Recommended Current Movie Releases

First of an occasional recommendation list of current movies and videos.

THE UPSIDE OF ANGER -- Joan Allen, Kevin Costner as neighbors in a romantic comedy with Allen living with her four daughters whose husband just left her and Costner as an ex-ballplayer.
Three and a half stars

OFF THE MAP -- Joan Allen and Sam Elliott as a couple and their daughter living as a couple of hippies in the early seventies. They're living off the land when an IRS agent shows up to find out why they haven't been filing taxes. Three and a half stars

MILLIONS -- Story about two brothers 7 and 9 years old and what they do when a bag containing a large amount of cash falls from a train and onto their cardboard clubhouse. 4 stars

GUNNER PALACE -- A documentary that observe soldiers in Iraq, in a half destroyed palace, as they work, play, talk and play games amid the daily bursts of sudden violence. 4 stars

OLD BOY -- Korean vengeance film. Pulp Fiction meets China Town. Very original. 4 stars

VIDEO

WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW? -- Semi-documentary starring Marlee Matlin who takes us through, quantum physics to the meaning of life and religion. 3 stars

THE CORPORATION -- You probably never thought of a corporation as a person but legally it is. This is a pretty objective look at what a corporation is and how it is programmed to function. An eye-opening documentary. 4 stars (due out April 8)

Pictures (or cartoons) Worth A Thousand Words #1

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#2

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#3

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#5

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#6

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WHO GET'S TO LIVE?

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Who Get's to Live?

This whole ordeal with Terri Schiavo is so obviously political. This woman suffered from bulemia and from a lack of potassium suffered a heart attack and wound up where she's at. My understanding is that this is irreversible. So she will be as she is through her life. Her wishes to her husband was never to be on life support. At least, and I know it was more, 16 judges have heard this case and judged on it. So, the victims wishes are not important in this issue.

Remember, this is happening in Florida, Bush needs to pander to the religious right who were responsible for him being in office. They want some of that political capital he's spending. Let's say you, John/Jane Q. Public, were in this same situation; and in this country, unscientifically, I believe there are many similar situations. Would there be a fight to spend a spot on the medical treatment tray on someone who is existing in a manner she rejects.

If you remember back in December, this planet had one of it's most horrendous disasters. It took George 3 days to acknowledge that it happened. It took him , what something like 10 minutes to break out of his stupor on 9/11 and start to act on the tragedy. Now, he blasts out of Crawford on a weekend, believe me it's unheard of, to do an emergency hearing on this.

This administration should be ashamed of doing something like this. It's basically using this situation for its own gains. What about the sanctity of marriage? Why don't they respect the wishes of the husband as related to him by his wife, his life's partner. How can you ever start to think about trusting this administration?

Iraq -- The Cash Cow

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Iraq -- The Cash Cow

The United States has charged a former employee of Halliburton and a Kuwaiti subcontractor with defrauding the US government of millions of dollars in a contract scam in Iraq. Two men -- Jeff Alex Mazon, a former employee of Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton; and Ali Hijazi, the managing partner of a Kuwaiti business, LaNouvelle Trading and Contracting Company -- were indicted on charges of devising a scheme to defraud the US of more than $3.5 million.

The subcontract specified that KBR was to pay LaNouvelle more than $5.5 million, nearly $5.5 million more than the KBR estimate of the job - about $680,000. Hijazi allegedly presented Mazon with a $1 million dollar check in exchange for Mazon's favorable treatment of Nouvelle.

Now most of the companies involved in the Iraqi reconstruction are US-based and most of those are tied to Halliburton. Considering the unemployment in Iraq and the fact that they can re-build their country cheaper than we can, even if there was not corrupt overcharging. The only reason US contractors seem to be there is to loot the coffers.

The international watchdog group Transparency International (TI) said in its Global Corruption Report 2005 that profiteering threatens to undermine the reconstruction of Iraq. Peter Eigen, chairman of TI said, "When the size of a bribe takes precedence over value for money, the results are shoddy construction and poor infrastructure management. Corruption wastes money, bankrupts countries and costs lives."

Authors of the report have said, "Funds poured into rebuilding countries such as Iraq must be safeguarded against corruption. If urgent steps are not taken Iraq will become the biggest corruption scandal in history." Attempts by donors like the World Bank (Wolfowitz will make sure that's under control) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to hasten the pace of reconstruction can heighten the chances of waste and fraud.

The report referred to how the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the US Department of Defense initially had only 80 people examining the largest reconstruction program in history, half the number needed according to the Association of Inspectors General, and eventually outsourced oversight to private companies, giving rise to potential conflicts of interest.

And the small contractor isn't even able to bid the contracts. A phenomenon of "contract bundling" which joins together two or more separate procurement requirements into a super-sized contract, effectively disqualifying smaller companies because only the very largest contractors are able to compete.

