The Democrats have been saying for some time that Barack Obama will restore our reputation in the eyes of the world, and I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out what went wrong in the first place.

The world hates us. We know this, because our own media inform us of it regularly through polls, editorials, and documentaries. Because of our actions, our policies, over the years, we have built up a reservoir of resentment worldwide that only Obama can sooth.

You know, I think they are right. Let's look at the sins we've committed with an eye toward helping our next president, whoever it may be, to regain our popularity in the world.

Most of the complaints have to do with the American reaction to problems overseas. Should America get involved, and in what capacity? From my observations, we have clearly blundered many times, causing them to hate us. [more]

Because California, and Hollywood in particular, have been the punch line for so many jokes over the years, I suspect that people who don’t live out here assume we can’t possibly be that wacky.  They don’t know the half of it.

In order for you to better understand what conservatives in this neck of the woods have to deal with, I’ll relate a few typical incidents.  The first took place about 10 years ago.  My wife and I were invited to a dinner party by the widow of a screenwriter who’d been my longtime tennis partner.  We were one of six couples.  Which meant that, counting the hostess, there were 13 of us sitting around after dinner.  I recall thinking at the time that this is how superstitions come to be perpetuated. [more]

new @ ExileStreet

...Hollywood’s Holy Week Christophobic Fantasy
by Brian Fitzpatrick CMI

On NBC’s Law & Order, a college student influenced by a radical Christian youth minister murders his mother to save her soul after she commits adultery with a Muslim.

When will Hollywood ’s secular bigots figure out that Bible-believing Christians have nothing in common with fundamentalist Muslim terrorists?

On Wednesday, Law & Order served up another of those famed episodes ripped from the headlines – except the violence-preaching madrassa is Christian, not Muslim, the evil cleric brainwashing children quotes the Bible, not the Koran, and American Christians haven’t executed anybody by stoning since the Salem witch trials. 

The plot for this episode is so ludicrous it hardly merits retelling, but for clarity’s sake, here’s a quick summary.  The police find the body of a woman art gallery owner killed by stoning, and immediately suspect the killer had “strong religious views.”  Suspicion falls first on a Muslim artist.

Time for a cheap shot at the Bush administration: the National Security Agency is wiretapping the gallery owner by mistake, revealing that she was having an affair with the artist.  Suspicion shifts to her irreligious husband, who apparently didn’t mind being cuckolded.  For reasons not explained, the police decide to arrest their son, Jason, a college student. [more]