights are given to us by God. It is made clearer in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution that the government's role is not to grant rights, but to protect them; and that the purpose of our founding documents were to protect the people against abuses of power by government:

The Ninth Amendment: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

The Tenth Amendment: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

It cannot be made clearer that government is to be limited. A bloody war was fought to throw off the chains of an oppressive government, and it would all be a waste if we were to become as oppressive ourselves as that government so many sacrificed their lives to free ourselves from.

Sadly, we are doing just that. As we prepare to celebrate our independence from the British Empire, our Congress is preparing to confirm to the Supreme Court Barack Hussein Obama's nominee, Elena Kagan. When asked her opinion of "natural rights" not specifically stated in the Constitution, Elena Kagan responded, "To be honest with you, I don't have a view of what are natural rights independent of the Constitution." In other words, if it's not stated in the Constitution, it's not a right of the people.

But this is the opposite of what the Constitution actually says! Many states refused to ratify the Constitution without the inclusion of a Bill of Rights to specifically limit the government from taking powers, concerned that if the Constitution didn't say the people had a certain right, the government may someday assume it wasn't a right at all. Others countered that if the Constitution did contain mentions of specific rights, that the government might someday assume that those not specifically mentioned were up for grabs. We'll never know what course our history would have taken without the Bill of Rights, but it is clear now that those who argued against the inclusion of a Bill of Rights were justified in their fears.

The one and only purpose of the Supreme Court is to be sure that the Constitution is upheld. Yet we have a Supreme Court who recently only upheld the Second Amendment (right to bear arms) by a margin of a single vote when called on to judge the Constitutionality of an illegal ban on guns in Chicago; and now we are about to confirm a Justice who refuses to acknowledge the specific wording of the Declaration of Independence and the Ninth and Tenth amendments.

This Independence Day, it is time to look back not just to the Constitution, but to the Declaration of Independence. I'd like to quote Abraham Lincoln in a speech given in Peoria, Illinois on October 16, 1854:

"Nearly eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a "sacred right of self-government." [...] Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the dust. Let us repurify it. [...] Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it. [...] If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union: but we shall have saved it, as to make, and keep it, forever worthy of the saving."

Read it again. Lincoln's thoughts at the time were in regards to abolishing slavery, but it is every bit as relevant today. In exchange for government benefits we have bit by bit surrendered freedoms to those whose purpose is to protect those freedoms, and have come to a tipping point at which we may soon lose them all or fight to save them. To quote Tom Waits, "There's always free cheddar in a mousetrap; it's a deal, it's a deal!"

Read Lincoln's words again:

"Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it. [...] If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union: but we shall have saved it, as to make, and keep it, forever worthy of the saving."

In short, my point is this: Nathan's makes delicious hot dogs, but I don't like sauerkraut.

(click for full-size)

Independence Day 2009

Well, it's been a month since I've posted here, and lots has happened, but I've been way too busy to post about it. I've had a post half-written about beards for a few weeks now, but no time to finish it. There's more to say about my internship, and pictures of Pennsylvania to post, several movies and some books to review, lots of political goings-on I want to opine about, and many general updates to... update. Also, I'm nearly done with field camp, and that means I have several hundred photos to go through so I can post the best ones here. I am so super behind! This will all come soon. This post is mostly to say it's coming soon, and to say something quick about one of my favorite holidays.

I've decided Independence Day is much more fun when your country isn't in the process of being taken over by a tyrant. I'm looking forward to a new Independence Day, when America wakes up and realizes that when the President can fire the CEO of a major corporation just because, we are not living in a free country any more. When Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government our founding fathers had managed to set up, his reply was "A Republic, if you can keep it." We kept it for over 200 years, but we are selling it now for corporate bailouts, "free" health care, and to shrink our carbon footprint to solve a problem that doesn't exist. While much of Europe is shifting toward more conservative government, America is quickly becoming one of the most socialist nations in the world. Independence Day is much more enjoyable when you don't have to be afraid of your government, or when the head of your government at least has a single shred of pride in his own country instead of aggressively touring the world and apologizing for our greatness. It makes me sick.