I wonder if this will keep that deficit going, and going, and going like the energizer bunny. Suck us dry George.

It's The Oil Stupid

According to Greg Palast in BBC News on Thursday March 17 the US had a secret plan for Iraq's oil once Sadaam had been conquered. It was a face off between neo-cons at the Pentagon, and a combo of big oil and the US State Department.

"Big Oil" apparently won. The latest plan, obtained by Newsnight from the US State Department was, they learned, drafted with the help of American oil industry consultants. Apparently there was going to be a coup to overthrow Hussein and insert someone else . . . the industry-favored plan was pushed aside fo a new plan to sell off Iraq's oil fields.

This fueled the insurgency . The insurgents mantra --"Look, you're losing your country, you're losing your resources to a bunch of wealthy billionaires who want to take you over and make your life miserable. They saw that privatization was coming and the bombing of oil facilities, pipelines, etc.

Philip Carroll ,former CEO of Shell Oil USA stalled the sell-off scheme and would have nothing to do with it while he was involved.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4354269.stm

R We Confused?

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HAPPY SAINT PADDY'S DAY TO YA !!!!!

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The Big Fat Solution to Social Security Problem

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The Big Fat Solution to Social Security Problem

One of the problems with social security is that over the past 200 years or so Americans have been progressively adding years on to their lives. This had a lot to do with better health care, medicines and regular exercise. So as you live longer you collect longer, which is part of the problem.

Now we come to find out that about 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese. Add to that a lack of available health care, high costs of medicine and sedentary lifestyles and you can expect another report that recently came out. The report claims that due mainly to obesity, the life expectancy of American is going to be predicted to go down instead of up for the first time in about 200 years.

So the problem is kind of reversing itself. If you don't live long enough to collect the social security that you have coming it remains in the coffer. I say this with my tongue partially in my cheek, but it almost makes sense.

Oil and Economic Vulnerability

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Oil and Economic Vulnerability

Cude oil prices, as of last week, are about 2 cents a barrell below the all-time high. Our dependency upon OPEC has not only left the United States vulnerable to geopolitical forces beyond our control but has influenced American policy in the Middle East for the past fifty some odd years. With crude oil prices near $56/barrell and the average price of regular unleaded gasoline selling for more than $2/gallon, our dependence on foreign oil is clearly an economic vulnerability and risk that we must soon remove.

The United States consumes more than 25 percent of the world's oil each year, despite the fact that we control only 3 percent of the world's oil and gas reserves. In the years ahead, imported oil is on track to grow to 68 percent of our total supply by 2025, with U.S. crude production at the lowest level in 50 years.

Our dependence on foreign oil is more than an economic problem. A lot of the money we spend on imported oil is going to nations that support the radical Islamist terroristsagainst whom we're engaged in a global war. The Institute of the Analysis of Global Security estimates that 22 percent of the world's oil is controlled by states that sponsor terrorism and are under U.S./United Nations sanctions. So we're fighting the war on terrorism and paying for both sides of the war. We can't even afford to cover our side. Gal Luft, executive director of the institute said, "On the one hand, we are sending our troops and dollars to fight for freedom and democracy all over the world, and on the other hand, we are sending money to people who don't like us.

So, I think we really need to start working on alternative fuel sources, working harder and faster to build hybrids and maybe start walking and riding bikes more often, which can help take care of another growing problem in this country. We can't afford to waste another quarter century in coming to terms with our dependence on imported oil.

Do As I Say Not As I Do

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Do As I Say Not As I Do

On the one hand this administration is cutting out bankruptcy as an option for people in dire financial situations. Telling us on one hand to reign in our spending while turning a blind eye to the overwhelming amount of credit card offers that we are bombarded with on a daily basis. While the administration spends like a 'drunken sailor' on what's necessary for their own agenda while cutting programs that benefit the majority of us.

As David Walker, the head of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, pointed out, "The federal government's obligations, current liabilities, and unfunded fiscal committments are over $43 trillion and rising . . .Yes, that's trillions with 12 zeros rather than billions with nine zeros."

Until you really get your head around these numbers it's hard to put it in perspective. Take for example -- the estimated net worth of American families is slightly over $47 trillion, and nearly all of it -- 90 percent -- would be needed to cover the government's current obligations and accordinbg to the GAO, it would take real double-digit growth over the next 75 years to pay off our current debt -- an impossible task, considering that the growth rate during the 1990s boom years averaged just 3.2 percent. These debt projections exclude such things as -- over the next ten years -- permanent tax cuts ($1 trillion), privatizing social security ($1.5 trillion over the first decade; $3.5 trillion in the second. His talk about cutting the deficit in half by 2009 does not include such things as the Iraq war and social security privatization.

And his attempt to balance this out would be to slash or eliminate programs that affect the quality of life of millions of Americans, such as education, Medicaid, clean water and clean air, the Head Start Program ans the program that assistance to low-income pregnant women.

