Let's Get Al Gore: All my life I have yearned for a presidential candidate whom I could love. There were none. There were some I liked but none I could embrace as my parents embraced Franklin Roosevelt. I never loved any president as completely as they loved him. I wondered what that would be like. FDR was, of course, before my time and it was, indeed, a different time.

Suddenly, however, it perhaps has happened. Have my yearnings been answered? I don't know. What I do know is I love Al Gore. I have always thought our country lucky to have, in its darkest moments, a leader who emerged to pull us through. It happened in the revolutionary period, of course, with Washington, the Civil War period with Lincoln, during the Great Depression and WWII with Roosevelt but in 2001 when our country was so viciously attacked and indeed threatened with catastrophic damage there was ultimately no one there to lead.

Indeed, it was our country's misfortune to have a leader in the oval office who was so woefully inept, so sadly not up to the task of governing this nation, so communicatively challenged and intellectually incurious during this epically important time. Worse, the leadership that followed him as president into the office of the vice-presidency and Congress was phenomenally dishonest, violent and uncaring about illegalities and abridgments of power. We lost our innocence on 9/11 and we lost our ideals as a nation in its aftermath. Bush and his minions instead of doing the most important task of uniting us, turned their back on anyone who questioned their policies, catered to religious extremists, concocted an unnecessary war, disempowered and thus divided this country nearly worse than during the time of the Civil War period.

In my opinion, too, there is no Democratic candidate who is up to the task of assuming the presidency. Although I like Obama, Hillary Clinton and others, they simply, in my opinion, cannot win and are now beset by the child-like cattiness of infighting. Our Congressional Democratic victory in 2006 is not enough. We face the prospect of yet another Republican presidential possibility who will keep us quagmired in a business-as-usual mode which our country now can ill afford. We face another great divide and worse we face a catastrophic future.

We need if not a New Deal a New Day. We need a reverse course of years of horrendously dangerous policy both domestically and, most certainly, internationally. Perhaps things happen for a reason. Perhaps, Al Gore did not attain what was rightfully his in 2000 because he needed to do even more important things until the time was right for him to use that greatness he has acquired to finally lead our nation and reverse its suicidal course. We are running off a cliff and there is not much time.

I want Al Gore to claim his rightful place as President of this nation. Our nation needs him. We desperately need the intellectually savvy, verbally adept, honest and secure leadership he could provide. Nothing less than our survival is at stake. I believe we must prevail upon him to run. Someday maybe my faith can be restored in the historical greatness that I always thought was America and my dream of experiencing a great presidential leader will be fulfilled.

The Jesus Tomb: These arguments are ridiculous. There is absolutely NO, I repeat NO evidence that Jesus even existed. There is no historical evidence whatsoever. The Gospels are NOT, I repeat NOT historical evidence since they were written a good deal after the time Jesus is alleged to have lived. The Gospels are stories, folklore if you will. Each differs from the other and none is an account of the actual happenings. There is not even any evidence that Pontius Pilot controlled Judea or that Caesar Augustus ordered everyone to be taxed. He didn't. Nothing, no coins, no artifacts nothing exists to prove the existence of Jesus. Those who say there is are pure and simply lying or fantasizing. Even Josephus a supposed Jewish historian whom many claim said Jesus Christ lived has long ago proven not to be true, his writings about Jesus a forgery. Even IF somehow somewhere some way proof could be gleaned it would not make much of a difference. Who said Jesus' entire body had to rise? Perhaps people would say it was his spirit which rose. When it comes to verifying the historicity of the existence and factual exploits of Jesus it is NOT going to ever happen unless some document somewhere is unearthed that says unequivocally with a detailed description there was a man named Yeshua who claimed to be the son of God and was crucified. There are MANY stories from the ancient world that claim the same things that the New Testament claims as attributes of Jesus. The last ossuary found which "unequivocally" proved Jesus had a brother James was a forgery. The Jesus story cannot be proved. It is a story. An ossuary with names means nothing. Money means everything...natch.

This is sent in response to an article critical of the AJC written by Rabbi Wascow of the Shalom Center which seems to be going around the Internet. I offer this response.

