Movie Review: Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

As the fourth installment of this somewhat incredulous but successful movie franchise, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip is one of the better of the lot. Now, “better” is all relative in this wacky world created from the Ross Bagdasarian characters that once annoyingly shrieked a famous Christmas song that kids loved and parents loved to hate.

Jason Lee is back as the long-suffering Dave Seville, who somehow has formed a family unit with these talking and singing chipmunks that are like rodent Three Stooges creating havoc everywhere they go, prompting Dave to scream the oft-expected “Alvin!!!” in desperation. Of course, the chipmunks give the kiddies what they want, and as long as that is the case these movies will keep coming, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

My child didn’t have to drag me to see this; I have always found some sort of entertainment in the franchise; however, this one is probably the most palatable entry from the parents’ perspective since the first film. There are enough in-jokes to give adults a chuckle while the kids will be screeching with laughter throughout (which was the case for my son and his peer group of 4-10 year olds who were present at our viewing).

The story concerns the titular chippies worrying that their “Dad” dear old Dave is now in love with the beautiful Samantha (Kimberly Williams –Paisley). The problem or conflict extends to Samantha’s teenage son Miles (Josh Green), who abuses the boys when no one is looking and enjoys doing it. Alvin and company fear that Dave is about to be engaged (a huge diamond ring in the safe seems to confirm it for them) making Miles their brother and condemning them to a life of torture.

When Dave takes Samantha to Miami for what they believe will be the big romantic moment, Alvin and company form an unholy alliance with their tormentor Miles (who has daddy issues because of the father who left him as a young child) to go there and stop it from happening. The bulk of the film concentrates on this odd quartet getting from L.A. to Miami.

An incident on the plane out of L.A. may be the funniest sequence, when animals from below are inadvertently released by Theodore and invade the cabin. This sets Air Marshall Suggs (Tony Hale as another hapless chipmunk nemesis) who grounds the plane in Texas, puts them on the no-fly list, and then futilely chases them cross country in hopes to throw them in “chipmunk jail.”

There are some musical sequences, a few heart-string moments, and the issue of fatherhood comes up and its importance to both Miles and the chipmunks. A particularly rousing musical number in the streets of New Orleans will delight old and young alike, and director Walt Becker (with road trip experience from Wild Hogs) plays it exceedingly safe by staying close to formula – throw the boys into situations, have them stir the pot, and let the mayhem ensue.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip is a nice way to spend 92 minutes with your children, and there is nothing in this PG-rated film to offend anyone (except perhaps air marshalls or overworked TSA workers). As my son and I walked away from the theater, he had a smile on his face and I did too. In the end that’s what this kind of movie is really all about.

Photo credits: 20th Century Fox

Favorite Toys Christmas 2015

Some of you may remember the ones – ghosts of hot toys from Christmases past – such as Tickle Me Elmo, Furbys, or Cabbage Patch dolls. Now perhaps relegated to shelves or closets or even boxes in attics, these toys once set kids’ hearts afire and blazed a trail across the retail world like a comet. Alas, being a hot toy is like having fifteen minutes of fame, and there are always new ones ready to take center stage.

Each year there always seems to be the hot toys that my kid wants, and this year is nothing different. I gauge potential toy hotness in two ways – what he writes on his Santa list and what is being advertised on the TV stations he watches. Many times these are divergent because it has more to do with what he likes than what is advertised.

For example, my son’s year was dominated by watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and wanting the associated toys. Having graduated from Octonauts and Jake and the Neverland Pirates last Christmas, he embraced this as his favorite show to watch. This in itself was showing signs of him moving from six to seven years old this year. However, the impending premiere of the film Star Wars: The Force Awakens rocked his world with so many TV commercials for the various toys associated with it. Since he expressed such excitement, I decided to watch Star Wars: A New Hope with him for the first time to see if he would have any interest, and the result was mind boggling – the force is strong with this one now.

