My Top 30 Movies of All Time

Okay, who am I to be different? Figured I'd give my take on my favorite 25 movies of all time, except, I couldn't narrow it down to 25. Guess you all get my top 30 instead.

30 Highlander A new concept for a plot. Pretty sure I don't want to live this life forever though…
29 Kiss the Girls Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd both do fantastic jobs in this great thriller!
28 While You Were Sleeping Okay, I know this is a chick-flick but I have lived in a household with women for several decades now. Besides, Sandra Bullock and a great script make this one funny!
27 Silence of the Lambs Great acting! Anthony Hopkins did a phenomenally creepy job in this one!
26 Grand Torino Clint Eastwood's lines are so politically incorrect in this movie, that you have to laugh out loud. Guaranteed to tick off those easily offended.
25 Everything that Rises An obscure movie starring Dennis Quaid as a small time present-day Montana rancher. Great story line and beautiful scenery! Good family movie, if you can find it.
24 The Last Samurai If you can get past the strange notion of Tom Cruise adopting the Bushido code of honor, this is a great movie.
23 History of the World So stupid that you have to laugh. Great one-liners. Mel Brooks' funniest film by far!
22 Iron Man Of all the rash of comic book movies, except Dark Knight, this one is by far the best. Great special effects and performance by Robert Downey Jr.
21 Crimson Tide Nearly anything with Gene Hackman or Denzel Washington is going to be great. This one is exceptionally so, despite some inaccuracies of submarine protocols.
20 We Were Soldiers Well done Viet Nam story that shows the horrors of war and the home front that was based on a true story.
19 Tombstone Another great Western. Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, and Sam Elliot. "I'm your huckleberry!"
18 Blade Good vampire versus all the bad vampires out there. Wesley Snipes' best movie.
17 Star Trek Very well done version and great special effects. The casting of Spock and Bones for this one was dead on!
16 In Harm's Way Best John Wayne WWII movie with an all star cast including Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum, Carrol O'Conner, Burgess Meredith, and Slim Pickens.
15 Rocky III Best of the Rocky movies. They should have ended the Rocky series with this one, as they had originally planned.
14 3:10 to Yuma One of the best recent Westerns in a long while. Russell Crowe makes for a great complex bad guy, and having been to Yuma, I understand why he doesn't want to go there either.
13 Underworld Great story line in a vampires versus werewolves plot.
12 Jaws Scared the crap out of me the first time I saw it. I wouldn't step into the surf for a long time after that, particularly when I heard about the shark attack at Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast shortly after seeing this one.
11 The Princess Bride Great lines all throughout this one. "I don't think that means what you think it means!" Also a great family movie.
10 The Matrix Loved the totally new concepts behind this movie's plot, despite Keanu Reeves being the star.
9 The Man From Snowy River Australian western with beautiful cinematography. Kirk Douglas co-stars and does a fantastic job, as usual. Good family movie, too.
8 The Exorcism of Emily Rose Creepy movie that is loosely based on a true story.
7 A Few Good Men Rob Reiner's best movie. And while Colonel Jessup was wrong, he was also right!
6 The Dark Knight Fantastic plot line and an absolutely incredible performance by Heath Ledger as the Joker.
5 Rio Bravo Still my favorite John Wayne western. Great sound track with Dean Martin co-starring in this classic.
4 Serenity Cult classic movie created after the short-lived but very well written & dialogued series "Firefly".
3 Braveheart In my opinion, still the greatest epic ever done.
2 Passion of the Christ It was reported that Pope John Paul II purportedly said after seeing this, "It is as it was."

And my number one movie of all time is....

1 The Lord of the Rings Trilogy It is very rare for a movie to be better than a classic book. LOTR does it while being faithful to the spirit of the author's vision. Great acting, great special effects, and great screenplay of these classic books. None are better!

Anyway, not that anyone cares, but those are my favorites that came to mind. I am sure I probably will remember others that I should have included later, but this is a pretty comprehensive list for me.

Anyway, best wishes to all for a very Happy New Year!

You Cannot Ever Go Back Home

Being on vacation and visiting family back in the Portland area this week, I have come to the conclusion that I could never move back to my home town again. While I miss the conifers and the beautiful greenery, and of course my family and friends, I unfortunately cannot tolerate the fruits, nuts, and flakes that populate this town that have now reached critical mass and basically have ruined many of the best parts of this beautiful state.

Just reading the local newspaper, The Oregonian, was enough to get my blood pressure severely elevated. Portland may now be more liberal than San Francisco is, and they are proud of it! One would think that they would realize that it is their liberal policies that have about bankrupted the state and caused the comparatively outrageous unemployment rate here, not to mention the fact that they have caused grossly unnecessary traffic nightmares through very poor city planning and a flat out refusal to expand major arterials.

