When Pork Flies

I was just saying last night, "Has Obama ever heard of Photoshop?"

It cost $328,835 to fly Air Force One and its F-16 escorts over New York this week for what the White House claims was a photo op.



Here's Air Force One over Minneapolis. I did this in five minutes. Give me an hour and $50, I could do it better, with twenty F-16s if you want, and save the country $328,785.

Scrappleface today presented a similar idea:

Iran Offers Obama Advice After Air Force One Scare

“Mr. President, the next time you need a photo of your plane near some major metropolitan area,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said, “there’s a way to do it without evoking the nightmare of 9/11 in the streets of New York City — it’s called Photoshop.”

UPDATE:

Here are some more photo ops for Air Force One:

Havana



Caracas, Venezuela



Chicago

What's wrong with this picture?

Is anyone as creeped out by this as I am?

WorldNetDaily reports that an artist named Michael D'Antuono created this painting outrageously titled, "The Truth," to commemorate President Obama's 100th day in office.

I struggle to understand what the artist is trying to do with this work. I first assumed it must be a joke, tasteless at best, blasphemous at worst. It may be merely a marketing stunt to get knee-jerk publicity from Christians, in which case I'm one of the duped.

The most frightening possibility is that this is really how the artist views the President. More frightening than that is that there are more like him. In January, an artist in Iowa created a sculpture depicting Obama riding a donkey, complete with waving palm branches, to reflect Christ's entrance into Jerusalem in the gospels.

This is the sad state of religion in the United States: having abolished the real religious traditions of our country, we still have an innate need to worship something. The new religion is government, and the people have elected their Messiah.

It's political cliche to say that liberals look to government for their salvation while conservatives look to God. But statements like these from the art community show conservatives do not misrepresent the opposition.

Those out there who still believe as our founders did that America has no king but God, and that individual liberty and industry are still the machinery that keeps our country alive, please wake up. D'Antuono's painting should shock reasonable people into seeing what kind of a truly kooky future we have ahead of us if we don't stand up to this kind of nonsense.

UPDATE:
After sampling the artist's online galleries, I'm convinced he is merely a sensationalist capitalizing on controversy. He knew those who still consider Obama the messiah portrayed during the campaign would buy it, and those offended by the portrait would give it loads of free publicity. If Christ is a meaningless historical figure to you, it's a smart business move.

A friend of mine said art should "make us think," and said good for the artist that he succeeded. It does made me think. I think the artist should continue the religious themes, and depict Obama as Mohammed receiving the Revelation. See how that sells.

MORE UPDATES:
Artist cancels showing of unconventional Obama portrait

"I canceled the showing out of respect for religion. It was not meant to offend so many people," he said. "I don't think it would be helpful to the cause of unity to show it."

Ya think?

Toasted Peeps!

A sure sign of spring: The first campfire on the patio, and the last marshmallow Peep...

Wish we had s'more.

America needs you, Ronald Reagan

Chicago's song, "Harry Truman," has resurfaced in my mind many times this year. Robert Lamm wrote his warm-hearted tribute in 1975, after Nixon's resignation, in nostalgic longing for a president who was witty, forthright, and honest.

I have the same longing, and I think it's time for a remake. Here's how the song plays in my head:

America needs you
Ronald Reagan
Ronnie could you please come home
Things are looking bad
I know you would be mad
To see what kind of men
Prevail upon the land you love

America's wondering
How we got here
Ronnie all we get is lies
We're gettin' safer cars
Rocket ships to Mars
From men who'd sell us out
To get themselves a piece of power

We'd love to hear you speak your mind
In plain and simple ways
Call a spade a spade
Like you did back in the day
You'd still be the cowboy
Each morning take a ride
Speak of what was going down
With honesty and style

America's calling
Ronald Reagan
Ronnie you know what to do
The world is turnin' round and losin' lots of ground
Oh Ronnie is there something we can do to save the land we love
Oh whoa whoa whoa

America's calling
Ronald Reagan
Ronnie you know what to do
The world is turnin' round
And losin' lots of ground
So Ronnie is there something we can do to save the land we love
Oh Ronnie is there something we can do to save the land we love

Original lyrics here. Listen to a sample on Lala.com or Yahoo Music.

Do this in memory of Me

There are many issues I want to blog about, but nothing is more important than what my family and Christians around the world observe today: Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday.

Then he took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me." In the same way, he gave them the cup after the supper, saying, "This cup is God's new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you." - Luke 22:19-20

If just for this moment, I want to think of nothing else.

This can't be Kosher

President Obama is hosting a Passover Seder, but so far all he's served is pork!

So who will play Obama?

Ayn Rand's Objectivist treatise, Atlas Shrugged, may finally make it to the big screen in 2011.

For those not familiar with the story, Atlas Shrugged is a novel about visionary entrepreneurs struggling against a confiscatory government taking over industries and instituting socialism during a global economic collapse. Sound ... familiar? It would be easy to call it a diatribe against the current administration were it not written fifty years ago.

The story has everything to entice contemporary audiences: mystery, conspiracy, gadgetry, scandal, political intrigue, disappearances, love triangles, and a chic retro-1950s setting. Those on the rabid left will enjoy the anti-religious tone and military buffoonery in Rand's narrative. Those wary of "stimulus," "bailouts," and other government interference in the market will find profound resonance with the current crisis in American capitalism. Atlas is a pro-free-market camp meeting.

The movie project has been in development for so many years, producers once hoped to cast Faye Dunaway and Clint Eastwood in the lead roles. Now, they're hoping for Angelina Jolie or Anne Hathaway for story's heroine.

It's no coincidence that interest in the book and the movie are experiencing surges. Although I have my own reservations about the story, I look forward to the movie and the inevitable firestorm it will generate. The timing could hardly be better.