So Santa’s list was composed with a slew of Star Wars requests among other things. As always Santa was very, very good to us this year; judging from my son’s interest and enthusiasm and playing time over the last 24+ hours, here are this year’s top-five favorite toys.

5. Flying Millenium Falcon

This was one of the first toys opened, and boy did Santa hit a homer with it. The remote control is a little hard to get used to at first, and this speedy Millenium Falcon was crashing into lamps, walls, and even the Christmas tree. Once he got the hang of it, my son had the thing buzzing all around the house and taking off and landing smoothly and seemed ready for his own Kessell Run.

4. Snoopy Dog House

Another remote-controlled toy, this one is earthbound but very fast. My son can relive Snoopy’s adventures going after the Red Baron, and this thing really zips around the floors at a fast clip. The remote control seems easy to operate, and there is nothing better than hearing my son laugh as this toy spins in circles and then crashes into and topples the poinsettia plants by the fireplace. Good grief!

3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Playset

This rather large item is a recreation of the Turtles’ lair underneath the streets of New York City. It comes with Splinter and Mikey, and boasts a spacious playing area that includes a slide, water tower, collapsing NYC manhole cover, and various sounds. Luckily, Santa brought the other Turtles to complete the Fab Tortoise Four along with assorted villains to provide endless possibilities for action. Cowabunga!

2. Star Wars Lightsabers

Okay, I’ll admit it, I love these things. They are fun for active – and I mean very active – role playing. Santa was wise to bring a red and blue one for our enjoyment, and my son and I have had numerous battles that invariably do not end very well for me. Believe it or not, I am thrust into the role of Luke while my son plays Darth Vader (he thinks bad guys are more fun). In an odd moment near the end of each round, my son likes to say, “Luke, I am your father” before he “cuts off” my hand and asks me to join him in ruling the galaxy. Oh, and I always say, “No!!!!” before I fall of an imaginary precipice and then we can start the game over again.

1. Millenium Falcon (Nerf)

The absolutely hands-down favorite of all toys received is this large rendition of the Millenium Falcon – just perfect for those 3 and ¾ figures that we all grew up with and loved years ago. This one comes with Chewbacca, BB-8, and Finn (all from the new film), and boasts an elaborate interior where there is even a Hallo-chess board. It also has a Nerf cannon that shoots two included torpedoes that are perfect for blowing Kylo Ren and his minions out of the sky.*

Honorable Mentions:  Teen Titans figures, Mickey and gang as Star Wars characters, and Peanuts electronic skating pond.

Dad’s Favorite Gift:

To be honest here, I love toys as much as my son, so much so that occasionally Santa brings me something “collectible” to, of course, not play with but to just place on a shelf and display. This year my favorite is the Batcave from the classic TV series. Batman comes with two heads – masked and Adam West – and there are a slew of accessories including the bust of Shakespeare, red hotline phone, and the Bat Computer. I am sure to be playing with admiring this on my shelf quite often.

So there are the favorite toys my son received this year. Please feel free to let me know what ones were your kids’ (or your) favorites. I especially love to hear about unique toys that people receive that I am not aware existed.

*I must admit to really exploring this toy after my son has gone to bed, purely in the interest of understanding how it operates in order to facilitate a better playtime the following day.

Feeling the Christmas Card Blues

There was a time I recall not that long ago when Christmas cards were sent through regular mail as a way of connecting with friends and family at the end of the year. Besides the obligatory greetings and closings written respectively above and below the printed text on the cards, they usually contained messages apprising the reader about events and happenings during the year gone by, which seemed especially important coming from people who lived far away.

There were those more verbose card senders who would include a folded piece of paper inside the card with a long message covering the year gone by. I remember Mom waiting for these, especially from some of our more colorful relatives, who would describe their annual “adventures” playing bingo, visits to the doctor, trips to exotic locations, disputes with neighbors, and other matters in great and many times humorous detail.

This was, of course, long ago in a galaxy far away without text messages, email, and Facebook. Now it is almost a given that people stay in touch easily, and tidbits like “Sally had a baby” or “Uncle Ralph retired” would not wait to come in a year-end card but in some electronic form of communication throughout the year.

