More Oscar Crap

We just saw Sideways - very good movie, highly recommended. I was going to blog this as part of a previous post but I went off on a rant about the Passion:

I am glad Michael Moore screwed himself out of an Oscar. For those who don't know, a few months ago he said he was going to campaign for F911 to be nominated for best picture instead of the documentary category.

Well Michael, is it a documentary or a movie? We all know there are movies made about real-life situations, such as Hotel Rwanda or the Aviator. But what makes these movies and not documentaries is that poetic license is taken to dramatize certain events. Well did you do that Michael? I hope not.

I don't believe he did. I believe he showed the truth - yes it was biased, as many documentaries are. But I don't believe he showed anything that wasn't true. Sure he implied various opinions, but any intelligent person shouldn't fear someone else's opinion. The basic message of the film, the fact that Bush and his cronies misled the country into war, and that they are deeply embedded politically and financially with the Saudis, I believe is true - and has been supported by other findings.

But by blurring the line between information and entertainment even more, he's degraded the message and dishonored the memories of the people he was attempting to commemorate and given credence to the right-wing attacks on the film as propoganda. Since he campaigned for best picture and wasn't nominated, he wasn't nominated for documentary either. And that's too bad.

At least now Super Size Me has a chance at best documentary feature.

Did I mention Jamie Foxx is gonna get robbed by Leonardo Di Douchebag?

Volunteer or Else!

Well this explains why the DoD was requesting names and data on students enrolled in college between the ages of 18-35. For those of you who hadn't heard about that let me refresh. In October the Department of Defense demanded from Higher Education institutions lists of names of students aged 18-34 and threatened institutions with withholding federal funding if they didn't comply. That is not fiction - I know several people personally at other institutions from whom this data was requested.

Read the full article here.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in an Op-Ed blaming "conspiracy mongers" for "attempting to scare and mislead young Americans," insisted that "the idea of reinstating the draft has never been debated, endorsed, discussed, theorized, pondered or even whispered by anyone in the Bush administration."

That assertion is demonstrably false. According to an internal Selective Service memo made public under the Freedom of Information Act, the agency's acting director met with two of Rumsfeld's undersecretaries in February 2003 precisely to debate, discuss and ponder a return to the draft. The memo duly notes the administration's aversion to a draft but adds, "Defense manpower officials concede there are critical shortages of military personnel with certain special skills, such as medical personnel, linguists, computer network engineers, etc." The potentially prohibitive cost of "attracting and retaining such personnel for military service," the memo adds, has led "some officials to conclude that, while a conventional draft may never be needed, a draft of men and women possessing these critical skills may be warranted in a future crisis." This new draft, it suggests, could be invoked to meet the needs of both the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.

The memo then proposes, in detail, that the Selective Service be "re-engineered" to cover all Americans -- "men and (for the first time) women" -- ages eighteen to thirty-four. In addition to name, date of birth and Social Security number, young adults would have to provide the agency with details of their specialized skills on an ongoing basis until they passed out of draft jeopardy at age thirty-five. Testifying before Congress two weeks after the meeting, acting director of Selective Service Lewis Brodsky acknowledged that "consultations with senior Defense manpower officials" have spurred the agency to shift its preparations away from a full-scale, Vietnam-style draft of untrained men "to a draft of smaller numbers of critical-skills personnel."

Richard Flahavan, spokesman for Selective Service, tells Rolling Stone that preparing for a skills-based draft is "in fact what we have been doing." For starters, the agency has updated a plan to draft nurses and doctors. But that's not all. "Our thinking was that if we could run a health-care draft in the future," Flahavan says, "then with some very slight tinkering we could change that skill to plumbers or linguists or electrical engineers or whatever the military was short." In other words, if Uncle Sam decides he needs people with your skills, Selective Service has the means to draft you -- and quick.

But experts on military manpower say the focus on drafting personnel with special skills misses the larger point. The Army needs more soldiers, not just more doctors and linguists. "What you've got now is a real shortage of grunts -- guys who can actually carry bayonets," says McPeak. A wholesale draft may be necessary, he adds, "to deal with the situation we've got ourselves into. We've got to have a bigger Army."

Michael O'Hanlon, a military-manpower scholar at the Brookings Institute, believes a return to a full-blown draft will become "unavoidable" if the United States is forced into another war.

