by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

Two news items caught my attention this past month, and although they occurred 3,000 miles apart, they are definitely connected.

In New York, Muzzammil Hassan, who started a cable TV network after 9/11 to prove to America that American Muslims are a moderate, peace-loving people, beheaded his wife, Aasiya, because she was planning to divorce him. In moderate Muslim circles, that happens to be grounds for a so-called honor killing. I believe other grounds include daring to touch the TV remote and over-seasoning the hummus.

At nearly the same time, a Dutch politician, Geert Wilders, was invited by a member of the House of Lords to come to England and screen his 17-minute film. The documentary, “Fitna,” links text from the Koran with footage of Islamic terrorism around the world. (more…)

by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

If I hear one more person point out that Obama is the president and that it’s our duty to support him, I just might run amok. For one thing, I resent being reminded that he actually won the election and that it’s not all a bad dream from which I’ll awaken as soon as the alarm clock rings. For another, there was a very good reason that I voted for John McCain, and it certainly had nothing to do with my having great expectations of the man, and everything to do with my conviction that Obama was a left-wing ideologue.

Judging by the early days of his administration, I have had to reevaluate him. He’s even worse than I feared. It’s been one disaster after another. His appointments have been a series of embarrassments. His hard sell of the Pelosi-Reid trillion dollar earmark makes him look like the worst sort of fear-monger. (more…)

by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

I believe it is long past time to end the War on Drugs. That’s not because I approve of drug use or have any desire to encourage it. But this particular war has already gone on longer than the ones in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, put together, with no end in sight and far less to show for it.

I would not only decriminalize drug use, I would give it the same legal status as tobacco and alcohol, and with the same age restrictions. For one thing, this would provide a great source of new tax revenue. Also, it would free up jail space for non-drug related crimes.

With the legalization of drugs, the profits that currently accrue to dealers, who use a portion of their ill-gotten gains to pay off politicians, judges and corrupt cops, could go to American companies and American workers. (more…)

by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

Down through the years, there have been a great many movies in which school teachers have been portrayed as decent and hard-working, even heroic. Just a handful that come to mind are “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” “Holland’s Opus,” “This Land is Mine,” “Up the Down Staircase,” “Good Morning, Miss Dove,” “Cheers for Miss Bishop,” “The School of Rock,” “Dangerous Minds,” “Blackboard Jungle,” “To Sir, With Love,” “Stand and Deliver” and “Dead Poet’s Society.”

But when it comes to college and university professors, they tend to be portrayed either as comical buffoons (“The Nutty Professor,” “Monkey Business,” “Son of Flubber,” “The Absent Minded Professor,” “It Happens Every Spring,” “Horse Feathers”) or as petty, demented and, often as not, alcoholics (“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” “People Will Talk,” “The Squid and the Whale”). In fact, the last time I recall a movie about a professor that any normal person would wish to spend time with was the 1948 release, “Apartment for Peggy,” and even in that one, Edmund Gwenn spent most of his time planning to commit suicide. (more…)

by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

As I sit here, the Obama administration is less than a month old and, quite honestly, it’s really no worse than I imagined it would be. But please keep in mind that I wagered it would be even worse than the one Jimmy Carter presided over, and so far I have no reason to switch my bet.

What does surprise me is the fact that so many people continue to be delusional about the president. Even if we overlook the fact that he promised that all of his appointees would be squeaky clean and honorable, and wound up, instead, being a pack of tax cheats, lobbyists and Clinton re-treads, I would have expected his disciples to have rubbed the sleep out of their eyes and seen him for the con artist he obviously is. Frankly, I think he makes Bernard Madoff look like an amateur. (more…)

by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

Members of the Mafia have to take a vow of silence, and if they break it, they face the very real possibility of winding up dead. Liberals have their own version of the vow. However, instead of having to keep quiet about murder, drug deals and extortion, they must promise not to ridicule their own kind.

The price of breaking the code isn’t death, it’s something far more serious; namely, exile from their social circle. Dare to make fun of Joe Biden’s statement that in 1929, President Roosevelt went on TV to reassure his fellow Americans about the Depression, and don’t expect to be invited to write for the Huffington Post. Dare to laugh at Nancy Pelosi’s contention that 500 million Americans are losing their jobs every month, and you can forget about being invited to brunch at Streisand’s or to pitch a movie idea to Tom Hanks or Steven Spielberg. Believe me, for some people, that’s a far worse fate than swimming with the fishes. (more…)

by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

Lately, it seems every time I turn around I hear about some politician or bureaucrat who is absolutely indispensable.  As often as not, these people are talking about themselves.  And, frankly, if this keeps up, I’m going to have to stop turning around.

The first of these braggarts was New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  In demanding that the city council do away with term limits, Bloomberg insisted that, thanks to the financial crisis, New York needed him, and him alone, at the helm.

When people say these kinds of things, we assume they’re either a Cuban dictator or an inmate at an asylum with his hand tucked in his jacket, claiming to be Napoleon. (more…)

by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

I’m sure that most of us have heard the inspiring story of the Boston Tea Party. At least when I was in school, they were still relating the tale of a handful of American patriots, including Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, who, weary of taxation without representation, dumped large amounts of English tea into Boston Harbor. Well, if I could include time travel among my many talents, I just might go back to 1773 and try to persuade them to reconsider. “Boys, “ I’d say to them, “I understand your frustration. But you have no idea what this is going to lead to down the road. I know that King George is as crazy as a loon, but a couple of hundred years from now, your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren are going to have to answer to Ted Kennedy and John Kerry. Compared to them, King George looks as wise as King Solomon and as congenial as Ben Franklin.” (more…)

by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

It wasn’t that long ago that my friend Bernard Goldberg told me he was never going to write another book.  It was just a lot of hard work, he complained, and while he was working on one, virtually all joy was sucked out of his life.  It made perfect sense to me.  Besides, books take a lot of time to write and Bernie, who wishes he’d grown another foot-and-a-half so he could have competed in the NBA, still needs to work on his hook shot.

Well, he lied.  But at least it was in a good cause.  I just read his latest slice-and-dice of the liberal media, “A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media),” and I was  reminded what a travesty the MSM made of the 1st amendment in its desire to ensure Obama’s victory. (more…)

by Burt Prelutsky [scriptwriter]

I have written with an air of despondency about the bleak future I see for conservatism in America. For one thing, Obama won the election by capturing the votes of virtually every demographic group imaginable, except for older white guys. And the one thing you can say about us, individually and as a voting bloc is that, alas, we’re not getting any younger.

The most discouraging sign was that Obama, the pro-choice candidate, defeated McCain, a pro-lifer, by a 2-1 majority among Hispanics. Apparently, their bishops had no more influence over them than I did. (more…)