These days I am still receiving physical cards, some sent from those far and wide, but sadly for the most part they contain just greetings and closings. I wonder about the year the senders have spent, and would like to know more. Unfortunately, these are people I do not encounter online. I have no idea what has happened since they sent a similar card the year before, and that will continue to be the case in the year ahead.

Maybe these people just choose to live their lives day-in-day-out and prefer for people not to know their business. Of course, they have no obligation to inform me of their ups and downs throughout the year, but I wonder why they even bother sending the card in the first place.

My father passed away a few years ago, but he used to shake his head upon receiving these “no message” Christmas cards. I asked him why he thought people did that, and he said, “They’re checking to see if I still have a pulse.” Dad may have been on to something there, since he would never send a card to someone who hadn’t sent him one first (or had sent one the year before).

I still send out cards every year, but since I have children that means I am in the picture card zone. My wife and I debate about the pictures to select – ones that will attempt to convey a year in our children’s lives – and then we choose three shots, make up the cards at a local CVS, and send them off in an envelope with a printed message and nothing else. A couple of years ago I tried writing messages on the back, but that ruined the images on the front of the card, so I suspended that practice. So obviously I am not part of the solution but part of the problem too.

When I think about the cards we used to receive when I was a child, there must have been at least a hundred of them each year. Dad would take some of his old fishing line and tack it across the dining room wall in rows to hang all the cards to make an enormous and unique decoration. I remember happily thinking that we had so many relatives and friends.

Thus far this season I have received about ten cards – a far cry from days gone by. Most of my older relatives have passed away now, and some have moved away and lost touch. After the older generation was gone, their children didn’t keep up the practice. It saddens me to have lost connections with relatives who, even if they lived far away, had remained part of our lives albeit through the written word.

This year I have received numerous Christmas greetings through email and texts, and the usual warm wishes have been posted on Facebook. These forms of conveying greetings and good wishes are fine, and I have grown used to this as the order of things in the world we live in today.

Still, as I wrap presents and prepare for gatherings with family this Christmas, I listen to songs on the radio, and invariably old Bing Crosby comes on singing “White Christmas” and is dreaming of one with every Christmas card he writes. It inevitably makes me feel sorrow about the long lost practice that, no matter what the distance, seemed to bring people closer together.

With all the instant gratification and immediacy of the technology we have now, something tangible seems to be missing, something I doubt we will ever get back. I feel sad for my children; I feel sad for us all.

Movie Review: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' – More Than Worth the Wait

Okay, here goes my first spoiler – the very first thing you will see is like pure gold: the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…. ” My second spoiler is that there is an opening scrawl to explain that Luke Skywalker has gone missing and other assorted information. Cue the goosebumps, pins and needles, and tingling spine as you wait for what comes next!

So that’s it for spoilers in case you want more they won’t be revealed here. In many ways the whole movie is a spoiler, so in essence writing a review is a bit tricky, but I am game if you are.

It goes without saying what you already know – the gang is back in Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Princess now turned General Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), and Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). It may not be as big as getting the Beatles back together, but it feels pretty damn close.

Director J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Alias, Lost) has been super respectful to the source material, even more so than George Lucas, the creator of Darth Vader, Obi Wan Kenobi, Luke Skywalker, and company, who was responsible for the three generally disparaged prequels (by the way, I for one enjoyed Revenge of the Sith) and the notion of The Force – an energy that runs through the universe and has good and bad elements – that is a beloved Star Wars religion. The Jedi upheld all the lightness associated with it and the Sith embraced the dark side – creating evil characters like Darths Maul, Vader, and Sidious, and in this film the Darth wannabee Kylo Ren (Adam Driver).

The good news is that Han Solo and his trusty sidekick Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) have a prominent role in the film, as does Han’s beloved Millenium Falcon (apparently still causing awe amongst characters who know about the famous Kessell Run). It’s good to see Ford playing the role with gusto, and the comic interaction between him and Chewie is the stuff of fond memories.