I do not know one thing about the American Jewish Committee. I am a skeptic through and through especially if it has to do with politics or religion. I went to the American Jewish Committee web site and I enclose the link to it http://www.ajc.org

It carries the remarks by Larry Lowenthal at his 18th year celebration. You can read the text of his speech. There is really not much to disagree with and there is not much I really can disagree with as far as Rabbi Wascow's email which you sent as well except for one sentence.

To me the proof is often going deeper. Even George Bush's speeches often sound good on their face but delve a little deeper into what this man has really done, who makes up his entourage and if possible what they say in private then it becomes a different story.

I try to look at both sides of issues. There is no question to me that American foreign policy has committed egregious acts. Acts, through which, we reap what we have sewn. It MUST be reassessed and reworked if we are to live on this planet without perpetual and at some point, I think, catastrophic war. There must also be a solution to the Palestinian issue. Personally, I believe in a two state solution too.

However, angels do not exist anywhere. The problem is that religion uncompromising and extreme throws up roadblocks to peace everywhere. There is no arguing with people who think God is on their side, God put them where they are and there is especially no arguing with suicide bombers who kill thousands upon thousands of innocents and will not even argue their beliefs in the first place. There is no criticism of or rapprochement by much of the academic left or albeit in the Muslim world of Muslims who decapitate, burn and slaughter so many even of their own religion. Occasionally one hears a few but certainly not an outcry.

We must wade through, in my opinion, the supernatural hocus pocus sewers that are the monotheistic religions in their pure form. A daunting task. I am not even sure it can be done. Religion in my opinion is the single most threatening force known to man besides nature because it keeps free thought down and closes the door to dialogue and scientific truth. This is true probably of some in the AJC and it is no less true of certainly many in the Islamic world as well.

The sentence in Rabbi Wascow's article that I do not like was: "Indeed, they attacked a Jewish poet, playwright, and historian for questioning the possibility of a two-state solution when the most vigorous underminers of such a solution -- even more vigorous and more effective than murders by Palestinian terrorists -- have been the Israeli government." THAT I have a problem with. Both sides commit atrocities. Palestinians commit horrendous atrocities even against their own people. I venture to ask if Israel were to cease to exist as a Jewish state (a possibility) would there be peace in Palestine? I would not bet my wallet on it.

Many in all of the Islamic world, too, are not kidding when they say they want a second Holocaust and Jews should be driven into the sea. I take them at their word. The Jewish state unless annihilated (a possibility) is a reality. A two state solution is, in my opinion, the most desirable BUT when the left, as they so often do, start using phrases like the Israeli government is worse than terrorists they lose me and incur worse wrath of a lot of Jews. The title of Jimmy Carter's book did the same thing. If he truly wants peace he would not have used the title he did which sold his book but alienated a lot of others. A true mediator looks at both sides and tries at least to treat them equally and not inflame. Rabbi Wascow's title
"F*****T, the AJC" did nothing to advance his cause. It looked on the face of it profane.

There must be quiet dialogue with an attempt to diffuse not ignite. So far, on both sides, I see very few willing to do that.

Hearing Anna Nicole: What a circus the Anna Nicole burial hearing was. I can only wonder what Saturday Night Live, Jay Leno, and Letterman will do with a judge actually crying about the verdict. The judge, while I'm sure is a decent guy, was significantly less than professional. His court was theater of the absurd and his discussion was often ridiculous in the extreme. That proceeding could have been cut in half. I suspect the judge was crying not really for Anna Nicole but for himself because of the intense, in my opinion, deserved criticism of his own histrionic behavior. Judge, the proceeding is NOT about you it is about a dead woman and her burial. Fewer personal comments by the judge and more control over the proceeding should have been the order of the day!

Troop Trauma: The fact that our troops not getting the BEST care from our government makes my blood burn and smoulder. This government which is wasting billions on no bid contracts to their cronies and contributors talks a wonderful game in front of the cameras. Behind the cameras it is a different story all together.