DO AS I DO -- should be the new saying and this administrtation needs to be much more responsible with what is affecting 90% of us.

Surviving Might Be a Curse

The Iraq war has recently passed the 1,500 mark in soldiers who have lost their lives. What you don't hear about very often are the casualties. The good news is that more soldiers survive their injuries than in past wars. The bad news is they survive with major physical and mental impairments.

According to a Time magazine article, in World War II, 1 in 3 wounded soldiers died; in Vietnam, 1 in 4; in Iraq, 1 in 8. As of last week, 11,285 American soldiers had been wounded. Things like Kevlar and ceramic body armour have been great lifesavers in modern warfare. But you have to wonder how many lives would have been saved with all limbs intact had their humvees, meant for use in non-combat zones, been equipped with the armour needed for guerrilla warfare.

An interesting statistic is that only 16% of injuries in Iraq are caused by gunshots and 69% were from explosions, such as roadside booby traps, car bombs and (RPGs) rocket propelled grenades. If these soldiers had armour-ready vehicles it appears we would have far less lost of limbs. A new injury doctors have been seeing is Traumatic brain injury, which occurs when the shock from an explosion damages neurological fibers. Soldiers who physically are not wounded by an explosion find over time that they suffer coordination and memory loss, dizziness and insomnia. Some have to learn to walk again -- or to recognize their wives and children. Jim Batchelor, pictured, suffers from the disorder. His wife gave him a rifle to help him sleep, but it hasn't worked.

Support our troops? All this is going on and the government can't give these guys the equipment they need. $87 million and all they get is Rumsfeld telling them you gotta fight with what you've got not what you need. And so it goes.

Jim Batchelor suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, not to mention the obvious. 

GUNNER PALACE

I saw a powerfully raw documentary by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein about what it's like being a soldier in Iraq. If you really want to get an idea of what's it's like for them over there you'll find out here not the nightly news.

Tucker and Epperlein are a married American couple who visited Iraq twice in late 2003 and 2004. They followed the 2-3 Field Artillery Division (the "Gunners") of the Army's First Armoured Division. They live in the partially-destroyed palace once occupied by Saddam's son, Uday. It has a functioning swimming pool and a putting green and a great sound system.

Part of the frustration for these guys is their job is no longer definable (as the combat soldiers that they are). Sometimes police, sometimes counselors, sometimes paramedics and sometimes soldiers.

The filmmakers go along with the Gunners on their nighttime patrols following them into houses harboring suspected terrorists. Gunfire breaks out at unexpected moments. Tucker photographed his own movie, taking risks against his life. The Gunners were willing to have him along and you can see in the movie they felt comfortable and relaxed in front of the camera. It's as if they forgot the camera was on them.

Another thing you can't help but notice is that these soldiers are pretty disproportionately from the poorer part of society, as observed in the recruiting scenes in Fahrenheit 9/11. You also can't help but notice that these guys are here for each other. That's what motivates them into action. They are here to protect their buddies.

All the music in this movie is by the soldier's themselves, and it would make an interesting sound track -- a mixture of music and poetry. I highly recommend this movie as a documentary that took some real guts to actually film. He puts you as much in the thick of things as you're likely to ever get.

To see a trailer of the movie click on the link below.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movies/feature/gunnerpalace.html

PHARMACEUTICALS

Click on this link for a funny take on all the warnings on side effects of medicines.

http://www.jibjab.com/cu_play_full.html

yeah, that's the ticket

Maybe Bush Was Right?

With the elections in Iraq it seems Bush is getting a bit of a swell in support or something of a vindication for what I still believe to be a fiasco. Somehow these guys can take a success and blow it a bit out of proportion.

Analogy -- Let's say your doctor calls you and based on your last visit he says you need immediate open heart surgery. No you can't wait a few days, you need it now. He tells you he knows exactly what's wrong, what veins a clogged. You don't want to take a chance on the big one -- clenching his chest. You're scared out of your mind. Admit me now, operate tomorrow.

You're admitted and the next morning you go throught open heart surgery. After hours in surgery you finally are in recovery. After a couple of hours your doctor comes to give you a summary of how the operation went. Good news, bad news. Good news is I was all wrong and your heart was perfectly healthy. The bad news is that you have huge scars on your chest and we have probably scarred your heart as well due to the trauma of the surgery.

Remember that skin rash that you've had for all these years the doctor asks you. The rash that you let go because you couldn't afford the $10,000 treatment that was necessary to cure it. Well I believe we are about to start curing it. We've applied an ointment that seems to have at least stopped the rash from getting any worse. I would say that this whole hospital visit for you has been a rousing success. We're treating your rash.

