This selection is available as a downloadable or streaming audio listenable podcast at The Voice of Liberty Podcast Network, Week 4.

This Thanksgiving season, I think I've come to a conclusion and am turning over a new leaf.  Some, once they hear what it is, will no doubt ask me "What took you so long?"  All I can say is that I guess I just needed to see things from a different perspective.  In this case, that perspective was provided by my second child and oldest daughter, known here at BCM as "The Redhead".

I don't particularly care for "chick flicks".  The Much Younger Trophy Wife, given a choice, would watch nothing but movies from a lady's point of view.  Fortunately for me, The Redhead shares my interest in movies where things explode, bad guys are felled in a wild hail of bullets, foes are pummeled into submission in a flurry of martial arts mania or are diced into a cinematic version of raw fish at your local Sakura!  Usually, one of my closest friends is the one to accompany me on my quests to satisfy my macho movie mania.  When he's unavailable, The Redhead makes a great substitute.  Not only do I get my movie, I get some daddy-daughter time as well.  This was one of those times.

We went to see a movie I've been waiting to see since I first saw the trailer months ago - "Hitman".  For the most part, the movie was everything I wanted it to be.  But watching it and discussing it on the way home with the The Redhead, it has likely proven to be something else that I didn't anticipate - the last straw.

You see, smack dab in the middle of the movie, for no purpose necessary to the plot or scene, a woman sashays across the screen topless.  The purpose of the walk seems to be to set up the line "It's not polite to stare."  A moment later she walks back across the room, this time to introduce the line, "Get dressed, we're going to dinner."  In a final scene a few minutes later, she tries to seduce the protagonist and straddles him topless.

Discussing the movie on the way home, The Redhead and I couldn't talk about anything other than why the moviemakers chose to include those three scenes.  There was simply no need to include the first two and a dozen ways to have portrayed the final scene that didn't involve nudity.  Our final conclusion as to their motivation for using the footage?  Because they can!

Movies aren't the only cinematic pastime our family enjoys.  There are several TV shows that we watch regularly together or TIVO and watch later.  Shows like NCIS, The Unit, and Numb3rs.  It would be nice to be able to say that the fascination with sexuality, especially of the illicit variety, was limited to the movies.  That way, only those choosing to attend the movie would be exposed.  That way, there would be no chance of a child accidentally sitting down and turning on something a parent might find objectionable.  Like I said, it would be nice.

Over the last couple of seasons, The Much Younger Trophy Wife and I have noticed what, for us, has been a disturbing trend in TV programming.  Far and away our favorite show has been 'The Unit' which is the story of an elite US Army SpecOps unit that operates all over the world.  It portrays our military as capable, competent and human.  For the last couple of seasons, however, it has also portrayed them as addicted to adultery.  Totally unnecessary to the flow of the show; at odds with the reality of the military, and; offered up as a stereotypical handout in place of a real subplot involving the show's women - this subplot has generated a couple of letters from The Much Younger Trophy Wife to the network requesting that they finally put that storyline to bed - pun intended.  So far, their response has been nonexistent and the adultery subplot continues - again - because they can.

This year, there's a new series out, 'Cane', starring perennial fan favorite Jimmy Smits.  It's the story of Cuban immigrants who make it big in the rum business in Florida and owe much of their success to owning the sugar cane fields from which their product literally flows.  This has been a show that, for a variety of reasons, only I have watched.  It appeals to me on a number of levels.  It is well written and acted.  The music is spectacular if you enjoy tunes from the Caribbean. It's great to see a drama featuring Hispanics and not just stereotypical sitcoms.

But the theme of sex has been omnipresent in 'Cane'.  On more than one occasion in this first season there have been bedroom scenes that belong in movies and not on TV.  This last week was the worst.  Not only was there a scene where a man clearly had his hand on a woman's breast but it was followed up with a foreplay scene that might as well have been from an 'R' rated big screen offering.  Again, none of this was integral to the plot of the show.  Not in the least.  Why was it included?  At the risk of sounding like a broken record ... because they can.

As part of our conversation about 'Hitman' I asked The Redhead why she thought the filmmakers put those scenes in since they were clearly unneeded.  She responded with the opinion that perhaps those who don't appreciate such scenes were not vocal enough or clear enough in their objection.  Perhaps filmmakers believed their audience needed such scenes to continue to watch.  I  shared with her that her mom and I had been frustrated enough to write letters and complain and that it seemed to do little good.  She shrugged and we finished up the trip home talking about other things.

But I've not been able to get the issue out of my mind.  More to the point, I've not been able to get it out of my heart.  And I've tried to find a response that would communicate to filmmakers my displeasure and my desire for good films devoid of debauchery.  I think I've done all I can to let them know how I feel.  They don't seem to care.  But if I continue to support their efforts what message am I sending to The Redhead and the rest of my family and friends?  Thus, regrettably, I've come to the conclusion that the only course of action left to me is to stop my participation in the process.  I'll not be going to the movies anywhere close to as often as I have been and will be paying much closer attention to the ratings of those films I choose to see.  And I'll be turning off the tube more as well.

