Seraphic Secret

February 08, 2010

The Right Commercial to Unhinge the Unhinged Left

Well played.

Focus on the Family dangled some tidbits of information to the media knowing that the chronically hysterical left would get, er, hysterical.

And then came the commercial.

Yup, that's the 33 seconds that caused the pro-abortion fanatics to foam at the mouth.

The commercial, as far as I can tell, is about how much a mother loves her healthy and rambunctious son.

But hey, I'm not well versed in post-modern literary deconstruction.

How much do you want to bet that the pro-abortion forces are going to howl that the commercial advocates violence—becaue abortion is, y'know, not violent—against women?

Just a reminder:

Pam Tebow chose to ignore her doctor's advice, risk her own life and give birth to her son, Tim.

Just as Sarah Palin chose to have a child she knew was mentally challenged.

These two women present a narrative the left is determined to demonize. A narrative that advocates free choice.

You see, the left only believes in choice when the choice is their choice.

And oh yeah, Barack Hussein Obama picked The Colts.

The man is the kiss of death.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:34 AM in Media | Comments (7)

February 05, 2010

Friday Footwear

Seraphic Secret readers have become enthusiastic consumers of Friday Footwear. We get more mail about this feature than our oh-so-carefully written poltical and Hollywood essays.

Sigh.

Look, we admit that the insanely pricey stilletos of Christian Louboutin, the multi-tiered heels of Nicholas Kirkwood and the deliriously alien footwear—favored by Lady Gaga—designed by Alexander McQueen...

Shoes by Alexander McQueen

... are, um, architecturally and culturally fascinating, if physically and financially crippling, but we do recognize that real people in the real world usually favor just plain old hard working footwear.

A few of our readers took the liberty of sending in pictures of their favorite shoes.

Enjoy!

And feel free to send in snapshots of your footwear.

From a long time friend and reader: “My mom really wanted me to forward you the pic of her new boots. These are real Lucchese Boots. In Dallas—where I was born and raised, and of course my parents still live there—these are acceptable for Shabbat and the symphony, and she says they are also perfectly comfortable for walking.”

From Earl O'Neill, one of our Australian buddies, a fine photograph of his steel-toe capped workboots shot by his beloved Tanya. We admire the lunar landscape that is inscribed in the worn leather of Earl's boots. Perfect for working in the garden or hiking in the outback.

Frequent commenter/philosopher and good friend Bill Brandt displays the boots he wore in the Army. Look at the shine on those beauties, you can shave in the refflection. Thanks so much for your service.

Rahel, one of our many friends from Israel, practically lives in her Israeli made Teva Naot boots. They are beyond rugged and so unfashionable that they are actually fashionable.

And finally, Karen's mother Celia, proudly displayed her Granny boots to yours truly, saying: “I'll bet you'll never feature my boots on Seraphic Secret. Not fancy enough, right?”

Hey mom, never is not as long as you think.

Karen and I wish all our friends and relatives a lovely and restful Shabbat.

I missed February 3, Four Chaplains Day, a story my father, a Chaplain, told me when I was just a child.

The chaplains who sacrificed their lives were the Methodist Reverend George L. Fox, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, the Roman Catholic Priest John P. Washington and the Reformed Church in America Reverend Clark V. Poling.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (Rep.) did not forget:

Baruch Dayan Ha-emet

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:53 AM in Friday Footwear | Comments (11)

February 04, 2010

Lancet: Phony Medicine, Sincere Jew-Hatred

The Lancet Medicine Show is coming to your town.

The Lancet, an allegedly prestigious British medical journal, has retracted claims that vaccines cause Autism.

It's a little late.

Phony medicine kills:

Meanwhile, Britain's child vaccination rates had plummeted to below 70% in some areas, down from more than 90% in the mid-1990s. The country has since suffered waves of measles outbreaks. In 1998 England and Wales had 56 cases; by 2008 the number was 1,370. In 2006, the first British child died of measles in more than a decade.

Meanwhile The Lancet has yet to retract a “study” recently published which claims that Palestinian wife beatings are the fault of—who else?—the Jooz.

Phyllis Chesler reports on the Lancet Blood Libel:

Their study is titled: “Association between exposure to political violence and intimate-partner violence in the occupied Palestinian territory: a cross-sectional study.” And yes, they have found that Palestinian husbands are more violent towards Palestinian wives as a function of the Israeli “occupation”— and that the violence increases significantly when the husbands are “directly” as opposed to “indirectly” exposed to political violence.

I believe that Arab and Muslim men, including Palestinian men, are indeed violent towards Arab and Muslim women. I also believe that war-related stress, including poverty, usually increases “intimate partner violence,” aka male domestic violence. But beyond that, how does one evaluate this study?

Full story here.

This is all part of a well-orchestrated plan to delegitimize the Jewish State. The attacks come every day, from every corner of the globe. The infamous Goldstone Report is a blood libel on an international scale. Ultimately, the Arab Muslim world and her leftist Western apologists are seeking to turn Israel into a pariah state, another South Africa. Israeli passports will no longer be recognized—first in Europe, then South America and finally North America—thus Israel wll be transformed into the final Jewish ghetto, ripe for genocide.