They, as I have said in many writings, do NOT dive a damn about the little guy OR the soldier. Bush and his cohorts in crime care about one thing only MONEY. When will the people of this nation see -- I mean REALLY see? Republicans in general are not about us they are about the huge corporation and the billions of bucks it generates for THEM and their campaigns but NOT for us. They do NOT care about us. We need to yell that loudly at the ballot box. They need to be swept out of office entirely and for good and if/when Democrats are elected they too cannot be allowed to cater to the money givers whom they need to get elected. They must put their money where they say there mouth is and cater to the people who need protection and government services. That is what government should be about.

The sale of Iraq is a COMPLETE abomination and the inattentiveness to the needs and safety of our precious soldiers who give up their lives is nothing less than criminal. Criminals and treason occupy the White House. Is this who we want to care about our soldiers who are spilling gallons of blood for a policy that is INSIPID and unwinnable? When will America wake up? Our life's blood is draining out of us and we cannot even get a useless non-binding resolution passed.

A mature nation realizes its mistake, stops the mistake and moves on. We desperately need a SMART, capable, communicatively adept leader in office. That is NOT who we have living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. We have living there quite the opposite. Shame on this leader for not providing our troops with everything they need and shame on us for "electing" him not once but twice!

Anna Nicole Mania: I suppose by the very fact that I am blogging about this I contribute to the news frenzy about Anna Nicole Smith. So much news so much of the time about her! It is pathetic indeed. I try to analyze this phenomenon. What is there about this country that it feeds so incessantly on the meaningless? So much money has been made by the media with respect to this woman's death. I ask why. What has she done in her life, short of nothing, to deserve this attention? Someone must want to know these things. The news about her sells and sells big. It puts huge amounts of cash into media moguls' coffers. One thing I do know is it puts NO cash whatsoever in MY coffer. It puts no cash in anyone else's coffer except for the few involved directly in the case. So what is it about that attracts us so much?

If Marilyn Monroe, Jack Kennedy, or Robert Kennedy were alive and youthful today could they ever have gotten away with so much of their behavior. If Marilyn Monroe were young today and died as she did how much news would be devoted to that? My guess is she would be covered 24/7

I think Anna Nicole Smith tried and indeed did remind so many of Marilyn. People in this country have, I think, never let go of the Monroe phenomenon. People still want her resurrected from the dead. In lieu of that, Anna Nicole Smith will suffice. Now the media, growing in technological sophistication, can give many what they want ... another Marilyn. This time though we can examine all the minutiae of her life and death something which at the time of Marilyn's death was not possible.

After the Smith saga has ended we will, of course, like Billy Flynn suggests about the character Roxie in the movie "Chicago," go on to the next bit of news junk. Instead of the public wanting to examine the complexities of American foreign policy or the metamorphosis of the history of Islam and the western thought, the superficialities of our culture will prevail and we will be glued to the next Anna Nicole Smith saga wherever that may be. It's sad because Smith's life is over but our lives, although not over yet, hang in the balance of war and diplomacy but our public wants entertainment and six party talks do not provide that!

Libby the Liar: If I were on the Libby jury the fact that three other journalists said that they had learned about Valerie Pflame from Fleisher, Rove and Armitage would in no way let Libby off the hook. As a matter of fact I would be more inclined to think that there was a concerted effort high in the administration to out Pflame by nearly everyone within the administration's hierarchy so why wouldn't Libby be among those high officials who did the very same thing to try to get Pflame's name out to journalists to discredit Joe Wilson revelations that part of Bush's state of the union speech was a lie to justify invading Iraq. To me it just reinforces Libby's guilt. It will stagger me if, because of money and influence, Libby gets away with perjury. For him and all the others in that administration, though, including our vice-president the charge really should be treason!

Rebecca Riley: I do not know the guilt or innocence of any party with regard to death by an overdose of medication of four year old Rebecca Riley. There is no question, in my opinion, that physicians are too quick to dispense especially psychotropic drugs. There is, it seems to me, no clear understanding of what psychotropic drug to prescribe or what amount of a drug a physician should give. Psychotropic drugs it seems are thrown into a hat, picked out randomly and given to patients some of whom may be children, to try. We are told psychiatry is not an exact science. Its often trial and error.