Because I have a my family to think of.  Because I have my values to consider.  Because I can ...

Blue Collar Muse

For more from The Muse, visit Blue Collar Muse.

For Conservative happenings in Tennessee, please visit The Tennessee ConserVOLiance.

The title of the post is from a song from a few years back.  A gal is looking, of course, for Mr. Right.  When he doesn't materialize, she settles for someone that's less than what she's looking for but who is available immediately.

It seems the political Right may be going through something similar searching for candidates at all levels of government.  In the Presidential race, there isn't a breakaway candidate that everyone is getting behind, there's only the guy with the highest level of support.  I understand this is primary season and we're looking at lots of folks from which to choose.  But Rudy, the current frontrunner, only has 24% of the vote according to yesterday's Rasmussen Report.  10 points back and bunched are Fred, Mitt, Huck and McCain at 14, 13, 12, and 11 respectively.

7 weeks out from the Iowa Caucus and 10 weeks from Super Tuesday and, if nothing changes, just 25% of our people will choose our candidate.  Again, I understand how primaries work.  But I also understand that Clinton took a beating from the Right for not managing to garner even a slim majority in either of his elections.  Further, the flavor of our selection process seems more European than American.  There are so many issues and so many candidates with a wide range of positions on those issues that we'll not be able to decide on the basis of which qualified candidate is the best to represent us.  It seems we'll be deciding based on which candidate can cobble together the biggest coalition willing to live with his perceived shortcomings.  In short, we all want Mr. Right (or Mr. Right Wing) but are settling for Mr. Right Now.

I wonder if our current shortage of truly desirable candidates stems from applying the same Right/Right Now criteria to an area other than issues.  I'm talking about electability.  I'm convinced that if we want strong, effective leaders and steady Conservatives as candidates tomorrow, we need to do some things different today.  Chief among those things is the criteria with which we choose candidates - particularly for local and state races which so often feed federal races.

We have admirable goals of establishing solid Republican majorities in the various states and regaining the majorities we enjoyed federally.  However, as long as decisions made in "smoke filled rooms" with party movers and shakers deciding who gets to run and other scenarios whereby candidates are slated more because they can be elected than because they are the best ones to govern we'll be saddled with candidates who have the requisite "R" by their name but lack the guiding principles of what that "R" stands for in their character.

As we look at the important states and races around the country, I'd like to see the Party look more for people with the character and ideology first.  Once these folks are identified and have accepted the encouragement to run, then the GOP needs to get behind them and, as Hearst famously said of Billy Graham, "Puff" them.

It may take an election cycle or two to find these folks and longer for them to acquire the credibility they need to be elected.  But money and name recognition can be raised and developed.  Character and ideology are harder to come by.  If our goal remains finding an "R" who can win with little thought as to how he'll govern, our fortunes will not change and our dissatisfaction will only deepen.  If, however, we put quality in on the front end, while it may take longer and cost more, the end result will be more satisfying and will last a whole lot longer.

Thinking the right way to find Mr. Right is to make some changes right now ...

Blue Collar Muse

Cross Posted from Blue Collar Muse

It's an old saying that, in some things, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  There are few venues in which that truth is more evident than in the arena of political activism.  There is something special that happens when groups of people come together and pool their passion, ideas and efforts.

That's the reason I started Blue Collar Muse.  But when I started, I thought the isolated efforts of individuals would be sufficient to get the job done.  After almost a year in the blogosphere, I've come to believe that it is only insofar as we work together in some fashion that we will achieve a large measure of success.

So, in order to promote and advance the efforts of the politically Conservative side of the blogosphere, I'm pleased to announce the launch of a new blog, 'The Tennessee ConserVOLiance'.  The ConserVOLiance is intended to serve as a clearinghouse for ideas, events, strategies and more to be applied to whatever is going on in Tennessee politics. To quote the our inaugural post, 'Launching the Alliance',


To expand on the role the we hope to play in Tennessee, I observed the following in an email to several folks I've invited to join,

I obviously don't know all the Tennessee folks on the Right side of the aisle nor do I have contact information for them either.  So, if you're a political Conservative, from Tennessee and you have a verifiable presence on the 'Net as a blogger, vlogger, podcaster or in any other arm of the New Media, you're invited to join us.  Simply email us at The ConserVOLiance and ask to join in.  If you know someone like that, please let them know about us.  Of course, any link love available by being added to blogrolls, mentioned in blog posts or featured in national media  and such would be greatly appreciated.

In your email, please include the following:

Your real first and last name;
Your location in Tennessee;
Your blog name;
Your blog URL;
Your Email address.

(NOTE:  Your personal information will NEVER be used for anything other than official TNCVA business and will NEVER be sold, rented or distributed in any fashion to anyone for any reason!!)

Thanks in advance for putting your shoulder to the wheel with us.  Together, we can keep Tennessee strong and comfortably 'Red'.

Thinking that whole "Two are better than one" thing from the Bible is pretty impressive.  How'd they know about the Internet way back then ...

Blue Collar Muse