The Reserve, Helmly warns, "is rapidly degenerating into a broken force." The Army National Guard is also in trouble: It missed its recruitment goals of 56,000 by more than 5,000 in fiscal year 2004 and is already 2,000 soldiers short in fiscal 2005. To keep enough boots on the ground, the Pentagon has stopped asking volunteer soldiers to extend their service -- and started demanding it. Using a little-known provision called "stop loss," the military is forcing reservists and guardsmen to remain on active duty indefinitely. "This is an 'all-volunteer Army' with footnotes," says McPeak. "And it's the footnotes that are being held in Iraq against their wishes. If that's not a back-door draft, tell me what is."

David Qualls, who joined the Arkansas National Guard for a year, is one of 40,000 troops in Iraq who have been informed that their enlistment has been extended until December 24th, 2031. "I've served five months past my one-year obligation," says Qualls, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the military with breach of contract. "It's time to let me go back to my life. It's a question of fairness, and not only for myself. This is for the thousands of other people that are involuntarily extended in Iraq. Let us go home."

In the end, it may simply come down to a matter of math. In January, Bush told America's soldiers that "much more will be asked of you" in his second term, even as he openly threatened Iran with military action. Another war, critics warn, would push the all-volunteer force to its breaking point. "This damn thing is just an explosion that's about to happen," says Rangel. Bush officials "can say all they want that they don't want the draft, but there's not going to be that many more buttons to push."

Oscars and Crap

I agree with Donna - Jaime Foxx is gonna get ROBBED. But then again, they already gave an oscar to a black man this decade. Also, I really think they should institute a rule that every year that have to take one back from someone who has proven they were a fluke. Halle Berry, Cuba Gooding Jr., Joe Pesci... give them back.

In any case...

What is with all the whiny people complaining that Passion of the Christ didn't get nominated for any of the big categories?

"Hollywood has spoken. 'Don't mess with us,' is what they're saying," said Jennifer Giroux of seethepassion.com. " 'Don't mess with us because we will not consider your talent if you do anything that is Christian,' is the message that's coming out."

Do they really need their beliefs validated by the Academy? And I'm sorry, I saw it (on Friday during lent after a cheeseburger dinner) and it was well done. But it wasn't Oscar worthy. It was basically a giant gorefest. If I wanted to watch prisoners get tortured for an hour and a half I'd just ask Alberto Gonzales for his home video collection. Half the movie was him getting the shit beat out of him - Religious or not, it's just not interesting after a while. If it had involved more acting than simply screaming and having fake blood thrown on you, then yes, I'd say nominate it. Mel Gibson made the conscious choice to make the movie only about Jesus' last day and not about his vision of Jesus as a person - which would have been far more interesting in my opinion. It was nominated for cinemetography - which is a very esteemed award - and I think it deserves that nomination. The cinemetography was very well done.

This same argument goes for Hotel Rwanda. One of the reasons that movie got nominated for many awards is precisely because they made a conscious choice to limit the on-screen violence. They could have been very graphic and shown people getting hacked to pieces and skinned alive - but that wasn't what they wanted to tell a story about. Limiting the on-screen violence did not negatively impact the portrayal of the terror of the situation. This also goes for Schindler's List. These stories are about an exceptional men who acted courageously in the most dire of situations. If they had been merely a pseudo-documentary of the violence, they would not have been nearly as good.

Passion wasn't nominated because it wasn't THAT good of a movie, not because it's Christian.

Did I say Jaime Foxx will get robbed?

Random Bits

• Want to see the website of a TOTAL WHACKJOB??? Go to the Timecube. This guy is utterly insane! I ran across this on another blog.
  
  
• I got a comment from someone on one of my previous posts. I think he'll be a good political sparring opponent. I like intelligent debate. The key word is intelligent. I can't stand (righties or lefties) who simply parrot back whatever the latest fad "talking points" of the day are. I recently said to a friend of mine that American (and global) politics would be very different if even half of the population simply took the time to read and think about various perspectives. Unfortunately that would take valuable time away from football and Desperate Housewives. (no offense Donna).
  
  
• Does anyone know where Cillic has been? It's so strange when a regular blogger disappears. I'm going through withdrawl. I hope everything is OK.
  

Back to Class

I've started my Spring class this week and I think it will be a good one. It's called Sex, Gender and the Social Order. The professor got her PhD in the area of racial and gender inequalities and used to teach at U of Georgia in Athens (which she equated to the 5th ring of hell for a black woman).