Newcomers Daisy Ridley (Rey, a scavenger on the planet Jakku)) and John Boyega as Finn (a Stormtrooper turned reluctant at first resistance fighter) both fully embrace their roles which should make them this generation’s next iconic stars. Ridley portrays her character with subtle mannerisms and movements which reveal much about her in a gutsy performance; Ridley stakes her claim to the tradition of a strong female begun by Fisher and then trampled upon by Natalie Portman in the prequels, and it is about time we get to see a woman who knows how to handle a lightsaber. Boyega is full of gung-ho enthusiasm as the former Stormtrooper who wants out after seeing his fellow white armor-clad brethren slaughter a village of innocents.

Rey and Finn soon find themselves on that famous ship that Solo and Chewie used to bounce around the galaxy trying to make some money all the while hoping to escape those to whom even more loot is owed. When Solo answers their questions about Luke Skywalker, the Jedi, and the Force with “It’s all true,” I felt a real shiver up my spine.

There are all the assorted new oddball alien and human characters and exotic locales ranging from parched desert landscapes to lush forested shorelines and snow-covered worlds. Combine that with John Williams’s swelling musical score and the feeling of a return to something primordial and essential filled me with excitement and wonder – almost as much as when I saw the original film as a teenager in my own galaxy of long ago and far away.

The new droid is revealed as BB-8, belonging to Resistance fighter pilot Poe Dameron (a charismatic Oscar Issac). In a move reminiscent of Princess Leia in the first (or fourth depending on your point of view) film, Poe puts secret plans about Luke’s whereabouts inside BB-8 before his imminent capture by Ren and his men. The first scenes are about bringing BB-8 together with first Rey and then Finn, and they make it their mission to get the plans to Leia.

There are the requisite soap opera-ish elements that we came to love in the original trilogy but none of the more grating issues that arose in the prequel trilogies (such as annoying Jar Jar Binks or the puckish little Anakin). There is also Abrams’s firm but loving hand, guiding the ship with a script he co-wrote with Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt. It feels right even if some will say that all the right buttons may have been pushed a little too often. Nevertheless, it is like a wave of nostalgia hitting you while riding a roller coaster.

So even though more than a few elements seem familiar, there is plenty of new here that shakes the dust off the force and indeed awakens it in a new and resounding light. As always the battle between good and evil is front and center, with the strength of the Force wavering as each side tries to get ahead in an effort to be victorious. Even chief villain Ren stumbles in his embrace of the dark side, feeling the inexplicable pull of the light side on his soul (when you see the film you will understand why he is so conflicted).

The darkly clad (ominously reminiscent of Darth Vader) villain answers to his master, the truly evil Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis), and their supposedly mutual purpose is to vanquish the last Jedi (Skywalker) and dominate the galaxy in a warped way to honor the legacy of Vader while assuming total power and complete victory for the dark side.

The ending leaves more than enough hanging in the balance for the two inevitable sequels to follow, and we have two engaging and likeable leads in Ridley and Boyega; they are going to be big stars after their work in this film. They have what they used to call “chemistry” and it works very well to enhance the storyline.

Most of all we have the continuing saga that all started with the story of a young farm boy named Luke Skywalker, for whom we have been pulling ever since he stared longingly at those double setting suns on Tatooine wanting to follow in the footsteps of his Jedi father. After all this time Star Wars: The Force Awakens remains true to that spirit – a story about family, how evil can tear it apart, and how the Force can either be with or against you in the eternal struggle between good and evil.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is better than the original film and as good as The Empire Strikes Back; the Force is definitely and overwhelmingly with this movie and will be with you when you see it.

Photo credits: starwars.com 

Common Core Wars: Parents and Teachers Force Awakening

First appeared on Blogcritics.

