Slog
News & ArtsFriday, May 14, 2010
Politics / Film Conservatives Mad at Tax Cuts, for Once
Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, May 14, 2010 at 4:18 PM
According to Big Hollywood, conservatives are up in arms that Machete, (in their minds a leftist piece of propaganda that "glorifies race war") was made using tax incentives and public funding:
Worst of all, Robert Rodriguez’ incendiary race film ‘Machete‘ was made, in part, with help from tax incentives and location access provided by the Texas Film Commission, a division of Governor Rick Perry’s Office. A spokesperson from the organization confirmed that Rodriguez has indeed applied for funding.
[...]
In addition to state funds, Robert Rodriguez has long had use of the state & city funded studios based at the former Austin airport. His Troublemaker Studios utilizes the Austin Studios facilities, which is managed by the Austin Film Society. Are racial-revenge fantasies the intended use of such publicly and community supported institutions?
As I have said before, I could watch Danny Trejo in anything, but I wasn't especially looking forward to this film until right now:
I have two points: 1) Robert Rodriguez didn't start the "race war." and 2) If you want to start bitching about tax breaks being used for wrong-headed political gains, I've got a better place to start.
2
That they'd sniff at the economic boon he's been to the area - far outstripping any support the government's given - is hilarious.
3
I'm offended at the idea of Robert Rodriguez getting paid by anybody, but then, I got dragged by my kids to see one or two of his awful awful Spy Kids things.
...
On second thought, I would support Rodriguez getting the death penalty in Texas.
...
On second thought, I would support Rodriguez getting the death penalty in Texas.
7
I was half expecting to hear "Here comes DR. TRAN!"
a la this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO0kRE5OT…
a la this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO0kRE5OT…
10
Well, that looks like a ridiculous piece of crap. I'm pretty liberal, but no one has ever explained to me exactly why controlling our border is such a horrible thing. (And no, I don't support the recent Arizona law.)
I'm gonna go ahead and root for the Border Patrol, OK?
I'm gonna go ahead and root for the Border Patrol, OK?
11
@10 I don't think a single reasonable person ISN'T for border control. Every nation has the right to decide who gets in under their own internal criteria. The problem is that our border is so big, open, and porous, and no one on the Federal level has ever been willing to do shit. Add in that all that ever happens is demonization of the immigrants, and you get what we have now: shit for a national border, and everyone pissing on the people that come over.
But you know who are the REAL culprits here, in say Arizona? Every single person that hires undocumented immigrants who shouldn't be working.
You heavily criminalize that and prosecute--with handcuffs and jail time--every employer doing that from the Wal-Mart manager to the guy that needs roofing done on his house, and eventually no one will hire these workers, and they'll have no reason to come to Arizona. But that would epically fuck up a lot of things for White People, so it won't happen. It's more fun and profitable politically to just go after Brown People.
But you know who are the REAL culprits here, in say Arizona? Every single person that hires undocumented immigrants who shouldn't be working.
You heavily criminalize that and prosecute--with handcuffs and jail time--every employer doing that from the Wal-Mart manager to the guy that needs roofing done on his house, and eventually no one will hire these workers, and they'll have no reason to come to Arizona. But that would epically fuck up a lot of things for White People, so it won't happen. It's more fun and profitable politically to just go after Brown People.
12
If this racist fuck (and yes, that's exactly what he is) wants to start a race war, that's OK with me. I just hope he's one of the first casualties.
13
@11
Thanks for that post.
Sad that I had to read into a Slog comment log just to find the basis of a major position on immigration. No one has bothered to ever explain it before.
Thanks for that post.
Sad that I had to read into a Slog comment log just to find the basis of a major position on immigration. No one has bothered to ever explain it before.
14
@11 Very well said. The only part you left out is that changes in the porous border also fuck up Mexico's economy, especially in the poorest sectors of la republica. Remittances account for about 3% of Mexico's GDP and exceed foreign investment by 30%. Remittances began to decline in 2007, and continue to go down every quarter since. Our two economies are tightly bound, and almost everyone loses when the delicate inequity/equilibrium gets disrupted.
18
#11: Brown people are here, and cracking down on giving them JOBS isn't going to make them magically disappear. It will just make them more desperate.
Not every reasonable person is for the type of border control you imply. Border patrol is for catching imports and felons, not for catching brown people.