I'm happy since I'll be able to incorporate some of my Master's research into the paper topic - since we can do anything relating to a gender issue. I can't double-up and use the exact same topic, but I have enough literature reviewed to make a good paper on a sub-topic and therefore not end up plagerizing myself.

She also told us a story of her interviewing at various institutions for a full-time faculty position and being told by someone that "she will be because she's black AND a woman!" Whoopeee... Imagine being told by someone that the only reason you were going to be hired was because of two things beyond your control that have absolutely nothing to do with your qualifications? That is exactly NOT the point of Affirmative Action. The idea behind it is to make sure that systematically disadvantaged people have an equal shot. I wouldn't want to be hired because I was a woman - but I wouldn't want to be denied an interview for that very same reason. It's a delicate balance.

I have friends whose mothers remenber being asked in interviews if they were married and/or if they planned to have children. The idea being that you didn't want to hire a woman who was planning on becoming pregnant because then she'd either leave or at the very least (gasp) need maternity leave. That kind of behavior still occurs in the lower-paid factory work, even in this country. Women are coerced into mandatory birth control or they will be fired. Many of these women are poorly educated or immigrants, and are unaware of their legal rights in the workplace or can't afford to be without a job if they dare challenge their employers.

I'm not sure why this digressed to a tirade about low-wage labor.

Anyway, my class should be good.

Oh, and the Cato Institute released THIS lovely study - did you know that federal financial aid is the reason college tuition rates keep rising? It doesn't have anything to do with rising costs of education or anything. Nah... colleges & universities don't need to pay their faculty a living wage or anything right? (fyi, college faculty don't make nearly as much money as what people assume they do) Yeah... let's cut the Pell Grants and go back to an age where college was available only to the rich!

The Laborious Final Journey to the Dark Tower

Beware Dark Tower Readers, the following blog contains spoilers. Read at your own risk if you have not finished, but plan to finish, the series.


I know we can't expect the same engrossing, hypnotizing style of the Wizard and Glass in all the final Dark Tower books, but a dash of one and a pinch of the other would have been nice. It seems to me Stephen King is using these last 3 books to simply conveniently tie up loose ends, and just finish the damn thing regardless if it's any good. Finishing this series has become a chore. Lucky for him, he still gets my money.

I was disappointed in Wolves of the Calla - I mean the whole book is spent in this one town, and then Stephen King blatently rips off Star Wars and Harry Potter (what's next? Tolkein? As a matter of fact, yes, but that comes later). Reading Wolves was more excruicating than the first book itself. It seems King cannot help but write a 700 page volume of the Dark Tower, even if half of it is just stuffing for his own gigantic ego. Sure we met Callahan from 'Salems Lot, the first of many of Kings blatant references to himself and his other novels. It ended on such a blah note. Thankfully the not so subtle reference to the WTC disaster on 9-11 did not turn out to be a pivotal plot point. That would have been so sidkening.

Song of Susannah was at best, ok. Half of it is Susannah romping around New York, her body taken hostage by Mia. We find that the baby Mia is carrying is Roland's AND the Crimson King's son who is destined to destroy Roland (is there any doubt why King sometimes refers to Flagg as Maerlen now?). The kid's name will be Mordred - ripping off another legendary story. I honestly don't remember much of this book. Most of it was pretty dull and Stephen King wrote himself into the story...

Finally, the end... The Dark Tower which is equally blah. I mean, you know you can't expect it to end well - it's been built up as a tragedy - Roland is destined to destroy everything he loves. This one was at least more interesting. King ties up some more loose ends and kills Flagg - does that mean he won't appear in any future novels? We shall see. He is the best damn villian in my opinion. He even writes in his own accident (remember him almost getting killed a few years ago?) - yep, that's there. See they have to save him otherwise the story will die - cuz it's King's writing that is holding the universe together. (Please, stroke my ego). Then he goes and rips off Tolkein - this is more subtle. Does anyone else out there think that Dandelo is just a demented, evil version of Tom Bombadil? And what purpose did Mordred serve other than a reason to make the series seven books instead of 5? I would have rather read more about Jericho Hill and what happened to Cuthbert and Alain. King can write hundreds of pages of detail about evens surrounding what ends up being an uneccesary character - and all he comes up with for the ultimate showdown between Roland and the Crimson King is an eraser?

I don't know how I feel about the ending though. Part of me liked it (I don't know if that was relief that I finished it) and part of me thought it was the ultimate copout.