It is also true we suffer from an obsessive American quick fix disorder. The doctors and the drug companies dutifully oblige. Our media is saturated with never ending, ceaseless drug advertising. Money is always in the equation. In my opinion in the case of Rebecca Riley, it will be determined that she was short changed by all parties involved i.e. the psychiatrist, the pharmacy, DSS and most especially her fractured, dysfuntional mentally disturbed parents. It does seem to me that a bright red flag should have gone up to the physician when a mother, of dubious mental stability, asked for more and more refills as the drugs became allegedly lost or allegedly degraded by water. Then again, doctors do what they have always done pushed pills for the drug giants. Many may, indeed, have good intentions and want to help people. In the case of this little girl, however, lack of profound oversight and error cost a little girl her life!

Mary Cheney's Baby: Mary Cheney is right her baby is a blessed event. She should tell that to her right wing buddies that jet propelled her father and his friend George into the executive branch. The fact that her baby is an anathema to the religious fundamentalists gives Wolfe Blitzer every right to comment upon it. Blitzer was not commenting on the right or wrong of homosexuals raising babies together. He was asking how she feels about doing something that her father's so called base thinks is abhorrent. How could Mary Cheney think that a John Kerry would have been worse than this Republican administration with respect to her and her partner's particular interests? Her father and Bush owe the fact that they occupy the White House to that very group that would like to negate her, her partner and their baby's existence and think that what she is doing is next to blasphemy in its evil. I am stumped as to how Mary Cheney supports her father's party without shooting herself in her very foot. Something does not compute. Obviously, Mary Cheney does not see it that way. The question is why.

What to do in Iraq: Money should be appropriated to support the troops already there redeploying them to other appropriate areas and not put other so called "surge" troops in harms way. Iraq needs to be divided into the three main ethnic compositions and the oil reserves then further divided fairly. The ENTIRE war has been a mistake from beginning to end costing dearly in lives and treasure. It was NOT executed properly in so many ways and probably should not have been executed at all. Sadam Hussein, as cruel a leader as he was, kept that country together. It is now fractured beyond recognition, millions have fled and thousands continue to die. Is this better than even Sadam Hussein? I think not but the Hussein era is dead and we must deal with what is. The war blunder is proof positive -- if we ever needed one -- as to what happens when a country has a cerebrally inept, intellectually bankrupt, communicatively challenged, incurious person holding the highest office in the world. In the final analysis the buck stops not with him but with us, the people, for electing a nincompoop and a nincompoop's entourage that goes with him in the first place.

The Debacle that is Iraq: George W. Bush has sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind. However horrendous Sadam Hussein was, he kept that country together through the use of force. Is the force that the US has used and the thousands of tonnage of bombs dropped on Iraq made Iraq better? It is much worse there than Sadam Hussein could even have imagined perpetrating. The US never invaded Iraq for WMD's, nor to spread democracy but for a combination of revenge for 9/11, a neocon philosophic fantasy and, of course, the omni-present oil. Now Shites, Sunnis, and many many others are exacting their revenge on each other and sadly upon the US, our allies that are left and our unbelievably brave soldiers. We are at an existential impasse. There is, as Jean Paul Sartre would say, NO EXIT!

The Supreme Court -- PBS DOCUMENTARY: I wrote this to Justice Roberts after his interview for this documentary. If you have not seen this documentary I suggest you do not miss it.:

I watched PBS documentary about the Supreme Court. Although, I am not politically aligned with Justice Roberts, I wanted to email to say how much I enjoyed the various segments of his interview. He is obviously very well versed in the history of the Supreme Court and made, I thought, an excellent presentation and representation of the Court.

The foundations of our democracy are a wonder to me and are testament, even to this day, of the brilliance of these 18th century men of the Enlightenment. It is so interesting to see how the Supreme Court has evolved from barely an entity to one of the most powerful forces of US history. Our Constitution remains an exquisite document which lends itself not only to the law and its rigidity but also to the interpretation of that law and its flexibility. I thought Justice Roberts conducted a wonderful and informative interview. I yearned for more!