Then to top it off, I spent four hours in a freak Portland area snow-storm that should have only taken 20 minutes to reach my destination. Horrendous traffic I can tolerate, however, it grows unbearable when the other motorists bring a new meaning to foolish and rude. For those of them that believe in karma, they must have caught it coming back around because most of the ones in the ditches were the rude idiots in their BMW's, Subaru's, and Prius's.

By the way, I find it amusing how many bumper stickers on cars such as these state their support in "Freeing Tibet" or supporting Palestine. One wonders, and I strongly suspect, that these are the same folks that want us to pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan after successfully liberating millions and millions of people living under an evil dictator and a freedom-hating totalitarian regime respectively.

Yeah, the home area of my boyhood has gotten too big, too crowded, too liberal, and too expensive. I guess I will just have to remember it as it was in my memories and watch the Blazers on TV when they broadcast the games nationally so I can still see at least something great from Portland that hasn't changed!

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2, Verses 4 through 14

And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son.

She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock.

The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear.

The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests."

Liberty Counsel Fights Health Care

The below letter comes from an email I received today from an organization that is attempting to thwart the evil of this health care bill. It states the issues better than I could, so I am reprinting it in its entirety. T. Paine

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

You and I have witnessed one of the most corrupt legislative schemes in American history! Now, Senate Democrats are rightfully getting called on the carpet for it.
Please read below- Mat

Mr. Paine,

For the past several weeks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has systematically bought off every Democrat member of the Senate who could possibly derail his crucial cloture vote on ObamaCare. When all the "bribes" were handed out, Reid had the required 60 votes to choke off debate in the middle of the night!

Honest Americans have been nauseated as we have watched:

** Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) get $300 million in extra
federal spending for her state in what critics derisively
called "The Louisiana Purchase."

** Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) break the hearts of pro-life
Americans by accepting a deal exempting his state from
any new Medicaid costs and several other long-term perks.
Nelson's purchase has been dubbed the "Cornhusker Kick Back."

** Many other bribes and "special provisions" affecting the
states of Vermont, North and South Dakota, Wyoming,
Massachusetts, Hawaii, Michigan, Florida, and Connecticut -
you can easily associate each bought-and-paid-for senator's
name with their state by reviewing recent news feeds.

But perhaps most painful of all was watching a condescending, smug Harry Reid justifying his corrupt acts by suggesting it is every senator's DUTY to get pay-offs for their votes!

"If they don't have something in it important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them," Reid said in a post-cloture interview.

So much for the integrity of the United States Senate!

The liberal congressional leadership and the Obama White House arm twisters have drug our nation down to the level of a cheap banana republic!

++On top of the corruption, ObamaCare is unconstitutional

If you wondered why Harry Reid has been rushing his 2,074-page bill and its 383-page "Manager's Amendment" through in the middle of the night with just hours to read them, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and his staff found at least one answer...

Right there on page 1,020, the tyrannical Senate majority
insists that no future Congress can repeal or otherwise
amend the section on "Independent Medical Advisory Boards."

You will probably remember that socialists mocked Governor Sarah Palin for calling such independent boards "death panels." Yet Governor Palin was absolutely correct in her assessment - what else would you call boards with the power to grant or deny life-saving care using some "cost-benefit" formula?

Carefully hidden away in Reid's version of ObamaCare is a section that gives these boards far more power and permanence than the Constitution allows to ANY government entity!

Thankfully, Senators Jim DeMint and John Ensign (R-NV) raised a "Constitutional Point of Order" on the Senate floor yesterday concerning these "Advisory Boards." The Senate cannot pass a law that can never be repealed by a future Senate. How ridiculous is the thought? Sen. Reid is acting like a dictator!

They also called Reid out on the ObamaCare "Personal Mandate" that every American must buy insurance or face criminal charges. Please pray that Senators DeMint and Ensign won't be slapped down by the newly purchased 60-vote super-majority!

++ If this bill becomes law, Liberty Counsel is prepared to
challenge its constitutionality in court!

Harry Reid's version of ObamaCare (H.R. 3590) and its "Manager's Amendment" are unconstitutional because:

1) Congress has NO authority to force every American to carry insurance coverage, and,
2) Congress has NO authority to fine employers whose policies do not have the mandated coverage.

Mr. Paine, if this monstrous healthcare bill passes, it must be strongly challenged in the federal judiciary from the moment of its birth. Liberty Counsel stands ready to do exactly that!