Yes folks... the Dark Tower is a 5,000 page version of Groundhog Day.

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.

God's Politics

So I saw an episode of the Daily Show last night that got me to thinkin. The guest was an Evangelical Activist Preacher named Jim Wallis. Jim Wallis disapproves of the direction the Religious Right and debate about "moral values" in this country is headed, and has been headed for the past several years. Maybe it's time we liberals (I myself am guilty) stop over generalizing about how those damn religious folk are ruining our country. I don't take it that far - I see it as any person who believes their way is the only "true" way as being an idiot. That just happens to include many religious people, but it does include others as well - like Ralph Nader.

Anyway. Maybe we need to brush up on our verses, dig a little into the gospels and start using their language against them. Jim Wallis made some very good points - about how religious movements in this country in the past were united against oppression and greed. Now it seems they are conjoined with those things. Rather than actively working to uplift the poor, the downtrodden, those less fortunate than ourselves, they actively work on lining their own pocketbooks and making sure that a sticker in a textbook is a bigger headline than the number of children living in poverty. Voting for a liar and a cheat who claims to uphold Christian moral values is just plain hypocritical - and that's what I think most Christian Conservatives have become.

As long as we're discussing God and politics, why don't we can apply the lesson from Mark 11:15-18 to our own political system. Because after all - aren't our courts and our capitols the Temples of our government and our laws our sermons?

¹⁵They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves. ¹⁶He would not allow anyone to carry a container through the temple. ¹⁷He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”

¹⁸The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.

Isn't this what happens to anyone who dares to call attention to the fact that our beloved democracy is for sale to the highest bidder? The powers that be set out to destroy them, call them conspiracy theorists, communists, unpatriotic, unfaithful? They're crucified on the cross of public opinion.

I'm tired of hypocritical Religion-mongers who think they have the only monopoly on truth and morals. Fight back with their own teachings.

They tell you Bush is a good Christian leader:

• Ask them why he started an unneccesary war based on lies and deceit.
• Ask them why their beloved Republicans insist on throwing non-violent drug addicts in prison instead of helping them overcome their addictions and become productive members of society.
  
• Ask them why 44 million Americans still don't have decent health care.
  
• Ask them why we are the only "civilized" country in the world that still practices, even embraces, capital punishment even though it is proven time and time again that the system which damns people to death is unfair and unjust.
  
• Ask them why their elected officials succumb to the wishes of wealthy lobbyists and corporate allies rather than increasing the minimum wage to help uplift the working poor.
• Ask them if they know that the largest predictor of the number of abortions in a given year is the economic conditions in which women are living.
• Ask them if they really think teaching creationism and posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom and insisting that "Under God" remain in the pledge will really make up for the slashed school budgets, lack of textbooks, overcrowding of classrooms, burned-out, under-paid, over-worked teachers.
• Ask them if they really want to live in a world where the people they teach their children to look up to - their teachers, policemen, fire fighters, and soldiers - barely make enough money to own their own homes.
• Ask them if they want to live in a world that values the almighty dollar above human dignity.
  
• Ask them if they really believe continuing to shirk the larger, more important problems in favor of ones that make better sound bites will really get them into heaven.
• Ask them, above all else: "What would Jesus Do?"
  

Feelin' Groovy

No I didn't get contraband oxycontin. I don't know what it was that was wrong with me, but it's nearly gone. My aching joints are about back to normal. If that is going to be what it's like when I'm old... they better legalize opiates.

So today was ok. I relaxed around the house a bit (we actually get MLK day off work). Did a few light things around the house. Then about 3, Donna came by after her latest adventure to Lush. The sales lady recognized her... nooo, she's not an addict or anything.

She came by to give John a scarf she knitted, which is very nice and for a first try - very good. It actually goes twice around his neck. And blue is his color. I would never have the patience to knit anything larger than a pot holder or a trivet. I tried learning to crochet, I just can't concentrate on anything that tedious for long enough to make it worthwhile. I know people who find it relaxing... not me.

We're sitting around talking, commenting about John's wild hair and Donna let him put her hair clip in it. I said something about putting it all in barretts and John dared me to try... bad move...

You know those cheesy plastic barretts with teddy bears and kissing birds and butterflies on them? Well, John looked pretty funny with about 15 of those in his hair.

Donna dared him to go out to eat like that and she'd buy his dinner. So we went to Boston Market (John's choice). We got the odd looks, the giggles, a few stares.