Another Otherworldy Tale -- A response to Rabbi Gellman: I just simply do not buy hocus pocus and what we WISH could be the state of man as what truly is. We WISH life to be a fairy tale where justice, truth, freedom and purpose prevail but is not. The hope that it WILL be I imagine is eternal but realistically that hope is usually dashed. It is dashed because we live in a real world where the attainment of power and wealth are at its core. This has been so nearly eternally since man, or a reasonable facsimile thereof, has been around. These wishful stories that fascism, war, totalitarianism and other injustices will die are only that ... wishes and nothing else.

The men of peace whom you talk about such as Martin Luther King and Ghandi were assassinated. RFK was assassinated. Rabin and Sadat were assassinated. Hitler was replaced by Stalin. Stalin was replaced ultimately with religious fanaticism. Who does the US choose as a leader in these critical times? George W. Bush, intellectually limited wager-of-war-based-on-lies, religious fundamentalist denier of the truth of science and abridger of human rights supreme interested more in his oil buddies, corporate money and revenge than he is in the survival of the human race and life on this planet.

The world today is a MUCH worse and more threatening place then ever in the history of our species. Powers (plural) have the ability to destroy all life on earth forever. More and more nations will probably achieve that dubious nuclear capability distinction. My guess is they are simply, if you will pardon the pun, dying to use it. The US for all its talk of freedom, democracy and justice has been involved in a plethora of wars all over the globe since its history and many, with the exception of WWII, were unnecessary. We have killed hundreds of thousands sometimes necessarily so but sometimes not. War now prevails over peace and religious fundamentalism prevails over rational thought. Lies prevail over truth. Man is a violent, power loving, and corrupt creature whose world is blowing up or drowning and whose fate seems dismal at best. There is no one, absolutely no one, to stop this descent.

I suppose we can look at a half full glass but I do not see it as such. I see life as Hobbs saw it for what I think it is: nasty, brutish and short. There are no saviors, there are no protectors there is only a continual line of men of folly globally who know exactly how to wage war but little of how to sagaciously wage peace. Worse, they couch their reason for violence in irrational religious insanity. If you want a fairy tale protector or ending read a book because that is the only place I think you will get one.

Beautiful Barbaro: That beautiful Kentucky Derby horse winner Barbaro was euthanized today ultimately due to his original leg fracture when he tried to run the Preakness last year. It is a sad ending to a magnificent animal.

I have long thought horse and dog racing are cruel and inhumane “sports.” Humans are simply using those beautiful animals for their own pleasure and, of course, big money while stressing the animal's body to Olympian heights. Barbaro’s legs just could not stand the stress of it. It makes me sad. People say why do you care it's just an animal but I truly do believe animals have an intrinsic value and just as much right to a life on this planet as humans do without interrupting their natural life cycle. In a way, I see no difference between humans and animals. We are all animals but endowed with different traits. Yes, our brain makes us cleverer but does that mean we have more worth, for example, than a horse which can certainly run faster or a dog which can hunt better or a bird which can fly? Humans can certainly build better mouse traps but I do not think that entitles us to use and abuse other species and I especially loath animals used by humans for immense profit.

I believe we are all meant to be on this earth and to use whatever our capacities are to survive. I do believe in ultimately letting the earth and nature dictate all of our fates without humans imposing their will and being the determining factor of everything. Barbaro and each human too are beautiful and unique in and of themselves. I believe, their natural life cycle should not be negatively dominated by anyone else. Yes, I agree Barbaro needed to be euthanized because his quality of life was reduced so significantly that leading a life free of pain was simply not an option for him. I do to an extent agree with that for humans as well. I believe endless pain and suffering is not what life is meant to be and humans surely should not contribute to that for any specie. Human sport killed Barbaro. At least I agree with one thing, Barbaro is not suffering anymore.