On a brighter note, while I couldn't afford any fireworks myself on account of all my money is gone because of cars trouble, Kate and I managed to meet up with some old friends and watch the fireworks show in Idaho Falls this year, which is so much better than the show in Rexburg. That was fun. Also, the Mustangs flew overhead during Rexburg's lame parade, so I got to see them again.

Okay, now back to packing for field camp. Two weeks left!

Live Free or Die Harder With a Vengeance

I've been getting a lot of hate mail from my fans lately saying "Why aren't you reviewing movies anymore? We're tired of this politics crap, tell us what movies we should watch so we can watch more movies!" Okay, okay, fine! Just stop sending me the hate mail! I know, I'm way behind with the movie reviews, especially considering the massive amount of time I've had on my hands lately to watch them. So here come one review of four movies!

About a month ago I had myself a Die Hard movie marathon. I was never interested in the Die Hard movies until I saw Live Free or Die Hard, and was impressed. So I got my hands on the other movies, and watched all four back to back in one day. That's right, in a twelve-hour shift I have enough down time to watch four movies relatively undistracted, and even get paid all the while because I'm working, too. And guess what? All four Die Hard movies are awesome, especially the first and fourth ones. Except the last one they are very heavy on the language, and the first movie has brief and completely unnecessary nudity near the beginning; but other than that, that is all you need to know. No need to read further (though you're welcome to), if you haven't seen them yet, don't wait as long as I did, go rent them and watch them. They are worth the time.

I originally avoided them because they looked like typical action movies with a predictable plot and unbelievable explosions and no real point except to show cool fight scenes. Well, they are your typical action movie, but Die Hard doesn't follow any formula, Die Hard is the formula used by so many action movies since. With this movie it's fresh and new, not as unbelievable as it could be, and Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman are believable in their roles. With action movies (and especially superhero movies), what really makes or breaks it is the villain. The reason most of the James Bond movies are merely fun, and no more, is that if the villains weren't completely incompetent James Bond would be dead about fifty times now. There's nothing satisfying about watching a hero, no matter how cool, go up against a villain who isn't truly threatening. Bruce Willis makes a great hero, doing an especially good job being a "regular guy" (well, a detective, and really tough, but deep down just a regular guy) who becomes a hero only by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even better, Alan Rickman makes such a believable, menacing villain, that it is very satisfying to see him brought down by the hero (even with 1988 special effects).

The overall plotline is mostly predictable, but along the way individual scenes throw some pretty fun curve balls, and there's great humor, too. The action is intense, and while there are the expected overdone Hollywood explosions, most of the action and stunts are plausible and the danger seems real without becoming an overload for the audience. Many action movies fail by being all climax all the time, and by the end are boring no matter how many bullets are flying, and others fail by trying to have too much deep dialogue and social commentary from the characters, and are boring that way. The pacing in Die Hard is perfect. I was riveted the whole time, and satisfied by the end.

The only real downsides were some lame acting from some of the supporting cast, and I can't help seeing the guy who played the cop who helps Bruce Willis and thinking "Family Matters". I can't take that guy seriously no matter what, and he's not that great an actor. Worse, Die Hard makes the classic movie mistake of having the cops bungle everything from start to finish because the police captain has an ego and insists he knows everything despite getting the inside info from Bruce Willis. Sure, this happens in real life, too, but wouldn't it be nice in a movie to see competent hero, competent villain, and competent cops? (Terminator 2 had that, now that I think of it... another great movie.) But even accounting for these negatives, it is still one of the best action movies I've seen, and well deserving of it's classic status.

Die Hard 2: Die Harder was also fun, but was in my opinion the weakest of the series. That's not a bad thing, Die Hard is a tough act to follow up. How do you raise the bar? They tried, but it didn't really work. It had it's plot twists, backstabbing and betrayal, and plenty of action, and was definitely a fun movie and didn't feel like a waste of time despite not having as solid a plot as the original. What made it work was Bruce Willis. The villain was pretty good, but no Hans Gruber, but Bruce was still Bruce, and fun to watch. Though there is a scene where he fails to save quite a lot of people and starts crying, and that's a bit uncomfortable. The incompetent cop formula is even stronger in this movie, though, and definitely getting old. You can skip this movie and not be lost in the next two, but I still recommend it. It is above average for an action movie.

