You are probably wondering what an Academy Award winning producer like Steven Spielberg and Pope Benedict the 16th are doing in the title of this column. Well let me explain.

This past week Pope Benedict issued what is known as an encyclical, which is titled “Caritas in Veritate,” or “Charity in Truth,” It was signed by the Bishop of Rome on June 29, and released on July 7th. After reading the enclyclical I went to the movies last night to see the new Steven Spielberg movie "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen".

My proposition is that both Pope Benedict in his encyclical and Steven Spielberg in his new movie take President Obama to task for his socialist policies and willingness to unconditionally negotiate with our enemies, respectively. Both policies may destroy us.

First let's discuss the encyclical of Pope Benedict the 16th. According to Matthew Balan from NewsBusters.org:

"... in the document, in paragraph 57, Benedict forwarded the principle of “subsidiarity,” which has a clear meaning in Catholic social teaching. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “the principle of subsidiarity is opposed to all forms of collectivism. It sets limits for state intervention. It aims at harmonizing the relationships between individuals and societies…. In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, neither the state nor any larger society should substitute itself for the initiative and responsibility of individuals.” The pope applied this in the context of the theme of the encyclical:

Subsidiarity is the most effective antidote against any form of all encompassing welfare state….In order not to produce a dangerous universal power of a tyrannical nature, the governance of globalization must be marked by subsidiarity, articulated into several layers and involving different levels that can work together. Globalization certainly requires authority, insofar as it poses the problem of a global common good that needs to be pursued. This authority, however, must be organized in a subsidiary and stratified way, if it is not to infringe upon freedom and if it is to yield effective results in practice."

To read Matthew's entire column, with key quotes from the encyclical go here.

What the Holy See is saying is what our Fore Father put into our Constitution, that socialism in all its forms is wrong, destructive, and in the United States, unconstitutional. I wrote a column on how Americans have become addicted to government largesse. This is what Pope Benedict is warning President Obama and the world about.

Now for Steven Spielberg. In the second transformers movie Spielberg takes on his familiar theme of the ultimate good (humans, the Autobots and Optimus Prime) taking on pure evil (Megatron, Decepticons, and The Fallen). Sounds biblical doesn't it?

The plot is a race of ancient Transformers who scoured the universe looking for Energon sources. Known as the Dynasty of Primes, they used a weapon called the Sun Harvester to drain stars of their energy in order to convert it to Energon and power Cybertron’s AllSpark (sounds like radical environmentalists and their addiction to solar energy). The Primes agreed that life-bearing worlds would be spared, but when one brother, who was thereafter dubbed "The Fallen" (Al Gore?), constructed a Sun Harvester on Earth in 17,000 BCE, the remaining brothers sacrificed their bodies in order to hide the Matrix of Leadership, the key that powers the Sun Harvester, from The Fallen, who swore to seek revenge upon Earth once he found the key.

In the movie John Benjamin Hickey plays Theodore Galloway, the American National Security Advisor under President Obama who believes the Autobots' presence on Earth is the reason for the Decepticons still remaining on the planet. The Autobots have teamed with our military to defeat the Decepticons who are bent on taking over the world. Obama is specifically mentioned in the movie as the President. His movie National Security Advisor Galloway sounds much like President Obama and his current National Security Advisor General James L. Jones who both believe that America is the problem and not the rest of the world, doesn't it? It also sounds much like the Obama administrations view of Israel. If they would just give up settlements, the West Bank and Jerusalem all would be well. Eventually, the generals revolt, go around the President and literally throw the National Security Advisor out of an airplane. In the end good triumphs over evil.

Both Pope Benedict and Spielberg realize that the policies of socialism and appeasement are dangerous in and of themselves. Taken together they portend a disaster on a global scale. What do you think?