Little Miss Darkness err Sunshine: Perhaps I am unique. I simply do not for the life of me understand what people think is so wonderful about this film or why it is up for any Academy Award. I simply hated it. It was preposterous, ridiculous, inane, certainly profane and obnoxious. Okay, perhaps it said one should be who one is and persevere despite life's setbacks and with a loving family it will be much easier to get through the rough spots. I'll give it that. I suppose it had a message. Still, the way TO the message was insane.

Moreover, something else bothered me. The role of the grandfather made me squirm. The fact that he was disgustingly profane and obnoxiously revolting was compounded by what he said in the company of his granddaughter. There was some kind of, I thought, weird incestuous suggestiveness that I was not at all comfortable with. Would anyone be comfortable with a grandfather who got kicked out of his condo, sniffed cocaine and advised his grandson to bed every woman he can, staying in a hotel room with their female child? The kiddy beauty pageant at the end put the child pornographic icing on the cake for me and it did so by trying to be hilarious about it. There is NOTHING funny about a child being placed in a Jean Benet Ramseyish adult sexual role. NOTHING. This film said and did some uncomfortable things and more than once I was tempted to walk out. I didn't but I wish I had. This film disgusted me.

A post by Maureen Dowd:

This should be sent to every member of Congress and that den of stupidity the White House. Maureen Dowd is a one-of-a-kind magnificently brilliant editorialist. Her editorial is below.

Daffy Does Doom

By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: January 27, 2007
WASHINGTON

Dick Durbin went to the floor of the Senate on Thursday night to denounce the vice president as “delusional.”

It was shocking, and Senator Durbin should be ashamed of himself.

Delusional is far too mild a word to describe Dick Cheney. Delusional doesn’t begin to capture the profound, transcendental one-flew-over daftness of the man.

Has anyone in the history of the United States ever been so singularly wrong and misguided about such phenomenally important events and continued to insist he’s right in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary?

It requires an exquisite kind of lunacy to spend hundreds of billions destroying America’s reputation in the world, exhausting the U.S. military, failing to catch Osama, enhancing Iran’s power in the Middle East and sending American kids to train and arm Iraqi forces so they can work against American interests.

Only someone with an inspired alienation from reality could, under the guise of exorcising the trauma of Vietnam, replicate the trauma of Vietnam.

You must have a real talent for derangement to stay wrong every step of the way, to remain in complete denial about Iraq’s civil war, to have a total misunderstanding of Arab culture, to be completely oblivious to the American mood and to be absolutely blind to how democracy works.

In a democracy, when you run a campaign that panders to homophobia by attacking gay marriage and then your lesbian daughter writes a book about politics and decides to have a baby with her partner, you cannot tell Wolf Blitzer he’s “out of line” when he gingerly raises the hypocrisy of your position.

Mr. Cheney acts more like a member of the James gang than the Jefferson gang. Asked by Wolf what would happen if the Senate passed a resolution critical of The Surge, Scary Cheney rumbled, “It won’t stop us.”

Such an exercise in democracy, he noted, would be “detrimental from the standpoint of the troops.”

Americans learned an important lesson from Vietnam about supporting the troops even when they did not support the war. From media organizations to Hollywood celebrities and lawmakers on both sides, everyone backs our troops.

It is W. and Vice who learned no lessons from Vietnam, probably because they worked so hard to avoid going. They rush into a war halfway around the world for no reason and with no foresight about the culture or the inevitable insurgency, and then assert that any criticism of their fumbling management of Iraq and Afghanistan is tantamount to criticizing the troops. Quel demagoguery.

“Bottom line,” Vice told Wolf, “is that we’ve had enormous successes, and we will continue to have enormous successes.” The biggest threat, he said, is that Americans may not “have the stomach for the fight.”

He should stop casting aspersions on the American stomach. We’ve had the stomach for more than 3,000 American deaths in a war sold as a cakewalk.

If W. were not so obsessed with being seen as tough, Mr. Cheney could not influence him with such tripe.

They are perpetually guided by the wrong part of the body. They are consumed by the fear of looking as if they don’t have guts, when they should be compelled by the desire to look as if they have brains.