One thing I liked about it is how well it made the point about the media in its quest for sensational, dramatic stories, does the public no favor and can make things worse. My memory is a bit rusty (that's what I get watching all four at once in one day and waiting so long to blog it, I guess), but I think the first Die Hard made that point as well, but it is in this movie that it sticks in my mind. It reminds me of a real-life example that happened ten years ago: the school shooting in Columbine. A friend of mine sent me a link to a very interesting interview with someone who studied that event, and one of the most interesting aspects is how the myths connected to the shooting originated from CNN coverage within hours of the shooting. Children in the classrooms were watching what was happening on TV, and as they came out they were interviewed by reporters as if they were eyewitnesses who knew the shooters personally when all they were doing is repeating what they'd just seen on TV and immediately reinforcing the myths. That's sort of a tangent, but it is one of the more interesting parts of the movie seeing the attitude of the news reporters trying to get the story that will make their career, oblivious to the panic they are causing and the leverage they are giving to the terrorists.

Die Hard With a Vengeance was a lot of fun, much better than the second movie. This one brings in Samuel L. Jackson as a character named Zeus, which is awesome by itself. Zeus is a very racist black man who only begins helping Bruce Willis to save his black neighborhood from unwanted negative publicity. When a terrorist sets off a bomb and threatens to detonate more unless Bruce Willis's character walks through Harlem wearing a sandwich board with offensive racial slurs on it, Zeus saves his life explaining that the last thing his neighborhood needs is another headline about black gang members killing a white cop.

I was dubious at first, letting the character chemistry between Samuel Jackson and Bruce Willis be enough to make the movie worth watching, but disappointed that it was just a typical sadistic villain out for revenge coming up with silly impossible scenarios to keep the cops guessing and the hero running. By the end I was impressed, though, because there is much more going on than that, and it starts from the very beginning though you don't see it. Or maybe I just didn't see it. This movie was also great in that finally we're allowed to see competent cops, making honest mistakes because even though they've thought it through they can still be wrong, not just stubborn and stupid in the face of obvious facts. There is also a very effective scene as a school is evacuated due to a bomb threat, where the bomb expert stays in the school trying to diffuse a bomb knowing he has no chance of success and is going to die, but refusing to leave as long as there are kids in the school. This was a really great movie.

Not as good as the last one, though! Live Free or Die Hard was the movie that got me interested in the series in the first place, and it was just as good the second time. All of the Die Hard movies are very patriotic (it is still amazing to me that Hollywood can pump out movies that clearly demonstrate why we can't negotiate with an enemy bent on our destruction, then they turn around and denounce the "illegal" war on terrorism), but this one is the most so. It also is the first of the series to moderate the language to the point that it is not rated "R", though there's an "Unrated" version that is hilarious in that language is added in when it is clear the character is not really speaking. It is also the first of the series that does not take place on Christmas; instead this movie takes place on Independence Day. Bruce Willis is much older in this film, and they work with that fact very well in the film. His partner in this film is the Mac guy from Apple's "Get a Mac" commercials, and plays a very convincing hacker, and is great in the film.

The story is great, the characters are great, the fights are very cool and above average for realism in an action movie, and there are some extremely cool stunts, not all of which strain your suspension of disbelief (though some do). My favorite part was watching throughout the movie as Bruce Willis is so impatient with the nerds he has to work with to stop the terrorists in this movie, especially when they meet the biggest nerd of all, who lives in his mother's basement and answers only to "Warlock". I don't know if I can say if this is my favorite or the first is my favorite, because they are very different movies; but especially if language in a movie bothers you, or you refuse to watch an "R" rated movie, Live Free or Die Hard is the one I would recommend the most.

Okay, four down, about two dozen movie reviews to go... another time.

Independence Day

In honor of Independence Day, I'd just like to share a couple things.  The first is a patriotic speech given by Rush H. Limbaugh, Jr. (not to be confused with his son the talk show host, Rush H. Limbaugh III), The Americans Who Risked Everything.

Second, since the best part of Independence Day celebrations is watching things blow up, some footage of the first hydrogen bomb ever detonated, from Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie:

Happy Independence Day!