That is the plan.

What is our plan?

Fighting a defensive war is a sure road to defeat.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:55 AM in Jew-haters | Comments (12)

February 03, 2010

Mission to Moscow

During January, Turner Classic Movies, presented Shadows of Russia, a look at Russia and the Soviet Union as seen through Hollywood's lens. This fascinating series was conceived and programmed by film blogger Self-Styled Siren and the New York Post's Lou Lumenick.

Siren explains how it happened here.

I've been covering the series for Big Hollywood—Part I, Part II—and here's today's post:

Mission to Moscow (1943), based on the memoir of the same name by Joseph P. Davies, is, well, jaw dropping. Not because it’s so bad, which it is. But because it’s a piece of slick Stalinist propaganda produced by Warner Brothers.

How did this wretched film come into existence?

With the Soviet Union abandoning the Soviet-Nazi pact, and joining America and the allies against Germany and Japan, Roosevelt understood that the American people needed to be, um, reeducated in their attitude towards the Soviet menace. Thus, Roosevelt asked Hollywood to cooperate and produce films that cleared up all the alleged misunderstandings about totalitarian Soviet Communism and mass murdering Josef Stalin.

Or that’s the standard story. In Red Star Over Hollywood, Ronald and Allis Radosh report that:

In a newspaper interview, Davies said that it was he who had approached Harry Warner about the book, after other film companies had shown interest. If it was to be a movie, he told Warner, “I want you to make it.” Warner agreed, and Davies was paid $25,000.

Whatever the truth of the film’s genesis, using Davies 1941 memoir, Hollywood went to work.

A credulous dupe, Davies, Roosevelt’s ambassador to the Soviet Union, was, like New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty, a reliable apologist for Communism and Stalin’s murderous policies. Davies was, as Lenin famously labeled Western liberals, “a useful idiot.”

Most shocking in Davies memoir is the treatment of the Moscow show trials that took place between 1936 and 1938. In a major purge, Stalin accused the old Bolshevik leaders of plotting with Nazi Germany to overthrow the Soviet regime. The defendants were primarily old buddies of Lenin who had been celebrated as the first heroes of the Soviet Revolution. They were now accused of working with Trotsky to sabotage industry, assassinate Stalin, and bring down the Soviet regime.

The charges were absurd and most of the defendants were executed. Their confessions are lovingly rendered in a courtroom scene that paints the Soviets as scrupulous jurists. In fact, the hapless defendants were drugged, horribly tortured and told that their families would be murdered unless they confessed.

To read the complete article, head on over to Big Hollywood.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 08:51 AM in Shadows of Russia | Comments (7)

February 02, 2010

Roy P. Benevidez: Medal of Honor

I live in the failing state of California. From the once golden state I watch Barack Hussein Obama declare, like Willie Stark, a populist war against the financial institutions of this country. Obama's budget is a fiscal nightmare that will bury this country in red ink for generations to come. Islamist terrorists are Mirandized by Obama's Justice Dept. And Iran has only contempt for Obama's unclenched fist and vows to wipe Israel off the face of the earth.

It's enough to make a grown man cry.

Here's a necessary reminder of one man's greatness.

A reminder that there are, among us, individuals who will defend freedom no matter what the cost.

I urge you to take 6 minutes from your busy schedule and watch this video.

You will honor a great American soldier and thereby honor all American soldiers.

And an astonishing footnote posted at You Tube:

I did this as a way to honor all those who have struggled to come back from serving our country in times of war. The most interesting part for me was something I didn't find out until after I created this photoplay, was that this was Roy's second tour. He had been so gravely wounded, by stepping on a landmine, on his first tour that he was drummed out of the Army after returning. Roy built his body back up and returned to the service after proving himself fit and joined the elite Green Beret's and went back to Vietnam for a second tour for which he received the Medal of Honor.

H/T Weasel Zippers

And if you want to keep up with the U.S. Army, here's an iPhone app that features tons of articles and photos.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 09:13 AM in Military | Comments (11)

February 01, 2010

Barack Hussein O'Bow... Here We Go Again

January 28, 2010, Barack Hussein Obama bows to... the Mayor of Tampa, Florida.

A little history:

Tampa mayor, Pam Iorio, proclaimed Nov. 15th "CAIR Day"

—By virtue of the authority vested in me as mayor of the city of Tampa, I do hereby proclaim November 15, 2008, as ‘Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Day' in the city of Tampa, Florida.

Iorio was finally informed—talk about a clueless liberal—that CAIR, an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, has ties to Islamist terrorists: Whoops, I made a boo-boo.

Obama's repeated public displays of (false) humility are a sign of the narcissism that is the abiding feature of this man's character.

Posted by Robert J. Avrech at 07:59 AM in Obama Watch | Comments (6)