After offering Congress an olive branch in the State of the Union, the president resumed mindless swaggering. Asked yesterday why he was ratcheting up despite the resolutions, W. replied, “In that I’m the decision maker, I had to come up with a way forward that precluded disaster.” (Or preordained it.)

The reality of Iraq, as The Times’s brilliant John Burns described it to Charlie Rose this week, is that a messy endgame could be far worse than Vietnam, leading to “a civil war on a scale with bloodshed that will absolutely dwarf what we’re seeing now,” and a “wider conflagration, with all kinds of implications for the world’s flow of oil, for the state of Israel. What happens to King Abdullah in Jordan if there’s complete chaos in the region?”

Mr. Cheney has turned his perversity into foreign policy.

He assumes that the more people think he’s crazy, the saner he must be. In Dr. No’s nutty world-view, anti-Americanism is a compliment. The proof that America is right is that everyone thinks it isn’t.

He sees himself as a prophet in the wilderness because he thinks anyone in the wilderness must be a prophet.

To borrow one of his many dismissive words, it’s hogwash.

Tragedy at Lincon/Sudbury Regional High: The violence and death of a student in the safety of his school would have been unthinkable in other eras. The most contraband which I brought to school was gum; the most dangerous weapon a pencil. Profanity and violence directed toward a student or teacher was not even a thought. Something has gone terribly wrong. Hoping to free ourselves from some of the ridiculous societal shackles of the 50's we, I think, reaped what we did not want exactly to sew.

I believe there is a general crudity which exists in this country, illustrated in our culture by the language used, the lack of civility in discourse and, worst of all, in the exhibition of violence without care or concern for the feelings of another. We are exposed to it every day, when we turn on television, watch the evening news, go to the movies, turn on the computer or simply walk into a mall. There is a cacophony of voices screaming at and not listening to each other. Until adults, liberal and conservative alike, learn to treat each other respectfully and to impose upon themselves self censorship, vulgarity and violence will be a way of life so that what happened in Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School will become not the exception but the rule.

Notes on a Scandal -- notable: This was a superb and wonderfully acted film. The entire cast including, of course, Judi Dench (Barbara) and Kate Blanchett (Sheba) gave sterling performances. The film has much to say and there is much to think about. I thought the movie was about loyalty, altruism, friendship, sadness, emptiness and purpose in life. It was about the unexpected and unanticipated outcomes of life. It was about morality and it was about loneliness.

Barbara is an aging, single and devastatingly lonely history teacher who develops an emotional and even sexual attachment to the comparatively youngish, very pretty, newly hired, insecure art teacher, Sheba. Sheba's problematic family life adds to her loneliness. She is married to an older man and has two children who present her with hard-to-manage unanticipated consequential situations. One of her children is a seemingly rather difficult teenage girl and the other is a son with Downs Syndrome.

Wading through her loneliness and difficulties, Sheba commits an immoral act which Barbara inadvertently observes; the stage is set for unforeseen consequences. There is too much in this movie to relate the ensuing events nor would I want to be a spoiler. There are pertinent questions, though, I think a viewer of the movie could keep in mind.

Why do people do what they do? When must we say no to one's impulses? Where is the line we and society draw and is it ever understandable when we cross that line? What is the nature of friendship? Ayn Randian questions always plague me. Are people really altruistic or do we do things because, in the end, we alone need to do them? Does self-interest always prevail and does it doom us? Barbara befriends Sheba and Sheba develops a great misplaced trust. Because of that events unfold and Sheba's world is upended. Barbara, I think, really cares about no one except herself and yet I built up an intense empathy for Barbara whose loneliness literally drips from every pore of her being. Is she evil? Is she completely pathologic as she flits from one receptive flower to the next? Is Barbara's reaction to life understandable? Does Sheba reap what she alone has sewn through her immoral act? Who is the more immoral of the two? What is betrayal and is it ever right? Barbara after all, I think, really does not betray because of a sense of right but because of a jealous sense of wrong that she feels was committed against her.