The major educational news of the day in New York State should set a precedent and be good news for people across America – the Common Core Panel (established by Governor Andrew Cuomo) recommended to delay teacher evaluations linked to standardized test scores until the 2019-2020 academic year. This is a tremendous victory for the parents and teachers of the state who became “the force” for good against the dark side of standardized testing and Common Core.


The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) have been under fire here in New York since implementation started in 2010, most notably for complicating the education process and fomenting the standardized testing monster and making it get bigger and more ugly as it became linked to the standards.


Parents and teachers (always the most important elements in the education equation) here in New York State mobilized an extended protest of the CCSS and the over-testing it spawned. More importantly, the despicable plan to link testing to teacher evaluations was exposed for what it was – the true agenda of the formerly pro-Common Core Cuomo and his partner in crime, former New York City Mayor Michael (No Big Drink Cups) Bloomberg.


Back in September Cuomo saw the light or at least the groundswell of popular opinion against the CCSS and testing linked to it and established the Common Core Panel to study the situation in New York. This recommendation by the panel clearly indicates that Cuomo and Bloomberg’s punitive plot to tie evaluations to test scores was exposed for what it really has always been – a way for the state and city to rid itself of long-time teachers, close so called low performing schools (ludicrously based on said test scores), and pave the way for more charter schools.


The roll-out of CCSS, mishandled from the very beginning, asked teachers to take a whole new set of standards that they had not been well prepared to understand, use a new curriculum that they were unprepared to teach, and prepare students to be tested on assessments linked to the CCSS that the students couldn’t possibly be ready to take. The result was a complete disaster that included low test scores, frazzled teachers, confused students, and furious parents.

That is why it is not surprising that in April 2015 frustrated parents reached a breaking point and more than 200,000 students statewide opted-out of standardized testing in Math and English. This sent a powerful message to Cuomo and showed that parents appreciated their children’s teachers as much as they wanted to prevent their kids from suffering through the absurdly long testing schedule.

Now Cuomo has embraced the recommendations of the panel he established, which means the ongoing turmoil (which I have called Common Core Wars) might be coming to an end here in New York. Reacting to the panel’s findings Cuomo said:

The Common Core was supposed to ensure all of our children had the education they needed to be college and career-ready — but it actually caused confusion and anxiety. That ends now.

While it is encouraging that Cuomo has come around, it took him long enough. As an educator I saw the writing on the wall as soon as the boggled roll-out of CCSS began. I can attest to the ridiculous amount of time, energy, and cost involved in the gorging test monster that grew bigger and bigger – a behemoth so hideous that it kept consuming teaching time, upsetting teachers with the gravity of linkage to evaluations, and worrying students about what the implications were for their grades.

There is one irrefutable and detestable fact about CCSS being linked to standardized testing – these testing periods in schools are simply nothing to do with education and waste an inordinate amount of time preparing students to take them, on administering them, and later on teachers grading the tests (which takes teachers out of the classrooms). This has nothing to do with best educational practices and everything to do with furthering the agendas of those far removed from the classroom. 

Most teachers and students will not forget the aberrations and errors on the tests over the years – most notably the infamous pineapple questions on the 2012 ELA exam that stumped and mortified everyone including this writer. We can all look at this and incredulously ask, “And you were going to base teachers’ evaluations and thus their careers on something like that?”

There was additional good news from the panel – fewer and shorter standardized exams. The members also recommended a new set of state standards be adopted with input from teachers and parents (meaning bye-bye CCSS). This is extremely good news for anyone in New York State who has children either in school or preparing to attend school. In this case “the force” of parents, teachers, and students – all of whom made an effort to have their voices heard – fought the good fight and defeated the “dark side” of the state education department and districts who aligned themselves in a pernicious agreement with testing companies in lucrative long-term deals with complete disregard for what is good for students.

We must continue to watch the process as this winning team of parents and educators moves forward and gives input in the months ahead into creating a new set of standards and a curriculum that should (if done as promised) create a new model that will be the best way to teach our children the things they need to know and hopefully will not be anything about teaching to and taking tests. May “the force” be with them.

