After reading a WTOP radio report about the disastrous impact a sequester will allegedly have on the nation’s intelligence-gathering capabilities, I came to the tongue-in-cheek conclusion that it’s time to get every American citizen involved in the fight against terror. Toward that end, I’m sharing anew the Top 5 Signs Your Neighbors Might Be Terrorists that I shared with my readers for the first time almost six years ago.
Below is a recap of the information aimed at helping Americans identify possible terrorist threats and, thereby, prevent much heartache an anguish.
1. Your neighbors might be terrorists if they have a yellow “Bomber On Board” sign for each of their children in the rear window of their minivan.
2. Your neighbors might be terrorists if they invite your kids to attend their child’s birthday party at the Build-A-Bomb Workshop.
3. Your neighbors might be terrorists if their kids take Bomber’s Ed Class instead of Driver’s Ed in high school — and their high school offers the class!
4. Your neighbors might be terrorists if they give their kids the keys to shiny new car-bombs on their 16th birthdays.
5. Your neighbors might be terrorists if the camp they send their kids to every summer is located in North Africa.
Please take head of this information, then share it far and wide. I thank you and, I’m certain, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano thanks you.
Yes, you read that headline correctly! This morning, I turned down a request from a major Hollywood filmmaker who wanted to use something I wrote in “Frontera,” a major motion picture in which five actors — Ed Harris, Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, Amy Madigan and Shea Whigham — will play lead roles.
The request came from Frontera Productions via Ashley Kravitz at Cleared By Ashley, a company that, among other things, helps filmmakers obtain permission from owners of intellectual property to use that property in motion pictures.
Frontera Productions wanted permission to use my poster, “Top 5 Signs Your Neighbors Might Be Terrorists,” as set dressing in “Frontera,” a film about a sheriff in the U.S. who tries to track down an illegal alien involved with a robbery that killed his wife. According to the film’s page at IMDb.com, it’s set for release in 2014.
Sadly, I had to turn down this, my first offer from Hollywood via Albuquerque. Why? Because, after I reviewed the proposed release agreement, I found that it included no compensation for the use of the poster that made its first public appearance in a post Aug. 14, 2007. As a result, I simply had to decline the offer.
I did, however, leave the door open for the filmmaker to make an amended offer. I’ll let you know if anything comes of it.
Not since the days of Jimmy Carter have Americans seen someone do such a poor job of pretending to know what he’s doing as president of the United States.
Americans learn a lot about politicians during election years, and they learn a lot about the political process during caucus meetings. That in mind, I decided to follow Robert’s Rules of Order and make a motion calling for an injection of humor into my far-too-serious ongoing coverage of the 2012 St. Charles County (Mo.) Republican Presidential Caucus and politics in general. In other words, I’m sharing the video below which features the Australian comedy team of John Clarke and Bryan Dawe, with the former of which playing the role of a newly-appointed “impartial” politician. Enjoy!
Gun ownership is one of the rights many Americans believe will come under fire if Barack Obama is elected to a second term in 2012. With the Second Amendment in mind, I share “A World Without Guns,” a seriously funny video from my friend, Joel Berry, at SweetTeaFilms.com.
Over the years, I’ve shared a lot of great videos from my friend, Joel Berry atSweetTeaFilms.com. Today, I offer two of his funniest Christmas videos starring “Tavin Dillard,” his character who lives in a trailer park with his grandmother, “Meemaw.”
In the first video (above), Tavin recounts how he got roped into playing the role of Joseph in a live nativity scene at the local Presbyterian church during the midnight-4 a.m. shift. In the second video (below), he makes a not-too-subtle and politically-incorrect point about the idiotic “war” on Christmas. It’s all good!
For more enjoyable humor from the trailer park, visit SweetTeaFilms.com.
Meanwhile, I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
On Oct. 19, 2006, I began my adventure in online writing with a short post via which I informed readers I would use this space to “share bits of my unique brand of humor and touch on a variety of subjects including — but not limited to — politics, shopping carts, sports and women.” Today, I think I can say I’ve done just that. Now, it’s time to move on.
Among the more than 4,500 posts I’ve published, more than 400 fell under the humor banner. They ranged from an early effort about products that make scrapbooking easy to a recent effort via which I introduced readers to a new Barack Obama-inspired board game, SPREAD THE WEALTH AROUND.
When it comes to sports, my coverage began in March 2007 with news about a sportswriter joining the GLOBULL WARMING crowd. It concluded a few weeks ago with a post about one of my favorite sports teams, the Oklahoma Sooners, being ranked #1 in a preseason college football poll. Though I ended up publishing more than 150 sports-related posts, I must admit that most of them were published for purely-selfish reasons.
Finally, I have no idea why I wrote that I would include “women” as one of the topics about which I would report. Nevertheless, I did report on the activities of some women, including Sarah Palin (166 posts), Hillary Clinton (134 posts) and Michelle Obama (18 posts). My favorite headline ever about a woman was published May 13, 2008: Online Poll: ‘Is Michelle Obama a Nagger?’
Did I learn anything while writing and publishing approximately 2.5 posts per day, seven days a week, 365 days per year? Yes, I did! For instance:
I learned a lot about the behind-the-scenes work involved in running a website. When I began this process, I knew next to nothing about any kind of code (i.e., html, keywords, plugins, tags, widgets, etc.). Compared to many folks, however, I still know nothing.
I learned a lot about branding. Specifically, I learned that “The Ultimate Blogging Machine” tagline in my banner connected well with BMW, the three-letter acronym for Bob McCarty Writes, but did little to help my credibility in the new media marketplace. Neither did the caricature that helped promote the stereotype of a blogger being someone who sits in the basement of his parents’ house with a laptop on his lap. [Note: Unlike the folks who make the blogger stereotype a reality, however, I have a journalism degree, decades of professional writing experience and own my own home. Where I write while inside my home is nobody's business!]
I learned that, despite seeing this site rank among the Top 100 Conservative websites on more than a few occasions, converting traffic into revenue is an art and science unto itself. Those who can make their living online and without being subsidized by a corporate sugar daddy have my respect.
Most importantly, I learned my real passion lies in writing novel-length nonfiction. During the past 18 months, I’ve spent an ever-increasing amount of time conducting interviews, doing research and, finally, writing a nonfiction book about Sergeant First Class Kelly A. Stewart, an Army Special Forces soldier, and his fight for military justice.
On Oct. 18, the adventure known as Bob McCarty Writes will end. Soon after, my next big adventure will begin. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.