Well, the good news is the doctor is treating his rash with an early 1st application of ointment with some success. The bad news is that it came at the expense of a $800,000 operation he did not need, and on top of that it scarred him and damaged his healthy heart.

How it's sppppppppppppuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

George and Condi -- Who's on First?

http://masteroni.student.utwente.nl/hu.html

WHAT IS A BILLION?

A friend sent this to me the other day and I found it extremely interesting.

This truly put a BILLION in perspective !!! . . .

The next time you here a politician use the word

"billion," casually, think

about whether you want the politician spending your

tax money. A billion is

a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising

agency did a good job

of putting that figure into perspective in one of its

releases.

A billion seconds ago it was 1973. A billion minutes

ago Jesus was alive. A

billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the

Stone Age. A billion days

ago no-one walked on two feet on earth. A billion

dollars ago was only 8

hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our republican

controlled government spends it.

WOW!

THE BUSH FASCIST INDEX

14 Characteristics of a Fascist State

http://bushwatch.org/bush.htm#index

Chop Away at Everything But Tax Cuts

State and local drug enforcement faces cuts in money for drug control programs by President Bush, arguing that the programs are ineffective and must be cut because of large budget deficits. I thought we didn't have to worry about the deficits. A total of 1.3 billion would be cut, much of that would be money used for collaborative efforts to battle drug sales and for drug prevention programs. Crystal meth has become a growing problem, even among suburban soccer moms.

Alabama Democrat Bud Cramer said Alabama police chiefs and sheriffs have told him that the cuts would devastate law enforcement. "Crystal meth is sweeping through the state," Cramer told Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. "It's going to eat us alive." Gonzales said, "The president is very concerned about the deficit and some very difficult decisions were made. Of course they didn't work on the tax cuts ot the inaugural balls. Those are vital to the country.

The proposed budget would eliminate a $600 million grant program for local police forces, cut $126 million -- more than half -- from the administration's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program and reduce by 60 percent to $20 million the Justice Department's methamphetamine initiative. I don't get it.

Who's Worst in Child Poverty?

In the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -- a group of the wealthiest countries in the world a report was done by UNICEF's Innocenti Research Center in Florence, Italy to determine who' the best and worst concerning child poverty and based its findings on the number of children growing up in households with an income less than half the national median.

Rated the best were Denmark, at 2.4 percent; Finland, at 2.8 percent; Norway, at 3.4 percent and Sweden, at 4.2 percent. And at the bottom end of the table were Mexico, at 27.7 percent, and the United States, at 21.9 percent. Somehow I don't think that's going to improve under this administration. No Child Left Behind?

Drugs, Iraq and Afghanistan

The International Narcotics Control Board said drug production in Afghanistan was so widespread that it "has become a severe threat to this new democracy, as well as the stability and economic recovery of the country as a whole." Drug production in Afghanistan reached a record level in 2004, even with efforts to try to curb production. According to Hamid Ghodse, president of the Vienna-based board, to reporters on Tuesday, "Once it becomes a narcotic state, the rule of law, the democracy, everything will go out the window." He's also concerned about Iraq, where traffickers could flourish in the power vacuum.

Before we whacked that hornet's nest called Iraq nearly two years ago Osama bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had no affiliation with each other and in some ways were at odds with each other. Al-Zarqawi pledged allegiance to bin-Laden and Al-Qaeda last year. Who said Bush wasn't a uniter? Now Osama and Abu Musab are buddies Osama wants Abu Musab to concentrate his efforts on attacks outside Iraq and preferably inside the U.S. I feel safer as each day goes by.

While Alberto pushes for swift action on Patriot Act

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Monday pushed for swift Senate votes on judicial nominees and prompt congressional renewal of the USA Patriot Act to aid the fight against terrorism. Luckily some lawmakers want to fine-tune portions of the act that may unduly infringe on civil rights. Senator Patrick Leahy ,the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee said that the Justice Department has been slow to provide detailed reporting on the use of these tools [allowed in the Patriot Act] and to demontrate why they should be extended beyond the end of the year.

Judicial nominees are also a contentious subject. Senate Democrats charge that several Bush nominees to appeals court slots are conservative idealogues or otherwise unsuited to be confirmed. The last thing I think we need to do is rush this stuff through before scrutinizing it.

http://www.moveonpac.org/judges/

Rumsfeld Sued by Activists

The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First have filed suit, in Chicago, against Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for torture and abuse of prisoners by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan. Four Iraqis and four Afghans allege they suffered severe beatings, cutting with knives, sexual humiliation and assault, mock executions, death threats and restraint in excruciating positions. They were held in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003 and 2004, were never charged with crimes and have been released.

The suit contends that he is to blame for the abuse because he changed interrogation policies and practicesdesigned to prohibit torture. The groups say he later ignored evidence that the policies had resulted in abuse. The suit was filed in federal court in Chicago because Rumsfeld's home state is Illinois.