  Photo credits: News 12 Long Island, CBSlocal.com

35th Anniversary of Lennon’s Death – We’re Still Not Giving Peace a Chance

First appeared on Blogcritics.

If you are of a certain age you remember December 8, 1980. You remember where you were, what you were doing, and how you heard the horrific news – John Lennon had been shot outside his apartment building in Manhattan. As this December 8 is the 35th anniversary of that event, I don’t know if I still can process it or make sense of it let alone believe it even happened. Unfortunately, we all know that it did occur and the loss for many people still causes tears – I know that it does for me.

 The man who gave us “All You Need Is Love” and some of the greatest anthems for peace and understanding – the songs “Imagine,” “War Is Over,” and “Give Peace a Chance,” died a most violent death. In the grand scheme of things it was not poetic or ironic or tragic – it simply was the matter of a deranged nutcase who snuffed out a precious life.

In keeping with my practice of never mentioning the names of killers and terrorists, I won’t do so here because in essence it really doesn’t matter. He doesn’t matter. The man he killed did matter – and as with all great people who die too soon, especially from violence (John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy), it really is never about the despicable scum who took them from us. It is always about those extraordinary individuals and how they lived and the things for which they stood.

I recall watching Monday Night Football with friends in a local NYC bar, enjoying the fact that I had no classes the following morning. The teams that were playing are long forgotten now, but I recall the news flash coming across the screen. Once what was happening registered with everyone in the bar the place fell silent – you could hear a pin drop as they say. Afterwards we viewed the news incredulously and even doubted the reporting – it must have been some mistake. Of course, I went home and continued watching Nightline and realized the worst and reality sunk in: John was gone!

The headlines the next day confirmed things for me as I awoke and hoped it all was just a horrific dream. As the days passed, people expressed their love for John in ways that overwhelmed the city and the world. The gatherings of people in New York City (and all across the planet) who lit candles, sang John’s songs, carried posters, signs, and effigies honoring John were emotional and cathartic. We all had to do something – anything – and it seemed the more communal the better. Nothing was going to bring John back, but damn if we were going to let him go gently but rather with bursts of light, music, and love.

All these years later the world is a bigger mess than ever. John’s words, so eloquent and meaningful, have fallen on deaf ears. When he sang “War is Over” there was, of course, a caveat – “if you want it.” This was like slapping the leaders of the world in the face and saying, “We can make this happen but you have to want to do it.”

Sadly, 35 years later the world is in worse shape than when John left us. In “Give Peace a Chance” John mocks all the talk about the news of the day – he should see what “news” has become in 2015. However, these words still resonate: “All we are saying is give peace a chance.” Again they have been largely ignored by everyone at the expense of our daily machinations to out build one another’s weapons and technologies for mass destruction. We create scenarios that foment fear, anger, and the rise of forces that are so pernicious that they attack places like restaurants and theaters where innocents are slaughtered. “Peace” isn’t being given any consideration at all let alone a chance.

In the incredibly beautiful song “Imagine” John pulls no punches as he lets us know the source of most of the world’s problems:

Imagine there’s no countries/It isn’t hard to do/ Nothing to kill or die for/ And no religion too/Imagine all the people living life in peace.

Yes, John was a dreamer and certainly not the only one as he writes, but the problems we have today are definitely connected to the warping of religion for the sake of war, and how are we ever going to reach a place of peace as long as boundaries and faith matter more than the lives of the people living and breathing on the planet?

John died 35 years ago this December 8, but it feels like yesterday in my mind. I remember the pain of his initial loss, and all these years later, there is no closure for any of us. His widow Yoko still fights the good fight and goes about her quest to strive for peace, and yet things continue to spiral out of control. The sense that we are always “at war” is overwhelming and frightening – our children born since 9/11 have never known a world without war, and there seems to be no end in sight.