Not every reasonable person is for the type of border control you imply. Border patrol is for catching imports and felons, not for catching brown people.
19
No, those are the other culprits. And I think they should should be arrested, prosecuted, fined, and jailed. And, as I've said here before, I think there should be amnesty for the people who are already here. Amnesty for them, stronger border protection in the future. That's the solution I'd like to see.
But they need amnesty because they broke our laws. Whatever else is going on here, every single illegal immigrant who wasn't a child brought over here by their parents or someone who was trafficked into the country has broken the laws of the United States. And then, once here, many of them break more laws -- labor laws, tax laws, contract law. So they're criminals. They're culprits. They live by breaking laws that are in place to keep American workers safe, protect their bargaining power, and provide for the public good. The fact that they might have an economic incentive for doing so doesn't make what they're doing legal or, particularly, moral. Mexico is not fucking Iran. It's a lot worse than West Texas, but it's the garden spot of the universe compared to Afghanistan or Somalia.
I'll probably see this movie, and I'll probably enjoy it. But seriously that shit about how "We didn't cross the border -- the border crossed us," doesn't excuse a fucking thing.
But you know who are the REAL culprits here, in say Arizona? Every single person that hires undocumented immigrants who shouldn't be working.
No, those are the other culprits. And I think they should should be arrested, prosecuted, fined, and jailed. And, as I've said here before, I think there should be amnesty for the people who are already here. Amnesty for them, stronger border protection in the future. That's the solution I'd like to see.
But they need amnesty because they broke our laws. Whatever else is going on here, every single illegal immigrant who wasn't a child brought over here by their parents or someone who was trafficked into the country has broken the laws of the United States. And then, once here, many of them break more laws -- labor laws, tax laws, contract law. So they're criminals. They're culprits. They live by breaking laws that are in place to keep American workers safe, protect their bargaining power, and provide for the public good. The fact that they might have an economic incentive for doing so doesn't make what they're doing legal or, particularly, moral. Mexico is not fucking Iran. It's a lot worse than West Texas, but it's the garden spot of the universe compared to Afghanistan or Somalia.
I'll probably see this movie, and I'll probably enjoy it. But seriously that shit about how "We didn't cross the border -- the border crossed us," doesn't excuse a fucking thing.
20
@19: I agree with everything you said, but still think that Latino illegal immigrants are a red herring for legitimate concerns about border control.
Look: the same folks who think it's a great idea to demand everyone's papers are the ones who oppose any regulatory mandates when it starts to interfere with entrepreneurial freedom. The illegal problem started under the deregulation regime of Reagan, and won't begin to be solved until the American people start understanding that following rules does not equate to communism.
Look: the same folks who think it's a great idea to demand everyone's papers are the ones who oppose any regulatory mandates when it starts to interfere with entrepreneurial freedom. The illegal problem started under the deregulation regime of Reagan, and won't begin to be solved until the American people start understanding that following rules does not equate to communism.
21
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
I'm definitely seeing this - I actually know Rodriguez (we were grad students at UT back in 19mumble), and this looks like exactly the kind of fscked-up weird funny shit I expect from him.
And the cast! Come on! Cheech? Seagal? Don Fucking Johnson? Jessica Alba - what? Lindsay Lohan - what what WHAT? I don't care if it's a total clusterfuck, I KNOW I'm going to enjoy it.
I'm definitely seeing this - I actually know Rodriguez (we were grad students at UT back in 19mumble), and this looks like exactly the kind of fscked-up weird funny shit I expect from him.
And the cast! Come on! Cheech? Seagal? Don Fucking Johnson? Jessica Alba - what? Lindsay Lohan - what what WHAT? I don't care if it's a total clusterfuck, I KNOW I'm going to enjoy it.
22
Wow people! You are really taking this shiz too seriously! I mean it's a freakn' movie! Do you remember when the Catholic church tried to ban "The Golden Compass"? Look at all the good they are doing in the world. Oh yeah, and Harry Potter is corrupting the minds of children. This shit is FUNNY! I mean if you have seen Robert Rodriguez's other film "Planet Terror", wouldn't you be more upset at the scene where Quentin Tarantino's character is about to rape a woman and his genitalia grows abnormally large? I suppose you didn't laugh in "Pulp Fiction" when Samuel L. Jackson's character accidentally blows that guys head off. It's Funny!!! And, it's only a movie! Lighten up for fuck's sake!