On the way home, Donna's brain turned into a cesspool of bad 80s music and she just starting singing Wishing Well and Sign Your Name... John joined in and I was in Hell. She then went from Terrence Trent Darby to Rick Astley to Milli Vanilli. Thankfully this was about the time we got out of the car.

If the elevator isn't working tomorrow at work I'm going home... I am NOT walking up those steps...

Just Shoot Me

I feel like someone beat me up. Seriously, it's hard to walk, all my joints hurt, my back hurts, my head hurts. I don't know if this is a cold, the wacky weather or the after-effects of walking up and down stairs while being so terribly out of shape. I think it's a combination of all three.

It feels a little better today than it did yesterday- when it hit me all of the sudden at about noon and I felt like I was going to puke.

John came home with the flu or food poisoning, we don't know which, on Thursday and by Saturday he was fine. Then Saturday it hits me, I feel nauseous. That soon passes however, and is replaced with a constant aching pain in all the joints and muscles of my lower back and upper legs. No OTC pain killers worked, so I basically fell asleep last night after I was too exhausted to think about it anymore. I think the Tylenol PM helped a little - at least it helped knock me out. Anyone out there know a shady doctor that could get me some Vicodin? (just kidding).

Today it feels like someone has punched me in the kidneys (I have never actually been punched in the kidneys, but based on what others have told me and on my knowledge of the location of the kidneys - I'm guessing). I can't sit, lay down, stand, walk, generally breathe without being in pain. This really sucks.

I have no idea what I have - but trust me, you never want this. It seems to be subsiding somewhat, as I can now walk slightly faster than a little granny.

More Elevator Woes

I get in this morning, push the button to call the elevator and the down arrow on the floor indicator is lit, but no number is lit. It's not moving. So after a week and a half of the tower elevator being out of commission for "repairs" we get two full days of incident-free operation... 10 days for repairs : 2 working days - not a good ratio.

So I figure the following is true:

2 working days : 10 days of repairs;
1 work week (5d): 25 days of repairs;
1 work month (~20d): 100 days of repairs;
1 working year (crude, excluding holidays etc ~ 240d) : 1,200 days of repairs.

sigh... I just walked up 95 steps and, yes, I'm bitter about it.

Karmic Justice

Read this

OK, now read this

All I have to say is, in the immortal words of Nelson (the bully on The Simpsons): HA-HA! Not "ha ha" that the guy is dead, but it's just so damn ironic...

Not to be cruel, but come on! Also, he says in his article that not wearing your seatbelt doesn't risk anyone else's life but your own. Not true. If you are in an accident, and you are ruled 'at fault' and someone in the other car (or yours) is seriously injured or dies because they weren't wearing their seatbelt - you could go to jail and at the very least would have a very guilty conscience. I'll bet his friend who was driving the car doesn't get much comfort from the fact that this guy was a fervent anti-seatbelt activist.

Also, I do not agree with his argument that the role of the government is strictly 'hands-off'. That is an out-dated, very Western view of government and liberties. The government, according to most current national and international law, is obligated to actively participate in the betterment of its citizens. This includes funding for social programs and education, actively enforcing civil rights laws, and passing and enforcing laws protecting the safety and security of its citizens. Period.

If you want to be a dumbass and not wear your seat belt or use your hairdryer in the bathtub, or use 16 bug-bombs in your house, that is your business. But it is also the government's business to regulate industry and make sure they enact procedures and provide information to consumers about the safety risks of using certain products in certain ways. True, these labels have gotten out of hand. I do not, for instance, need to be reminded NOT to eat my can of shoe polish. But to say it's not the government's place to regulate and enforce laws protecting the safety of citizens is bullshit...

Close Encounters

So we went to Treasure Island (the grocery store) yesterday to get some essentials. We had been cleaning all day so both John and I looked pretty disheveled. John, however, looks like the unibomber (he needs a date with the beard trimmer).

Anyway, we're at the store and I'm waiting for John (he went to go get cookies) and he's walking up to me, behind this dude in an olive-green parka with a furry hood. I happen to think parkas look a little geeky, but that's just me. Anyway, oblivious, I walk past parkaman and meet up with John.