Personally, although some kinds of altruism, I think, exist, I do believe most people do what it is in their own self interest to do. Barbara did not offer to help Sheba through her difficulties out of an altruistic friendship she offered to help Sheba because she needed and wanted to possess her. Sheba committed an immoral act without thought of consequences to anyone including her family because she, too, needed to do so. The two protagonists were using people to satisfy their own urges and remedy their own disappointments in life.

I do believe we as a society need to create morality and set certain albeit arbitrary standards because, in the end, humans are still primitive beings. Left to our own devices we would do anything we want and a kind of social anarchy would and does often prevail. This film was riveting. I highly recommend it.

I loath the George W. Bush presidency: The damage he has done is staggering. He and his entire administration are like flypaper. We simply cannot rid ourselves of his ineptitude. I loath him because of his cerebral failure. His policies are a reflection of his lack of intellect. I cannot believe we have a president who is so limited and our government is so powerless, even with a Democratic majority, to rid us of this scourge.

This psychologically and intellectually impaired president will simply veto everything the Democrats pass and Democrats won't have the cajones to override immoral vetoes. Whether it's ethics reform, stem cell research or the Iraq debacle he will veto all of Congress's attempt to rectify the horror he has wrought. He is a disgrace. I believe our people got what they wanted especially those so called conservatives of the mid-West and south. Many of them have paid the ultimate price with either their own life or that of their child and other loved ones. Bush is the gift that keeps on giving...and giving and giving and giving.

Because of 9/11 I supported the Iraq war initially because I emphatically thought Iraq possessed WMD's. I thought our government absolutely knew things we did not and would never take us to a huge war based on lies this time. I thought this time our government would make sure to follow military advice.

Sometimes I wonder, what if the US did not act in Iraq and left Hussein and his sons alone? Would he/they then have been in competition with Iran to build a nuclear bomb? That question can never be answered. What we do know now is that the terrorists in the form of Al Quaeda who attacked us on 9/11 and other terrorists from all over the region are certainly in Iraq now. They were not in Iraq under Hussein. Hussein suffered no tyrants except the tyranny of his own regime. It is possible that that regime if left in place would have ensured a terrorist free zone. We will never know.

Further, I also wonder if the Iraq War was not a pretext to ultimately bomb Iran's nuclear capabilities. If so it seems this could not have gone worse. Perhaps Bush didn't care how it went IF he could position our troops in Iraq to provide support for an ultimate air and sea attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

There has been so much death and destruction on all fronts for seemingly absolutely nothing. Certainly Islamic fanatics will not be getting 72 virgins in heaven. What total insanity their cause is. On the other Christian hand certainly, too, Revelations is a story book joke as well. If, however, Bush believes in it then I do not know who is crazier Bush or the Islamic fundamentalists. Maybe it's a tie but the joke certainly is on us.

The Good Shepard -- the etiology of the CIA: I think I enjoyed this film more than most. Perhaps I enjoyed it because I am a very political person and think so often about national and international issues. I am constantly trying to figure out which side is really right. It seems each decade I change my mind. Perhaps it is because history and its analyses change from era to era. With the exception of the moral superiority of WWII, US policy becomes, I think, questionable, throughout the cold war era and beyond. Perhaps no one is all right and no one is all wrong. This country has done some nasty things BUT so has every other country. International politics is not soft and cuddly and if one needs a teddy bear I suggest the CIA, FBI, etc. is not for you. This film, I agree, seems not to take a firm stand although it surely does give one pause as to US interrogation techniques. I think one can relate much to contemporary events and arguments against (and for) torture.

The definite flaw, in my opinion, is the aging process of the actors. Angelina Jolie remains twenty something from decade to decade as does Matt Damon as does Tammy Blanchard and others. It was hard to tell the difference between the ages of Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie's and their son. That made it hard to follow and believe.

I did love the performances though and I loved the subject matter despite the film's lack of statement. Perhaps every film does not have to hit one over the head (so to speak) telling us its definitive point of view but rather should spark discussion of, in this case, power politics and its necessary bedfellow -- immorality. How far would one go to protect oneself, one's family or one's country even if it meant that you had to commit an immoral act to do it? That is a good question and I cannot think of a better time in history to ask it. A warning: It is a long film but I did not look at my watch once!