Still, John’s message of peace and love will never go away as long as there are those of us who believe that the world can be a better place and can be more than what it is now – a place of tumult and fear. John wanted peace for all and we must embrace that too, and we must realize that we are all in the same boat on this planet, and we are stuck in the middle of a deep ocean with it springing too many leaks. If we don’t stop, bail out the water, and repair the damage, we are all doomed to sink and take everything down with us. If that isn’t incentive to give peace a chance, I don’t know what is.


  Photo credits: Gene Kappook,Morsch,-NY Daily News

Shooting Stars – The Media Promotes Terrorism and Obama Stokes Gun Sales

First appeared on Blogcritics.

I wish I did not have to write this – again – but after yet another mass shooting, this time in San Bernardino, California, the media and President Barack Obama continue to get it wrong. It saddens me to have to point out this salient yet alarming fact – they have learned nothing from what has gone before.

For example, while CNN will give us a story focusing on the 14 shooting victims (as it most definitely should), more widespread coverage is given to the perpetrators of the attack, going in depth to describe who they were and to analyze why they did what they did. Quite frankly that information should be left to investigators – we don’t need to see pictures of killers on front pages or on TV and certainly don’t need to know their life stories. 


All this media attention on killers and terrorists is merely giving food to the monster that doth mock the hand that feeds it. Killers and terrorists know two things: one is that they can plan to inflict massive casualties and probably end up dead themselves, but two is the carrot on the stick – the media will make certain that whatever abhorrent acts they did will live on and they will be in the spotlight. This only encourages them and others like them – to strike again and again.

As for Mr. Obama, I understand he is in a no-win situation. Something like the attack in Paris or this shooting in California happens and he is expected to react; unfortunately, it is how he reacts that not only shapes the ensuing conversation but also stokes the fires of passion in those who want to do us harm. Every terrorist knows that if he or she does engage in an act to cause mass casualties, the POTUS will have to talk about it – where else but in the media. Talk about your instant fifteen minutes of fame!

I was clicking around the stations the other night, and some pro-gun guy was talking and said that Obama is the best salesman for guns. I sort of thought he was joking, but a little research proves this guy right – every time there is a mass shooting and Mr. Obama speaks, people go out and buy more guns. While I would imagine Mr. Obama recognizes this sad correlation between his reactions to gun violence and the sales of guns, that does not seem to affect the responses he gives.


The truth is that there are more guns in the U.S. than there are people, and the the record sale of guns on this past Black Friday shows there is no possibility of reversing this unless something changes, but will that ever happen?

If you are thinking “gun control” and Congress, you had better tuck yourself in for a long winter’s nap and forget about it. Just yesterday the Senate (ostensibly the GOP senators) blocked a proposal to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists. What Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), who proposed the amendment, called a “no brainer” obviously was anything but. You would think that even if senators on both sides of the aisle never agree on anything they would agree on that – wrong!


So here we are standing at what would seem to be the most dangerous time in recent history. The world is poised for war in the Middle East, and on the homefront we are aware that another attack could be coming. With the recent shooters in California having a connection with the terrorist group ISIS, it is not perhaps it will happen here because it has already occurred.

I don’t expect that the media is going to change its pattern of publicizing terrorists and killers – this is inherent in their drive to not just report the so-called news but more to gain ratings. The truth is that I have long suspected that journalistic integrity has dissipated, but watching what is called a “News Alert” or “Breaking News” is so disingenuous at this point that I quickly change stations only to find more of the same. ‘Tis a muddle indeed – and a despicable one at that.

As for Mr. Obama, all signs are that he is going to continue on the same path, saying the same things about guns. The Republicans in Congress will continue doing what they do about the matter, and any true discourse on guns and violence in America will never be possible. If we cannot trust the media and the people we elect to higher office, then our country is in the most dismal state in its history. 

There are two things we can all count on – another terrorist act and another mass shooting is only a matter of time. The media and Mr. Obama know this yet continue doing what they do, and the Congress is ineffectual, so the American public is basically on its own. Isn’t that a warm and fuzzy feeling for us all as we move into the holiday season?

  Photo credits: Seth Weingap (NY Daily News), CNN, FOXnews.com