He leans over and says "you know who that was don't you?"
Me: "uh, no"
John: "That's the Bill dude from the first Apprentice"
Me: "No it wasn't"
Random Passerby Lady: "yeah it was"
Me: "huh, interesting"

Then John proceeds to tell me of his encounter with parkaman in the cookie aisle, which I will allow you to read in his own words, here. He still hasn't fixed the margins, so I apologize to all of you with small monitors...

Questions

When does an "insurgent" become a "freedom fighter"?

• I'm just curious about this since the number of "insurgents" seems to be growing in Iraq. Do they become "freedom fighters" after the ratio tops 1:1 (logically) or when the US decides that they're fighting for the best interests of our country rather than their own? I know many of the "insurgents" are allied with Zarqawi (sp.) but some of them just want the US occupation to be over.
  

And what about those elections?

• When we can't manage to have fair elections in our own country, how are we going to manage to stage ... er... I mean facilitate fair elections in Iraq?
  

Having "balls" vs. "being a pussy". Ok, you got me, that's not a question.

• It seems Barbara Boxer is the only Senator to stand up and support the election challenge in Ohio. Can we maybe begin dispensing with our overly-gendered language about bravery and cowardice? When the only person "man" enough actually has a pussy and the majority of the "pussies" actually have balls I think it's time to re-think our use of these terms...
  

CREEPY

not to have two dog-related posts in a row... this is what happens when I work from home and have a dog sleeping next to me as I work.

Have you ever watched a dog up close while they're dreaming? It's very, very cute but also extremely creepy in a way. Her eyes aren't fully closed - they're always open a tiny sliver, so I can see her eyes shifting back and forth and roll back into her head...

She's probably chasing squirrels.

Just thought I share that.

Snow Beast

I love watching Annie play in the snow.

It's quite funny, she hates the rain (she will hold 'it' until she's ready to burst rather than go pee in the rain), tolerates baths when necessary, but loves the beach and absolutely goes crazy for snow. All make you wet - but snow is so much more fun!

She romps around the yard, snapping at snowflakes (or the occasional small snowball we throw to her) and eats the snow off the picnic table. It's the cutest damn thing to watch her in the snow.

Life without dogs would be terribly boring...

Oh, and on that note, if you haven't seen this site, it's so cute, and is totally Annie.

Here's a fun one for a snowy day too - Ze's page will keep you busy (or keep you from working) for hours.

I hate people

Let me clarify - ala George Carlin, I love individuals but people as a species and a group really suck. Despite the work of a very small percentage of truly extraorindary people, the human race is severely fucked up. We're driven by greed and power and our own hubris and there's not a whole hell of a lot that can happen that will change the underlying fact that 95% of humans are, deep down, just assholes.

We just saw Hotel Rwanda yesterday - that and the Tsunami and the fact that we haven't heard boo about Sudan in any headlines in over two months just really brings my cynicsim to the surface. Probably the only reason the western governments care about the Tsunami victims is because :

a) there were American and Euro tourists there
b) gotta make sure we still get our cheaply made goods.

I mean, I don't want to sound like a bitch - I do know there are some great people in the world. But I think, like the Normal Curve, there's the small % of truly evil people, the largest percentage is basically decent but apathetic people and then the small % of extraordinarily good people. At least with the Tsunami we can send money to help a little. Even then - why should we need the help of former presidents to try and persuade people to give money?? There are people out there that need convincing? Or maybe they just think that if all they can give is $25 they shouldn't bother because what good can that do? $25 American dollars can buy a great deal in third-world countries (for now).

Then we go see Hotel Rwanda and I get even more angry. Here are the terrible attrocities happening and no one even blinks. Nearly 10 times the number of Tsunami victims were literally hacked to pieces while the world stood idly by. They had nothing to offer the world, so why should the world care? That is the underlying accusation of that movie (as it should be)- it makes me ashamed to be part of the human race. They're just Africans - who cares if they're the victims of Genocide, or AIDS, right? Why did we intervene in Bosnia but not Rwanda or Sudan? I'm not sure but I think it has to do a lot with race - I mean it can't be about oil or regime change, since Bosnia had no strategic purpose or natural resources.

It just makes me sick. Anyway - it's a very well-done movie and it's not overly gorey - there's more implied violence than bloodshed on the screen (which is good since it got a PG-13 rating - opening it up for more audiences). So if you're squeamish, don't worry about it. In my opinion it has slightly less on-screen violence than Schindler's List, but it still captures the terrifying reality of the situation.

Go see it, feel guilty, and donate to a relief fund or a human rights action organization or something.