24
I’m so jacked to see this. It was my second favorite of the Grind House trailers. Now if we could just get Rob Zombie to make She Werewolves of the SS.
25
Here's a good irony for us to chew on: The same dicks who are howling about too much gubm'nt control - having to register with the gubm'nt to drive, having the gubm'nt regulating this or that - are the same tools who want everyone to be registered as a citizen, have the gubm'nt's OK to work and force people to carry official paperwork at all times.
How can conservatives reconcile these two ideas?
How can conservatives reconcile these two ideas?
27
@3: I've watched 'Spy Kids 3-D: Gave Over' well over 20 times and it just keeps getting better. If you can't appreciate Elijah Wood's cameo as "The One", then with all due respect (which is very very little in this case) your sense of humor is broken, sir.
28
ahh Big Hollywood always great for a laugh.
The thing that I find interesting in this case is that for this particular article they are quoting infowars.com
Infowars is terminal nutbag Alex Jones's site for the truth about the NEW WORLD ORDER anh how were all going to be enslaved by the bilderberg group and forced to offer our children up for sacrifice to the dark god Moloch (not kidding). i'm not saying that Machete didn't get govenment funding but you'd think that a site that was already straining for credibility would find a more credible source.
anyone who wants a real chuckle, go to infowars and check out Alex Jones's video review of the machete script. apparently Robert Rodriquez is a CIA operative! who knew?
The thing that I find interesting in this case is that for this particular article they are quoting infowars.com
Infowars is terminal nutbag Alex Jones's site for the truth about the NEW WORLD ORDER anh how were all going to be enslaved by the bilderberg group and forced to offer our children up for sacrifice to the dark god Moloch (not kidding). i'm not saying that Machete didn't get govenment funding but you'd think that a site that was already straining for credibility would find a more credible source.
anyone who wants a real chuckle, go to infowars and check out Alex Jones's video review of the machete script. apparently Robert Rodriquez is a CIA operative! who knew?
30
This film is a tongue in cheek social commentary. I mean it's a JOKE! The Mexican stereotypes themselves are absurd. I mean, I can see this movie doing very well, or just god awful and unwatchable. They really were just shooting for a camply culty movie, and the trailer was a good start.
31
30, yeah, and when someone promotes a film showing sneering, sexy women and crew-cutted alpha white Southern males lynching blacks, that too will simply be a campy culty movie, right?
And when some Baptist fundamentalist makes a tongue in cheek movie about gays getting baseball-batted by vengeful soldiers of the lord, again, s'all good, right? Just an ironic nod at the movie-goers, not some sort of indendiary drivel. (But then, any Baptist doing anything "tongue in cheek" involving gays is likely a literal act, not a figurative expression...but I am showing my slip now.)
Oh, and those slasher films that show women slowly cut up by rage-filled men, that is not a creepy expression of hatred against women?
Fake snuff porn is better than real snuff porn, I suppose...
And when some Baptist fundamentalist makes a tongue in cheek movie about gays getting baseball-batted by vengeful soldiers of the lord, again, s'all good, right? Just an ironic nod at the movie-goers, not some sort of indendiary drivel. (But then, any Baptist doing anything "tongue in cheek" involving gays is likely a literal act, not a figurative expression...but I am showing my slip now.)
Oh, and those slasher films that show women slowly cut up by rage-filled men, that is not a creepy expression of hatred against women?
Fake snuff porn is better than real snuff porn, I suppose...
32
@31, don't you watch south park? I think they poked fun about absolutely everything you mentioned in your rant. Taking morals and ideals and adhering to them to the point of absurdity and they all fall apart. It's entertaining, and it makes us better people.
Maybe it's to make fun of the people who really THINK THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS. Kind of like Bruno.
Maybe it's to make fun of the people who really THINK THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENS. Kind of like Bruno.
36
I am struggling to accept that this is a real trailer for a real movie. I thought it was a spoof.
Sounds cheesy. And what a mish-mash of cast! DeNiro and Lohan?? WTF.
Sounds cheesy. And what a mish-mash of cast! DeNiro and Lohan?? WTF.
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