++For now, as difficult as it may be, we MUST continue to make Congress hear our voice!

Major pro-life and conservative organizations are going all out this week to BURY the Senate in protest over Harry Reid's and Barack Obama's dirty tricks.

After the Senate adjourns for the Christmas break (now planned for Thursday morning), we will have time to strategize the next phase of our resistance to ObamaCare. But we MUST send them home with their ears ringing with protests against this outrageous bill and the scandalous way it has been handled!

Americans nationwide are expressing OUTRAGE at this overt manipulation and total lack of integrity. Reid, Pelosi and Obama have proven they will do anything to get this government takeover of our medical industry.

Now more than ever, the socialists and abortion advocates need to understand that WE HAVE NOT GIVEN UP and will resist to the very end!

Here's what I'm asking you to do...

#1 -- Fax Your Senators TODAY!

Even if you have done so many times already, help us continue flooding Senate offices with protests right up until the Senate adjourns. Go here right now:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=23844&CID=297&RID=22615542

Of course, we always encourage you to send your own faxes if you prefer. We have provided all the information you need to reach the key senators here:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=23845&CID=297&RID=22615542

#2 - Call your Senators!

Please... take a moment to call your two Senators - even right up to Christmas Eve - and let them know you are OUTRAGED by the way this bill has been handled.

Sen. Hatch 202-224-5251

Sen. Bennett 202-224-5444

#3 - Pray that this bill will be miraculously derailed! Pray for God's deliverance from being forced to pay for abortions and from the overt deceit and trickery that has become the norm from the Obama/Pelosi/Reid power axis. PLEASE keep the heat on, especially now that we have been shoved aside! Go here to raise your voice in protest:

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=23846&CID=297&RID=22615542

Now is NOT the time to be silent! Join like-minded Americans who will be making Harry Reid and the Senate majority realize that this power-play WILL be the undoing of everyone who votes for the ObamaCare Abortion Bill of 2009!

God bless you,

Mathew Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

P.S. This battle is not over, no matter how much the Pelosi/Reid/Obama power axis wants us to think that it is. Now that there are serious challenges to ObamaCare's constitutionality, anything can happen!

Please pray! There is always hope in God! Continue taking action!
And let your Senators know that you WILL hold them accountable for their decisions on ObamaCare and its outrageous handling! Once again, thank you for praying and speaking out.

+ + Comments? Questions?

http://www.libertyaction.org/r.asp?U=23847&CID=297&RID=22615542

Liberty Counsel, with offices in Florida, Virginia and Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family. Liberty Counsel . PO Box 540774 . Orlando, FL 32854 .
800-671-1776

The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1, Verses 26 through 38

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.

And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."

But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"

And the angel said to her in reply, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God."

Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Will Sovereign Debt Defaults Bring the End of Socialism?

A friend sent this interesting tid-bit to me that nicely sums up where we are right now as a nation as we stand at the proverbial fork in the road. We had dang well better choose the right fork or this great American experiment in self rule and capitalism will come to an end. Ironic that this was sent to me by a lawyer! I guess there are a few out there that still understand what is at stake though. As for the other lawyers out there, well they have been despised from way back in Shakespeare's day when he penned, "First, kill all of the lawyers!"

Will Sovereign Debt Defaults Bring the End of Socialism?

By James Turk.

Socialism has come to mean many different things to many people, but regardless how it is defined, in the months immediately ahead it will be put to a rigorous test. The test will be visible to everyone as countries around the globe run out of money and confront overwhelming debts that cannot be repaid as well as other wide-ranging financial promises that can no longer be met. In short, the ideological bankruptcy of socialism will be laid bare by government insolvency.

It had to come sooner or later. The reasons are not hard to understand.

The ideological bankruptcy is neatly captured by British author and advocate for individual rights, Cecil Palmer: “Socialism is workable only in heaven where it isn’t needed, and in hell where they’ve got it”. And government insolvency is explained by famed economist Frederic Bastiat, who made this levelheaded observation nearly 150 years ago about the nascent modern socialism then emerging. “The State is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.” More recently, Margaret Thatcher, being a sensible politician, put it pragmatically: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”

Take Greece for example. This past week yields on its 10-year bonds surged in the wake of downgrades by the bond rating agencies, which finally recognized that Greece does not have the financial resources needed to repay its debts, which now stand near junk levels. Not far behind are Latvia, Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom and almost every other country in Europe, even though they may still flog paper rated as “investment grade.” The reality is that the rating agencies just have not yet come to grips with the breadth and depth of widespread government insolvency, or have willingly turned a blind-eye to it. And don’t forget Iceland which of course has already collapsed.

