Lone Ranger a Dud

This movie was a waste of time and money.  Although the cinematography was good and the sporadic laughs OK, the whole tenor of the movie was pathetic.  Simply put, it was another Johnny Depp, Anti-Capitalist, Anti-American rant!  I am beginning to become Anti-Johnny Depp.   Why doesn't he grow up and get a life?

It was too long and too tedious.  All the villains were in cahoots with the big bad railroad men.  The Comanches were portrayed as lily pure and innocent -- one should read about the real atrocities of the Comanches towards other tribes, not to mention against Euro-Americans.

I hope Disney loses money on this.  They deserve to lose money.

If Depp is so Anti-American, why does he insist on keep asking Americans to open their wallets to him?

Snowden the Useful Idiot

Edward Snowden, the disloyal and leaky IT guy is probably just an idiot who didn't even understand 1/10th of what he thought he was leaking.  Yes, the NSA probably knows who you are calling and the duration of your calls.  That is as alarming as the US Postal Service knowing the addressee of your letters and how much your letters weigh.  Big deal!!  Yet he is turning out to be a very useful idiot in the hands of anti-American countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, and Cuba.  No doubt they see this guy as a useful propaganda tool in the Americas to further their perennial bashing of their perennial villian, the Estados Unidos.

In those countries he may even be offered a job doing cyber war against the US, although he may be hard put to the test on the DOS machines that are probably state of the art in those countries.  However, he probably knows how to install new versions of Microsoft Word and will probably be hailed as a genius.  I wonder if they will let him near their "real" computers, given his reputation as a leaker.  He may just discover that he didn't have it so bad in the old US of A.  And at least his family will be able to visit him there -- while his new masters eavesdrop of his conversations with them.  I wonder if he'll protest that.  Well, not too loudly perhaps!

The real test comes when he has to show loyalty to his new masters.   If he has a change of heart and decides to return to the US, will they let him?  Cuba might not.  Getting into Cuba is one thing, getting out is quite another.  I suspect that Cuba is not high on his list of candidate asylum hosts.

They don't take too kindly to disloyal folks in those countries.  Still, he may be very useful to them and he may enjoy some minor celebrity status.  However, I suspect that before too long, they will realize that he can't really contribute much to their struggling economies, that he is just another mouth for the state to feed.
But, as a propaganda tool, he may well turn out to be a useful idiot, one who can reinforce their masses in their ignorance to keep thinking of the US as the devil.  That will help them stay in power, which is probably all they want anyway.

Mark Steyn: Egyptian Observer Par Excellence

Ah, the inimitable Mark Steyn on Egypt:  

In February, the government advised the people to eat less and cut back the food subsidy to about 400 calories a day — which even Nanny Bloomberg might balk at. Amidst all the good news of the Morsi era — the collapse of Western tourism, the ethnic cleansing of Copts, the attacks on the Israeli embassy, sexual assaults on uncovered women, death for apostasy, etc. — amidst all these Morsi-era success stories, even a Muslim Brother has to eat occasionally. Egyptians learned the hard way that, whatever their cultural preferences, full-strength Islam comes at a price. 

Another choice quote about America's pathetic Egyptian foreign policy:  "We sank billions into Mubarak’s Swiss bank accounts, and got nothing in return other than Mohammed Atta flying through the office window."

For the complete story, go here:  NRO

White Hours Tours and Trips to Africa

How is it that sequestration means that the White House tours are not affordable yet that $100 million dollar trips for the Obamas to Africa are affordable?  I think the answer is the same in both:  Whatever benefits the Obamas.  To close the White House to tours is to remove the annoying inconvenience of all these strangers traipsing through their house.  To take an expensive trip to Africa on the taxpayer's dime is of obvious benefit to the Obama family.

America has never before seen such a self-centered, narcissistic president.