How did we sink to this state of affairs? Nobel Laureate Friedrich von Hayek provides the answer in his brilliantly insightful and prescient book, The Road to Serfdom, penned during the waning years of the Second World War.

Hayek’s central theme is that wars expand the power of the modern state because the national planning to fight the war continues even during times of peace. This perennial government planning then expands the social-welfare state over time, with harmful results. Most importantly, economic activity is impeded by the growing state as people and resources become less productive. In other words, because the government does not create consumable goods and services, it is an economic burden to the productive sector of the economy.

Then as the government grows, interest groups become increasingly numerous and powerful, leading to political corruption. More wars or even foreign policy tensions and economic crises can propel demagogues and dictatorial leaders to expand further state powers to the detriment of each and every one of us. In Hayek’s words: “Emergencies have always been the pretext on which the safeguards of individual liberty have eroded.”

Hayek noted that the subtle damage inflicted upon the productive economy and the visible growth of the state arising from socialism become evident only over time. We have now reached that stage.

More people depend on the state than those who provide it with the money the state needs to meet its promises. Most of Europe long ago passed the 50% threshold with more people depending on government than the private sector, but even in the United States – long reigning as the bastion of capitalism, free-markets and limited government – 58% of the population derives their income from government at some level.

Consequently, we are now approaching a fork in the road. One way leads to more socialism, more demagogues and eventually a dictator who promises that he will make socialism ‘work’. The other leads to the capitalist society that America used to be, with free-markets, limited government and the unconditional rule of law.

Hopefully, we will choose correctly. If we don’t, we know from Winston Churchill what awaits us: “The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.”

*****
James Turk is the Founder & Chairman of GoldMoney.com . He is the co-author of The Collapse of the Dollar and publisher of the Free Gold Money Report http://www.fgmr.com/
Copyright © 2009 by James Turk. All rights reserved.

The Triumph of the Dark Side of Health Care

Well it seems like the evil Lord Obama and his apprentice sith Darth Reid got one critical step closer to realizing their complete control of America. In the wee hours of the morning the other night, the United States Senate found a way to bribe the 60th senator, Ben Nelson D - NE, so that a vote of cloture to end debate on the health care bill would be passed and the dark side of the force could triumph over liberty and freedom.

I am frustrated and saddened deeply with this whole exercise in hypocrisy and cynicism. Many of the so-called "moderate" senators were holding to their votes against this evil legislation on the grounds that the bill before them would raise the deficit and/or not protect unborn life. I guess these weren't really core principals for these senators as much as guidelines. I say this because in the case of Senator Landrieu from Louisiana, her opposition collapsed with tax-payer bribes to her state that dwarfed in cost what the real Louisiana purchase cost Thomas Jefferson when he bought the western half of the United States. Thereby her vote and transformation to the dark side were cast.

The latest and the most importantly-needed 60th vote came when Senator Nelson threw away his principals against abortion and against adding to the deficit when he agreed to vote for the legislation if Harry Reid would ensure that ALL of the future medicare expenses for new recipients in his state of Nebraska would be paid for by the federal government in perpetuity. That was the cost for his vote and soul.

Now there are many experts out there claiming that there is still hope of defeating this legislation through our citizen opposition, but Darth Reid has the senate vote scheduled for Christmas eve. I don't think these "moderates" and their progressive storm trooper senators are going to blink an eye as they vote for final passage of the senate's version of this bill.

It then goes to reconciliation with the House's version, but the Democrats are so longing for power that I am sure between Darth Reid and Darth Pelosi, that some freedom-stealing, free-market-destroying health care compromise bill will come forth from the muck. At this point there are definitely 51 senators and probably well over half of the Democratically controlled House that will vote for this, since it never really was about health care anyway. It is about expansion of government power, and that is what those controlled by the dark side really had in mind all along.

If this had been something of which the senate was proud, they would have done this in the morning with huge fan-fare and media present instead of at one in the morning under the veil of darkness. Instead they drafted a bill of which very few, if any, have read that contains all sorts of buy-offs and liberty-stealing provisions for a government take over of 1/6th of the greatest nation in the world's economy. Oh yeah, and they, of course, have exempted themselves from the health care dictates of the bill.

Just as Queen Amidala stated, after the chancellor had been given de facto dictatorship of the empire, "So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause" , it would seem that our own nation too is following this path. Frankly I wonder if our own rebel alliance can restore freedom to the galaxy starting in 2010 and then finally overthrowing the evil emperor in 2012.